The Church Must Grow or Perish: Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity by Dr. Mark Mulder - Faculty Book Review
from the Summer 2025 issue of The Forum Magazine
In their latest book The Church Must Grow or Perish: Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity (Eerdmans, 2025), Dr. Mark Mulder, along with coauthor Dr. Gerardo Marti, trace the life, pastoral training and business mindset of Robert H. Schuller.
Robert H. Schuller’s ministry was marked by a commitment to “fortifying the modern church.” (3) For Schuller, rapid social change was to be met with innovation: he “resolved to never sit back and merely watch secularizing elements weaken and blow away houses of faith” and recognized “church leaders would need to acknowledge the devastating path carved by the forces of a rapidly changing culture and then dedicate themselves to deploying innovative methods.” (3)
The book chronologically traces Schuller’s early life, calling to ministry in the Reformed Church in America (RCA), and construction of a large church and training institute that would garner both applause and extensive criticism. Schuller left his childhood home in Iowa to study at Hope College (38) and Western Theological Seminary (42), where he eventually met his wife, Arvella (47), with whom he would have five children.
After beginning his ministry in Chicago, Schuller and his family moved to Orange County, California (67), where he began a drive-in church, Garden Grove Community Church (74). The drive-in church was rooted in a desire to attract non-churchgoers (99). This model for being a seeker-sensitive church–addressing the “felt needs” of attendees–spread outside of California in churches such as Willow Creek and Saddleback Valley (100). In 1969, Schuller opened the Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership, which offered business training for pastors and ministry leaders (110-111). By 1975, Garden Grove Community Church boasted features such as a “24 hour telephone counseling service,” the “county’s largest Sunday school,” and a 25,000 square foot youth ministry facility (143).
Despite this visible success, Schuller’s ministry was also fraught with financial concerns and increasing criticism, including from Michael Horton, a well-known Reformed theologian. Though Schuller claimed to hold Calvinist views (206), his presentation of doctrine and beliefs surrounding salvation, biblical interpretation, and sin were deeply misaligned with the views he nominally professed as a RCA minister (204-205). By the time of his death in 2015, Schuller’s legacy was mixed, at best: labeled as successful by some, and heretical by others, his ministry in dire financial straits (266-267).
While Schuller’s ministry was marked by a pursuit of market-oriented Christianity (274) and responding to rapid social change (278), his desire to “fortify the modern church” gives Christians much to ponder as they consider the contemporary landscape of religion in North America today, a landscape still marked by seeker-sensitive outreach, megachurches, and market-oriented Christianity.
