The Real Iniquity of the Church Growth Movement

In this provocative chapter 3,  I surprise the reader by having lot's of positive stuff to say about the Church Growth Movement. I argue that great learning abounded during this era, from brilliant, godly people. I suggest that the vast array of critique, many times, forgets the early origin of the movement and the context from which many of the principles were developed. The movement simply represents people solving problems within their own time and place with their own presuppositions.

Therefore, the  real iniquity of the church growth movement wasn't the methodology, but the growth idolatry that tended to develop in the leader's heart. I define growth idolatry as the unspoken necessity for the numerical growth in a leader's primary venue in order for them to feel good about life. Basically, an idol is anything we add to Jesus to make life work. So in this case, growing a "bigger box" to do church, replaces the gospel as a leaders' justification; as a way of feeling okay on the deepest soul level. 

In this excerpt of Church Unique below, I share the three common ways that growth idolatry is manifested when it comes to vision.