Soon after it was published, Understanding Church Growth by Donald McGavran (Eerdmans, 1970) became known as the definitive exposition of the church growth philosophy, and its author was recognized as "the dean of church growth studies and prophet of church growth importance and practices" (Southwestern Journal of Theology). Though Understanding Church Growth was geared toward overseas missions, many began to see that its principles and strategies were also applicable to North American churches. Because of the widening interest in North American church growth, Donald McGavran has revised and updated his landmark study to make it more relevant and accessible to pastors and lay leaders in the United States and Canada. This revision has not altered the original aim of the book -- to demonstrate that communicating the faith, discipling the nations, and propagating the Gospel are the chief and irreplaceable tasks of the church, biblically required and pragmatically sound. McGavran has, however, "Americanized" the book throughout, so that basic church growth principles can be more easily applied to the burgeoning American Church Growth Movement. Besides adding three new chapters, McGavran has incorporated the recent contributions of several contemporary church growth specialists, including C. Peter Wagner, Ralph Winter, Winfield Arn, and George Hunter. - Back cover.