Chapter 7 Left Behind in a Megachurch World by Ruth A. Tucker
100 – “The Father of Church Growth—the ideas and tactics behind the movement churned in the head of a missionary and theoretician, not a church pastor. Donald A. McGavran is the uncontested father of Church Growth, but the movement quickly attracted followers-and self-described leaders. The movement displayed a strong current of pragmatism founded in the discipline of sociology—concepts that ‘sound as if they were invented by a frustrated sociologist whose idea of a wild and crazy Saturday night is rearranging his sock drawer,’ writes Tom Raabe. Their books, he continues, flaunt ‘mundane titles like Understanding Church Growth, How to Grow a Church, I Believe in Church Growth, and Strategies for Church Growth.’ And their doctrines? Even the specialist is easily confused; ‘The homogeneous unit principle; the Resistance-Receptivity Axis, composite church membership; multi-individual, inter-dependent decision; E-2, 3-P evangelism; etc.’ …According to Raabe, from his mission post in India McGavran ‘sent forth a phalanx of researchers marching behind the banner of the Great (Growth) Commission: ‘Go ye therefore and study growing churches and find out what works.’ If there is one common element of church growth in all its varieties, it is pragmatism. The underlying rationale is that it is our responsibility to bring as many people to Christ as possible. A world is dying without the gospel, and if we don’t reach them who will?…Pragmatism rules the day…The end-times justifies the means….”
101 – “What McGavran did as a theoretician in the foundational stages of the movement, George Barna did as a statistician as the movement developed.”
101,102 – Barna concludes: “Without being unreasonably optimistic about the chances of a once-healthy church being turned around after a severe decline, our research demonstrates that there is relatively little reason for such optimism…In many cases, trying to revitalize a declining church is probably a wasted effort.”
102 – “It would be unfair to argue that the church growth industry and its subsidiaries have nothing to offer those who are concerned about the condition of contemporary Christianity. But it is irresponsible for a pastor or a congregation to simply accept the basic premises without challenge. Much of the church growth industry has followed cultural patterns—those related to consumerism and marketing on the one hand and to self-help and therapy on the other. “The produce/consumer market model turns possible vice into virtue.” Writes David Kelsey, “by generating its own growing and lucrative market for experts and consultants who analyze religious customers’ felt needs and help churches package their products in effective ways.” He names George Barna as the leader of these marketers, citing his book Marketing the Church, where Barna argues that “the major problem plaguing the church is its failure to embrace a marketing orientation in what has become a market-driven envionrment.”
103 – “That a minister would couch motives in will-of-God terminology should not automatically sanctify the circumstances.“
104 – “Loving a congregation is not necessarily as easy as it sounds. Many pastors simply do not love their people, particularly when they are out with the boys –their fellow ministers—and each one is telling war stories to top the other.”
108 – Mark 10:42,43
TRAILS From The HEART 