During these years of research, I have come to not only know McGavran fairly well, but to love and respect him more and more. Some have called him the greatest missiologist of the twentieth century, to which I agree. Thus, it will be of no surprise to you to hear that I have been discouraged of late to read some newer books, which simply ignore his influence and accomplishments. I feel that either these new authors have not done their homework, or they are exhibiting extreme bias against McGavran and his views of church growth. However, that is a discussion for another time and place.
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Over the last half-century, four major movements have arisen in an effort to stem the tide of decline in church attendance within North America. The Church Renewal Movement, Church Growth Movement, Emerging Church Movement, and Missional Movement have offered different approaches to engaging lost people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This article presents an overview of these major movements and the numerous sub-movements within each, and suggests five insights and seven questions that emerge from their interplay.
Introduction
Heraclitus once said, “There is nothing permanent except change.” This is certainly apparent when we look at the various movements that have influenced local churches in the United States during the last half-century. Movements keep changing, which is to be expected as the word movement implies. Today we are enamored with the Missional Church Movement, but this is only the current trend in a long list of movements that have sought to restore churches to growth and vitality since the 1950s. Thus, the purpose of this article is to provide a short review of the major movements and sub-movements that have shaped churches in North America during the last fifty-plus years, and to note five insights that arise from the interplay of such movements.
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