PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

areas.
4. Bridging - growth of the church by establishing churches indifferent cultural
CHURCH EXTENSION
Church growth through a strategy of planting new churches.
CHURCH GROWTH
The discipline that investigates the nature, function, health and death of Christian
churches as they relate specifically to the effective implementation of God's Commission to
"make disciples of all the nations" (Matt. 28:19). Church growth is simultaneously a theological
conviction and an applied science, striving to combine the eternal principles of God's Word with
the best insights of contemporary social and behavioral sciences, employing as its initial frame of
reference the foundational work done by Donald McGavran and his colleagues.
CHURCH GROWTH: SOCIAL SCIENCE
In the past twenty years the Church Growth movement has grown into public recognition
for several reasons. First, superchurches have emerged on the scene and become influential in
determining and applying Church Growth strategy. Second, there is a growing interest in the
science and practice of church planting. Third, there seems to be more exposure by media to
growing churches in general than two decades ago. At the same time the Church Growth
movement has become a discipline, and it has become more sophisticated as it uses both
theological and sociological research to examine churches to determine principles of growth.
Church Growth is a behavioral science. As such, it follows the scientific method of
inquiry as do the other natural sciences, i.e., psychology, sociology, etc. the scientific method
involves five steps. First, data must be gathered by the Church Growth researcher. This involves
finding all of the facts about one source of church growth, or all the facts why there is no growth.
Second, the data are examined for causes and effects. At this place the researcher determines if
when the facts are repeated, they will bring about the same results in growth. If it does, it leads
to the third step where the researcher suggests a hypotheses is found. This is a suggested
principle or law that causes church growth. (The word hypotheses comes from hypo meaning "to
propose" and theses meaning "an unproven law.") The fourth step is to test the suggested law to
see if it is functional, workable and produces the same results in all situations. When the results
are consistent, the fifth step leads to establishing the results as a law or principle that will
produce evangelism and church growth, or when the law is broken, will cause a church to plateau
or deteriorate.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF REVIVAL
The six major classifications of revival based on the apparent causal factors of that
revival include (R-1) revivals which may be a response to the discovery, comprehension, and
application of a particular doctrine, (R-2) revivals which may be led by a charismatic leader, (R-