Church Transfer Growth: Fictional Letter to a Fellow Pastor
Dear Fellow Pastor, Thanks for reaching out about the recent developments in your ministry. Your excitement about your church’s growth is palpable. It’s definitely a “good problem” to decide how many services, classes, and/or groups you need to support this growth! As I’ve told you before, our church prays for you and your church. We regularly pray for other Bible-believing, gospel-preaching churches in our region. While we differ on...
Recommended Books (Winter 2017)
The New Year is always full of reading possibilities. If you’re like us, reading time comes at a premium and can’t be wasted on poor selections. Below are some of our favorite titles from the past quarter that we think were worth the time. Hopefully you’ll find some of your old favorites here and some new titles for consideration. Be sure to let us know what you’ve been reading in the comments section. ____________________ Christopher...
Donald McGavran and the Church Growth Movement
by Matthew McAffee and Barry Raper One of the major developments in the church of the twentieth century has been the rise of the modern church growth movement. The key figure of this movement was Donald McGavran, considered by most authorities to be its founding father. The inception of this movement has been tied directly to McGavran’s seminal work, The Bridges of God (1955) [1]. This work arose out of his experiences on the mission...
To God Be the Glory: Celebrating Two Years of Ministry
A Message from the Helwys Society Forum In the winter of 2009, three of us perceived the need for an online venue where believers could engage issues confronting the church. With this basic but simple thought, the Helwys Society Forum (HSF) was born. In late February 2010, the Helwys Society posted its first essay on the Forum. Since then, we have posted nearly 75. To God be the glory. For more information concerning our origins,...
Why Are We So Worried About Church Growth?
In my last article I attempted to answer the following question, “Whose responsibility is church growth?” I answered this question by concluding that this responsibility lies ultimately with God rather than men. I then made several suggestions as to how we might return to this perspective. Still this general discussion gives rise to many other questions, perhaps the most pronounced being, “Why are we so worried about church growth...
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