How Did We Get Here?: Looking Back to Look Forward

"How Did We Get Here? Looking Back to Look Forward" chronicles the 70-year evolution of the American Church Growth Movement from Donald McGavran's 1955 missionary insights to today's fractured evangelical landscape. This diagnostic narrative explains how well-intentioned leaders gradually "co-opted" McGavran's original evangelistic vision, transforming it into a "consumer-driven operating system" that now powers most of America's 320,000 churches.

This book is not intended to be an exhaustive academic or scientific account of the past seventy years. For perspective, hundreds of books, papers, and dissertations have been written on the subject. Instead, it provides you with a higher-level overview of the Church Growth Movement's evolution and phases. This book aims to answer the question thousands of leaders are now asking: “How did we get here?”

This flyover of the Church Growth Movement, from Donald McGavran, who is widely identified as its founder, to the seeker-sensitive era, the purpose-driven era, the megachurch era, the outwardly focused era, and landing at what I believe is our current disruption era. This is a comprehensive, history-rich, personal narrative account of a movement that shaped American Christianity for seventy years. It helps explain the compound fracturing of evangelicalism that we now find ourselves trying to maneuver. Instead of predicting the future, the final chapter “looks forward” through the lens of the four generations currently shaping the church's future and encourages a posture for each, and two revolutionary roles for the emerging generations to assume.

You’ll hear directly from the leaders who have shaped the movement. The book does not take sides with proponents or critics of the movement. I’m assuming the truth of the movement’s historical context and impact falls somewhere between the extremes of the arguments. I’m most interested in the contextual co-opting that occurred over the past 70 years to produce what we have today.

The tone is balanced and grace-filled. This is not an attack on any leader or organization. I consistently honor the good intentions and genuine fruit of leaders like Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Bob Buford, and Peter Drucker while diagnosing the unintended consequences of our collective work. Any perceived stones thrown in this historical account strike me as an active participant and influencer in this modern church-growth movement. The goal is understanding, not blame, and looking back to look forward.

Four interconnected themes shape the narrative of this book.

The Historical Narrative. The modern church growth movement, catalyzed by Donald McGavran’s missionary work in 1955 and extending to roughly 2025, unfolded through identifiable eras—such as the seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven, and megachurch movements. The book offers a simple, integrated account of how each era emerged and built upon the previous one using the voices of those who shaped it.

The Co-Opting Thesis. McGavran’s evangelistic, missionary-focused principles were gradually and unintentionally reshaped into a consumer-driven model emphasizing attendance, programs, and institutional success over discipleship, relationships, and multiplication. Understanding this shift is essential for moving forward wisely.

The Flywheel of Constraint. Interlocking dilemmas reinforced a system optimized for affiliation rather than transformation, making meaningful change difficult even for aware leaders.

Hope Through Disruption. The upheaval of 2015–2025 cleared space for renewal as a decentralized, disciple-making movement begins to emerge for the next generation.