Abstract
In the field of missiology, few individuals impacted theory and practice more than the father of the Church Growth Movement, Donald McGavran. His emphasis on church growth, while controversial, instigated significant insights and discussion on the need of missionary organizations to concentrate personnel and resources toward church planting among receptive peoples. His focus on utilizing the social sciences in mission research, advocating the homogenous unit principle, and a general emphasis on group conversion, created a movement and brought renewed dialogue and debate to the purpose and definition of Christian missions.
In this volume, Gary McIntosh, Professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership at Biola University and McGavran’s former student and colleague, provides the first systematic account of McGavran’s life and thought. The author uses a wealth of personal insight and narrative data to describe McGavran’s influence as founding dean of Fuller Seminary’s School of World Mission. The author designs a missiologist’s profile that takes the reader on a journey to reveal McGavran as a man of conviction, driven by a passion to see churches proliferate and expand. Chapters 1 to 5 delve into McGavran’s early years, tracing his family’s work in the nation of India and his evolving research into why churches grow. These early chapters contribute valuable insight into the formative influences on his missiology as emphasizing the mission of God and the Christian church.
The length of the book makes these first chapters interesting but tedious. McGavran’s fans want to skip ahead to the development of the Institute of Church Growth and Fuller Seminary, from chapters 6 to 11. The author eventually gets there, but piques reader interest in sifting through details of McGavran’s evolving understanding of church growth and the bridges God uses to bring people to faith.
McIntosh provides a detailed record of McGavran’s role in the founding of Fuller’s School of World Mission that contributed to it becoming a leading missiological institution. In McGavran, the author reveals a driven individual with a heart for the church and a mind for strategic vision. Equally, the chapters provide details into McGavran’s influence and interaction with leading scholars—Ralph Winter, Paul Hiebert, Peter Wagner, Charles Kraft, and Alan Tippett, to name a few—who produced works of essential reading in mission science.
Arguably, the book is long and detailed, albeit accessible. It is designed for the student of missions history. It will inspire fans of church growth theory and mission practitioners desiring to gain deeper awareness of this notable missionary scholar. All readers benefit from McIntosh’s expertise and singular focus on Donald McGavran’s church growth school of thought.