Ep 132: An Insider's Critique: Todd Wilson Examines 70 Years of the Church Growth Movement

Karl Vaters interviews Todd Wilson about some of the lessons that we need to learn when we look back at the Church Growth Movement.

Todd is the co-founder and founding CEO of Exponential, so he critiques the Church Growth Movement as one of its leaders. This gives him a unique perspective we need to hear.

Karl and Todd talk about the content of Todd’s new book, How Did We Get Here? Examining 70 Years of the Church Growth Movement.

They cover topics such as:

• How the modern church has adopted a Consumer-Driven Operating System
• How Donald McGavran’s Church Growth methods and language were co-opted
• Where the “church as business” model came from
• What must come next
• And more.

Links:

• How Did We Get Here? Examining 70 Years of the Church Growth Movement (Free e-book w registration)
• How Did We Get Here? Examining 70 Years of the Church Growth Movement (On Amazon)
• Multipliers: Leading Beyond Addition (Free e-book)
• Email Todd at Todd@multipliers.org
• Techsoup.org
• The Unexpected Origins of the Church Growth Movement, with Dr. Gary McIntosh (The Church Lobby, Ep 027)
• De-sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next (by Karl Vaters)

Bonus Content Summary

12 Dilemmas Within the Church’s Prevailing Operating System, with Todd Wilson

In Todd Wilson’s book, How Did We Get Here? Looking Back to Look Forward, he refers to the current church systems as functioning under a faulty operating system, and he describes 12 dilemmas within that system.

In this subscriber-only content, Karl Vaters talks with Todd about several of these dilemmas.

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