Inspirational Sources for Church Development

• Main Author: Jan Inge Jenssen
• Format: Article
• Language: Danish
• Published: Ansgar Teologiske Høgskole, Örebro Teologiska Högskola, Høyskolen for Ledelse og Teologi 2015-11-01
• Series: Scandinavian Journal for Leadership & Theology
• Subjects: Church Growth Movement; Church Development
• Online Access: https://162.241.156.157/~sjltjour/index.php/sjlt/article/view/6

The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss key issues in church growth movement and the litera- ture following in its wake, which represents vital sources for the emerging discipline in practical theology of church development. The church growth movement has had a strong impact on churches around the globe. Factors such as scriptural authority, evangelism, cultural openness and relevance, pastoral leader- ship, organization, planning, vision and goals are among issues and factors discussed in the literature. Among the shortcomings of church growth thinking is an all-too-simple theoretical reasoning, a lack of causal modeling and theological issues only superficially discussed. Oftentimes, the growth is assumed to come simply by addressing a few factors. Nevertheless, several of the issues and factors that are identified and discussed have influenced subsequent work on church development.