The Church Growth Movement has had a staggering impact on church ministry in the United States over the last half century. From its beginning in Pasadena, California in 1972, to the current day, the Movement has been praised and criticized. Yet, its influence on the practice of church ministry is profound. Its influence still reverberates within the study of ecclesiology, especially in areas of leadership, church planting, pastoral ministry, church revitalization, and evangelism.
While the Church Growth Movement gained wide acceptance in the 1970s and 1980s, and encountered harsh criticism and rejection in the 1990s and 2000s, debate continues today around the principles, strategies, theology, and models. The Movement is a major part of North American church history that is worthy of exploration.
As a professor at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University since 1986, and an enthusiastic participant of the Church Growth Movement since 1975, I’ve had the unique opportunity to observe its rise and decline. Thus, this paper traces the rise and decline of the Church Growth Movement, while offering insights into its current condition.