Among the leaders of the modern Church Growth Movement, the writings of C. Peter Wagner, Win Arn, and Elmer Towns exemplify the dynamic activity of the Holy Spirit as it empowers Christian churches of all denominations to broaden their horizons well beyond the status quo of merely maintaining a fixed quantity of members by replacing those who die, fall away, or move to other communities. While desperately needed in many churches across America today, the church growth movement espoused by these men (and many others) may offend a significant number of evangelical churches and ministers because it challenges them to move from their comfortable surroundings and pulpits and actively pursue strategies which are designed to make the church house burst at the seams with overflowing membership and attendance. A scary prospect for more than a few churches!
Each of these three men, Wagner, Arn, and Towns, come from distinct backgrounds, yet their ideas and writings blend to form a synthesis of theory, observation, and practical experience. The church growth movement depicted in Church Growth: The State of the Art has now entered its fourth decade, and shows no sign of abating. Nevertheless, American Christianity is at a crossroads today; haunted by the rise of secular humanism in the 1970s and 1980s, and experiencing considerable pressure from conservative elements within and without the church in the 1990s. The obstacles presented to those who would campaign for the implementation of a growth program are daunting.
C. Peter Wagner is currently the figurehead of the Church Growth Movement conceived by Donald A. McGavran in the 1950s, and founded in 1961, later to be relocated to Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California in 1965. A former student of McGavran, Wagner was personally mentored by McGavran to receive the Donald A. McGavran Chair of Church Growth at Fuller Seminary in 1984.
Although he is one of t...