SCHULLER, ROBERT 1926-

Reform minister; televangelist

Move to California

In 1955 Robert Schuller, who was ordained in the Reformed Church of America, moved to Garden Grove, California, to establish a church in this fast-growing region of southern California. His resources were modest, so he rented one of the ubiquitous drive-in movie theaters for his Sunday services and advertised for an audience, "Come as you are in your family car." His success was stunning in this booming suburb that had few established churches. In 1961 he opened his new building for the Garden Grove Community Church, which had a conventional sanctuary but still provided for his drive-in members. (He carefully omitted his congregation's affiliation with the Reformed Church of America to avoid sectarian confusion.)

Hour of Power

The Garden Grove Community Church was one of the fastest-growing congregations in the nation, and Schuller organized the Robert Schuller Institute for Successful Church Growth, which gave population seminars to train others in the techniques he found successful. In 1970 he began his television ministry with his Hour of Power and quickly expanded to over 150 stations.

Positive Thinking

Schuller attracted one of the larger television audiences during the 1970s but also aroused concern in Evangelical circles, where questions were raised about his theology, which sometimes seemed as optimistic as that of his Pentecostal peers. In many ways Schuller continued the "positive thinking" line of his fellow Reform minister Norman Vincent Peale. Schuller urged his listeners to cast out negative thoughts and focus on "possibility thinking."

Crystal Cathedral

By the end of the decade Schuller's ministry began the construction of one of the more famous buildings of the decade, a glass-sided sanctuary designed by famous architect Philip Johnson. The Crystal Cathedral had become a tourist attraction even before it opened for worship.

Sources:

Robert Schuller, Peace of Mind with Possibility Thinking (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977);

Dennis N. Voskuil, Mountains into Gold Mines: Robert Schuller and the Gospel of Success (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983).

Robert Harold Schuller 1926–, American Protestant minister and television evangelist, b. Alton, Iowa. Schuller gained attention (1955) when he used a drive-in theater to preach to his newly established Los Angeles–area congregation. His Reformed Church in America congregation is now housed in a multimillion dollar edifice in Garden Grove, Calif., called the "Crystal Cathedral." Since 1970 his church's televised "Hour of Power" has become one of the top religious broadcasts in America.