Church Growth and Its Implications for the Use of the Means of Grace in a Confessional Liturgical Church

Abstract

The church growth movement is more than Christian sociology. The movement has a theology of it’s own, a theology that needs to be recognized and critiqued. While there are many aspects of church growth that confessional Lutherans can appreciate and apply to their ministries, certain dangers can be found as well. Cortright shows how the church growth movement confuses the proper use of law and gospel, removes the necessity of the means of grace, and threatens to rid congregations of liturgical worship that focuses one’s attention on Christ’s work and those means of grace.