Planting a church in the 1980s under the aegis of the Church Growth Movement (CGM) involved adherence to its strategists’ axioms and principles. Ringing in the planter’s ears was Peter Wagner’s mantra: “The most effective way to reach people is by planting new churches.” The movement’s planters followed an agenda for rapid growth and multiplication.
Somewhere in the shuffle of axioms and principles, healthy ecclesiology and biblical church polity got lost. Marketing principles and sociological strategies left the patient work of shepherding a congregation toward spiritual health in the dust. Pragmatism took over.
Sitting under the CGM’s gurus convinced me their formula for ministry success was my calling. I implemented several strategies in the church I pastored before launching out to plant in a metropolitan area. But something kept nagging me. Is this biblical? For the moment, pragmatism overrode a biblical hermeneutic. I would plant a church and watch it grow.
And it did. But not in a healthy way.
I saw the numbers and “decadal growth rate” as foreshadowing my future as a church growth consultant. One problem stood in the way: the Bible. Was what I led a biblical church? Were the people joining at a rapid-fire rate
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