Donald McGavran, Understanding Church Growth
"The other good and urgent things to do, far from contradicting this thesis, reinforce it. The many tasks that lie at hand should be done - there can be no two opinions about that. Preaching good sermons, teaching illiterates to read, working at planned parenthood or the world's food supply, administering churches skillfully, applying Christianity to all of life, using mass media, and hundreds of other activities are not sinful. They are good. Some are urgent." Page 32
Here is the link.
The original Shrinkers were quite taken with Planned Parenthood. They named one of their early training films "Planned Parenthood for Churches." They did for Protestantism what Planned Parenthood did for the family.
McGavran was a minister of the far Left Disciples of Christ. He was more conservative than their wackiest people (Jim Jones of Jonestown, a Marxist) but he was not uncomfortable with mainline apostasy. He worked with the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches.
He developed his ideas at an obscure school but really had his greatest impact when he moved to Fuller Seminary, after they repudiated inerrancy under the influence of the founder's son, who studied under the Marxist Karl Barth in Switzerland. (See Karl Barth and Radical Politics, by Hunsinger)
McGavran was no theologian. His PhD was in sociology and his methods were statistical.
