It was not until 1961 when the
Institute of Church Growth was established at
Northwest Christian College, now
Bushnell University, in Eugene, Oregon. ...
In 1965, [Donald McGavran] organized the
School of World Mission at
Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, which was the institutional homebase for
Church Growth studies until after his death.
It has been the training ground for tens of thousands of pastors and missionaries of one hundred mainly evangelical denominations.
McGavran, along with his pupil [Charles] Peter Wagner, created the
Fuller Evangelistic Association to apply his church growth methodologies to churches around the world with Fuller serving as their platform. He also created the
Institute for American Church Growth in order to focus in on growth in America which was distinct as a nation state due to its ethnic and cultural diversity in its demographics.
Based on his lectures in Eugene and later at Fuller, McGavran published the book
Understanding Church Growth (1970). In the work, McGavran articulated a key feature of his church growth theory, known as the "homogenous unit principle." Drawing from his experiences in India of mass movements, the homogenous unit principle reasoned that individuals are more likely to convert to Christianity
en masse when they share similar demographics.