He was born in Alton (Iowa, USA), within a family belonging to the Reformed Church in America, with deep roots in Dutch Calvinism. He studied at Hope College (B.A., 1947) and the Western Theological Seminary (B.D., 1950).
In June 1950 he married Arvella De Haan and was ordained to the ministry of the Reformed Church of Riverside, in a Chicago neighborhood, where his work grew notably from forty to four hundred members.
In 1955 he began a change in his ministry by accepting the call for a new work in Orange, in southern California, where in the absence of a place to meet he rented a summer cinema or open-air theater, preaching to those who came in his Cars to hear your messages.
He was, therefore, the first pastor of a church for motorists, which resulted in the Garden Grove Community Church. With difficulties at the beginning, thanks to the support of Norman Vicent Peale (v.), The congregation began to grow and grow, until it could build its first place of worship, which would eventually lead to the spectacular Crystal Cathedral, begun in 1977 and completed in 1980.
In 1970 he began his television program "Hour of Power", which came to air internationally. He also founded the Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leaders, and includes pastors such as B. Larson (v.) And Juan Carlos Ortiz (v.) Among his team.
He was accused of lowering grace and inducing to idolize success and favor the Christian narcissus. For him it is simply to focus the Christian life from a more positive interpretation of the Scriptures. “Based on my perception of the person of Jesus Christ, his work and teachings, I affirm that the deepest need of the human being is the need for self-esteem (Self-Steem, The New Reformation).
His concept was that the preaching of the Gospel has to be related to the mental, social, physical and spiritual needs of the human being, for which he considers it necessary to adopt a more positive approach to those whose main obstacle to faith is not the Bible itself, but A negative presentation of your teaching.
He encouraged the believer to seek success in his life, but knowing that it is only possible according to the service model of Christ. For him, positive thinking was always a modern equivalence of the biblical principle of living by faith.
He refused to admit defeatist thinking that considers the believer always under the influence and power of sin.
He wrote numerous books with great clarity and vigor, offering a biblical and relevant perspective of faith in the current traffic of modern life in developed societies.
