COMMITTEE ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION FEATURE

The Church Must Grow or Perish: Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity, by Mark T. Mulder and Gerardo Martí. Eerdmans, 2025. Paperback, 344 pages, $32.99.

In 1955, in Garden Grove, California, two very different kinds of “Reformed” churches were just beginning. Robert H. Schuller arrived in Orange County in January of that year and started open-air, drive-in services using a rented drive-in theater to the east of Garden Grove. Mr. Schuller was strongly connected to the Reformed Church in America and to Dutch Calvinism when he moved west, but those connections grew looser and more superficial as he initiated and developed a seeker-sensitive, “possibility thinking” philosophy of ministry and preaching.

That same year, on the west side of Garden Grove, a new OPC congregation was organized that was strongly committed to the Reformed faith and the Westminster standards. By the fall of 1956, Edwards E. Elliott was installed as the pastor of Garden Grove OPC. On the surface there was one similarity in their approach to building a church: They both walked the streets of their respective neighborhoods, knocking on doors. Yet even that apparent similarity was actually very different. As recorded in the recent book, The Church Must Grow or Perish by Mark T. Mulder and Gerardo Martí, Schuller was canvassing to find out what kind of message people wanted to hear on a Sunday morning. He concluded that “quotes from the Bible would leave many people cold,” and that they wanted “inspiration” rather than talk about sin. So, like a “market researcher Schuller framed a service to suit his desired clients.”

The authors credit Schuller with being at the forefront of both the “seeker sensitive” approach and “church growth movements.” Indeed, Mr. Schuller opened his own Institute for Successful Church Leadership to teach others how to build megachurches. An Orthodox Presbyterian can read with amazement, dismay, and a measure of disgust at Mr. Schuller’s building a businesslike empire, a large congregation, a large glass cathedral, a television program that earned millions, and pageants that cost millions to produce, and all at the cost of sacrificing the simple truth that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. The authors record the complete fall of Schuller’s empire into bankruptcy due to a mountain of debt and old age. Schuller’s famous building is now owned by the Roman Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, down the road, Mr. Elliott was quietly building the church through faithful preaching and knocking on doors for over twenty-four years, inviting people to worship the Lord and hear the whole counsel of God’s Word. Garden Grove OPC is no longer there because it eventually outgrew its humble “stucco cathedral” and moved to nearby Westminster and a larger campus. The OPC has had its brief flirtations with church growth ideas, and this well-written book is a cautionary tale for all “visionary” leaders who feel hamstrung by their sessions or presbyteries.

The author is an elder at Westminster OPC in Westminster, California.