"Mass" Marketing, Schuller & Rick Warren

Excerpt from Critical Issues Commentary's Redefining the Church , by Pastor and author Bob DeWaay:

"...This is precisely the thinking of the church growth movement and its modern founder Robert Schuller. Schuller is famous for saying that his Crystal Cathedral is a last stop for people who had given up on religion and otherwise would have no religion.

He established his Institute for Successful Church Leadership in 1970. His website says this about his Institute: “Alumni include Bill Hybels, John Maxwell, Bishop Charles Blake, Rick Warren, Walt Kallestad, Kirbyjon Caldwell, and many, many others who found the fundamental principles of success at our sessions .... and the rest is church history!”12 He continues, “The students outran the master and I'm proud of them - and you can do it, too!”

The success that Schuller and his followers have found is the ability to get people to join the visible church without being confronted with “negative” things like the wrath of God against sin and the need for the blood atonement.

The key idea in the church growth movement founded by Robert Schuller is to maximize the visible church by using proven business marketing strategies. Forcing people into the church at sword point has been abandoned long ago. Charlemagne’s strategy is no longer viable.

Now leaders entice people into the visible church using the business model that works so well for secular corporations. These strategies include organizational models that provide focus, efficiency, outcome based feedback, and “synergy of energy.” Most important, however, is maximizing the organization’s ability to find and keep satisfied customers (people willing to join the visible church).

See What is Robert Schuller 'rethinking'? and related posts .