According to nationally known author, speaker and church growth consultant, Gary McIntosh, a movement is "a self-perpetuating company of people who are united by a common cause and committed to having a significant impact on their social environment." And for a movement to exist, it must have three necessary dimensions: people, particularly a leader; a common cause; and a commitment to impact the social environment.

How does “church growth” fare in light of that definition? Clearly church growth had a founding leader — Donald A. McGavran — and even a second generation, C. Peter Wagner. However, the clarity of leadership in this movement ends with these two men.

The second characteristic of a movement is its clear commitment to a distinct and defining cause. It is at this point that church growth may have its most significant challenge.

From 1955 to 1980 most followers of the church growth movement could state unhesitatingly its cause is evangelism. But today church growth may be identified with church planting, marketing, seeker-sensitive methodologies, cell groups, prayer, spiritual warfare, generational studies, church renewal, church leadership, conflict management, change agency or megachurches.

While church growth leaders understand that the movement is an expression to fulfill the Great Commission, we often fail to acknowledge or emphasize that the key element of the Great Commission is evangelism.

Follow me

A movement also has followers. But the second characteristic, a known and passionate cause, must precede any followers. Again "followship" in the church growth movement may be waning because only a few people know the passionate cause they are following.

Today, the church growth movement has more critics than ever. We build defense barriers that say these critics cannot be right because they do not understand who we are, but whose fault is that? We have met the enemy and it is not those who write against us — it is ourselves because we are not clear about our purpose.

The fate of a movement is threefold: lasting, cyclical or temporary.

Life cycle

Some movements ignite a lasting impact, felt centuries beyond their inception. When Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door at Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517, I doubt he realized that a movement had begun. But nearly 500 years later, we who are here today are the products of a movement called the Protestant Reformation.

A second fate of a movement is that it becomes cyclical in nature. Such is the nature of movements we often call "spiritual awakenings" or revivals. These movements typically ebb and flow to return the people of God to their first love.

A third fate of a movement is that it makes a temporary impact, then dies. The busing movement in churches had a terrific impact for about a decade, but less than 10 percent of churches today utilize this methodology.

What then is to be the fate of that movement we call church growth? Few would deny its impact, at least its influence for a season. Shall it continue? We must be willing to allow the movement to die if it has truly run its course in the kingdom. To do otherwise would be a violation of God's prohibition of idolatry.

But church growth, if it is historically understood and properly defined, is simply evangelism that results in the growth of the church. And we who identify ourselves with church growth should recognize that the movement is in an identity crisis because of lack of clarity in this purpose.

The current perception that church growth is concerned about the absolute size of the church regardless of the type of growth is a false one. Evangelism is the heart of church growth.

Thom S. Rainer, Ph.D., is president of Church Central Associates LLC and a dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.