Church Growth Movement - Essay Example

It tells us about the core motivations behind church growth. It tells us about the relationship between leadership and church growth. It gives descriptions of larger and smaller churches.

Chapters seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen speak about the basic principles of the Church Growth movement. This movement is based upon the use of sociological devices to attract new converts. The next idea that the author tells the reader in chapter twenty is that of laity and ministry. This section states that for both pastors and the other laity, different things must take place, which is not always pleasing and difficult to do. One of the most thrilling principles of church growth is to set free laity to do the work of ministry. Chapters twenty-one to twenty-six chronicle the various strategies that have been used by the Church Growth movement to improve its clout and influence. Numerical strength will always help Christianity while every effort should be conducted to capture the heart of potential converts. The remaining chapters focus on the organization, planning, and preparation of the Church Growth movement. Church planting is the next idea of this book. It should not be mixed with church development, where a new worship center is created into an already established congregation. For any church to be planted, it should be able to function without its parent body. The following chapter speaks about evangelism and the church's growth. It tells us about the Christian missionaries and their impact on the church's growth. It also talks about controversies concerning Christian missionaries. After that, the author also describes worship styles and their relationship to a growing church. The next topic is about assimilation and reclamation regarding church growth. In this chapter, the author states, “Prevention is much easier than reclamation”. The author tells the significance of small groups in the church growth movement. The next chapter pursues these ideas. A summary of Sunday school is given, and there is a complete section about the future of Sunday school and all that is expected to occur with that. In this section, the reader also explores the topics like future of small groups and the structure of small groups.

From a reader’s point of view, I found this book to be a source of valuable knowledge. This book is written very well and kept my concentration from chapter to chapter. The thing that I appreciated about this book is the style of the author in terms of giving the reader the capability to completely understand what the different chapters are all about. It helps the reader to know the fundamentals before understanding the chapters. One more thing which I liked about this book is how the author combined the examples of real-life experiences with facts and other people’s thoughts. I came to know a lot of things that happen within the church community. For anyone who is going into Christian Ministry, I recommend this book to be a very good source.