Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Towards a Theology of Church Growth, edited by David Goodhew

Towards a Theology of Church Growth, edited by David Goodhew (Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, vt: Ashgate, 2015), 248 pp. isbn 978-1-4724-1400-7 (pbk). £19.99.The pioneer of the Church Growth Movement was Donald McGavran. His championing of the ‘homogenous unit principle’ (i.e., like attracts like) for church numerical growth – popularised in the post-war era, and promoted strongly by some missionaries – has been adopted by numerous pragmatic brands of evangelicalism throughout the world. In McGavran’s thinking, the less ‘cultural’ differences people had to overcome in order to become ‘members’ of a church or association, the more likely it was to grow numerically. Critics of McGavran’s ‘homogenous unit principle’ have always been fierce. A church for working class Hispanics in a tough urban neighbourhood of America – intentionally tribal, as it were – may do well numerically. But is it a church? Or, is a congregation that seeks to be focussed solely on elite aspirational wealthy middle class Caucasians in the suburbs a church – or a kind of ‘members-only religious club’?McGavran’s success drew – indirectly – on the likes of Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People, 1936). It is no surprise, therefore, to see the usa leading the way with health, wealth and prosperity commandeered into the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Ecclesiology Brill

Towards a Theology of Church Growth, edited by David Goodhew

Ecclesiology , Volume 13 (1): 3 – Jan 25, 2017

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/towards-a-theology-of-church-growth-edited-by-david-goodhew-H8lN4Bb600

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1744-1366
eISSN
1745-5316
DOI
10.1163/17455316-01301020
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

(Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, vt: Ashgate, 2015), 248 pp. isbn 978-1-4724-1400-7 (pbk). £19.99.The pioneer of the Church Growth Movement was Donald McGavran. His championing of the ‘homogenous unit principle’ (i.e., like attracts like) for church numerical growth – popularised in the post-war era, and promoted strongly by some missionaries – has been adopted by numerous pragmatic brands of evangelicalism throughout the world. In McGavran’s thinking, the less ‘cultural’ differences people had to overcome in order to become ‘members’ of a church or association, the more likely it was to grow numerically. Critics of McGavran’s ‘homogenous unit principle’ have always been fierce. A church for working class Hispanics in a tough urban neighbourhood of America – intentionally tribal, as it were – may do well numerically. But is it a church? Or, is a congregation that seeks to be focussed solely on elite aspirational wealthy middle class Caucasians in the suburbs a church – or a kind of ‘members-only religious club’?McGavran’s success drew – indirectly – on the likes of Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People, 1936). It is no surprise, therefore, to see the usa leading the way with health, wealth and prosperity commandeered into the

Journal

EcclesiologyBrill

Published: Jan 25, 2017

There are no references for this article.