Dr Donald McGavran was the founding Dean of the
School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. His seminal books Bridges of God
(1955) and Understanding Church Growth (1970, 1980) pioneered scholastic
books on church growth. This
ground-breaking paper, presented to the Christian and Missionary Alliance
Missionaries at Lincoln, Nebraska in 1979, contains powerful case studies.
The problem of church growth
faces all of us. Many of us are working
where we have had little growth.
Wherever our churches are sealed off, ethnically, economically, or
educationally, the people from other classes of society do not ordinarily join
us. This very common problem affects
not just the Christian and Missionary Alliance. You have less of it than some other missionary societies. This problem has faced me. For the last 25 years I have been thinking
of this on the world scene. For 25
years before that I was thinking of it in the Indian context. So for about 50 years I have been
considering this difficulty.
As I have been
reviewing church growth around the world, I have seen that it frequently
correlates with great healing campaigns.
That is why I am speaking about Divine Healing and Church Growth. Where the church is up against an
insuperable barrier, there no matter what you do, how much you pray, how much
you work, how much you organize, how much you administer for church growth, the
church either does not grow, grows only a little, or grows from within, not
from without. Under such circumstances,
we need to lean heavily on that which is so wonderfully illustrated in the New
Testament, namely the place of healing in church growth. You remember the two villages of Lydda and
Sharon where it is recorded in the book of Acts that all Lydda and Sharon
turned to the Lord. Two whole villages
in a day! When did that happen? When Aeneas was healed by Peter. This great in gathering was preceded by a
remarkable case of divine healing.
American missionaries, who have
grown up in a highly secular society, usually take a dim view of divine
healing, considering it mere charlatanism.
After long years of sharing that common opinion, I now hold that among
vast populations, divine healing is one of the ways in which God brings ruen
and women to believe in the Savior.
Missiologists ought to have a considered opinion on the matter. They should not brush it off cheaply and
easily. Administering for church growth
in part means arranging the stage so that divine healing can take place. Look at the evidence of divine healing. Withold judgment until the evidence has been
reviewed. There is much more evidence
than I am able to present in one short address.
My considered recommendation
is that missionaries and Christians in most populations ought to be following
the biblical injunction to pray for the sick (James 5:14-15). When notable healings have taken place,
great efforts should be made to multiply churches. When healings have taken place in your denomination or any other
denomination, when the Pentecostals mount a great healing campaign, then say to
yourself, "This is the time to strike, while the iron is hot."
I now lay before you a few
cases of divine healing that have come to attention from various sources. The first is a case of healing carried out
by American Presbyterian missionaries.
I quote a report from India about the operation of these ministers,
visiting India for a brief period.
Everyday there was preaching in the evening and teaching in the morning. They lived with us as brothers. They visited and preached in