The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission

The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission | Rick Warren | A Purpose-Driven Best Buy!

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The Purpose-Driven...

	The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission Rick Warren Zondervan, 1995 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 125 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This book was not what I expected at all!

I approached this book with a skeptical and critical spirit. (Too many "seeker sensitive" churches water down the truth in an attempt to reach people. And they end up with shallow church members that are lacking in genuine Christian faith.) However, this book really softened my critical spirit. Some of my opinions were based on misconceptions and misunderstandings. I was impressed by Rick Warren's reasoning and ideas.

What surprised me the most is the high expectations of his actual church members. (And members must re-new their membership once a year.) If members don't meet the expectations, they are dropped from the membership roll! The book said that 500 - 700 people a year are dropped from the membership roll for failure to meet expectations. How many churches today do that??!! Very few!! Too many churches today have inflated membership rolls that include people who only show up for church once a year! There seems to be almost NO membership expectations at many churches today. And if there are expectations, they are not enforced in any way.

He admits that there are many people at Saddleback whom he refers to as "the crowd". People who are curious and attending some of the time (seekers!) but they have not yet made any commitments to Christ or to the church. He differentiates between members and "the crowd" - the expectations for both are different.

Saddleback has very specific plans/programs (classes, small groups, etc) for "growing" people from new Christians into mature Christians. And for "moving" people from just being "attenders" to being actively involved in the church.

In general, there is much more accountability, and higher expectations that I ever imagined a "seeker" church having...In fact, Saddleback has higher expectations and accountability that most "non-seeker" churches I am familiar with!

Despite Saddlebacks large size, I was impressed by how they manage to genuinely care for people, keep aware of their personal needs, and be there for them. They have a number of methods for maintaining this personal touch.

Although I don't agree with everything in this book, it really gave me a new perspective on seeker-sensitive churches.

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A Purpose-Driven Best Buy!

The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren is a practical explanation of how to build and maintain a healthy church that is founded on purpose. Through years of experience and hard work, Warren has created a church model that provides "a biblical and healthy alternative to traditional ways that churches have operated and organized in the past." This book shifts the focus away from church building programs and instead emphasizes people building programs in order to strengthen the "core members" as well as bring multitudes of "seekers," or "unchurched," into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
This is done using a multitude of practical models, such as Warren's own "5 Circles of Commitment" which is used to describe the purpose of the church to draw in new Christians. Another model is the "Life Development Process" which communicates the purpose of transforming "seekers" into committed members (Warren 1995: 130). Warren also provides countless pages of insightful advice taken from years of ministry experience. In fact, Warren admits that he waited 20 years to write this book because he did not want to write it prematurely (Warren 1995: 18).
While many readers may discount Warren's church building model, calling it "unbiblical" or "watered-down," fail to realize the underlying theme and major strength of the text which is the Christ centered attitude. Throughout every section, the author strives to makes his intentions clear by constantly looking to Jesus as the ultimate example in illustrations as well as pointing to biblical references when applicable. One obvious example of this is found in chapter 12 which is entitled "How Jesus attracted Crowds." This entire chapter uses the ministry of Jesus as the primary example for attracting large crowds of unbelievers and teaching them His saving Gospel.
However, this book is of course not without faults. I can easily understand how, by reading the book, one might get the impression that the Warren describes his church model with some semblance of arrogance because of its great success. I am not implying that he is not a Godly man, in fact one can easily see the mark of Christ in him throughout his writing and I believe that his intentions are pure and well guided. However, when Warren reminds the reader for the tenth time how he did all the research on church planting communities, he planted a church in a place that he had never visited, his church grew to 10,000 people in 15 years, and using his methods 7,000 people came to Christ in those first 15 years, one might begin to come under that impression that this kind of repetition serves as little more than a subconscious and arrogant reminder of the works of the author and his greatness, not the greatness of Jesus Christ.
Overall, I would recommend this book to Christians who need fresh ideas for reaching their community. I especially recommend this to pastors who feel that they are losing touch with their community and/ or congregation as well as Christians interested in starting a ministry of their own.

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Great Book That Will Challenge "Accepted" Traditions

It is interesting to note the diversity of "opinions" surrounding this book. It should be noted that the book is presented as guidelines, not hard fast rules you must follow! The church is the Body of Christ, it is an organism and it should be healthy and grow. This is a premuse in this book. So the question is, do we remaining in the model of the traditional church with pews singing out of date hymns and hearing messages that are intended for the church, or do we fulfill the Great Commission and reach the lost? If it is the latter, then we have to meet them in a way that meets their needs, not in an outdated model!

I would challenge any believer to show me in scripture, that our "acceptable" model of the church is remotely Biblical! There are quite a few truths that can be gleened from this book that can revitalize the church of Christ.

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Useful, both in business and in church, from a neophyte

I agree with other reviewers that the author's writing style appears arrogant and self promoting. And I agree the tome might be formatted like a bad marketing manual. But...I like what I'm reading. The presentation IMHO is logical and penetrating. He convincingly proves his credentials by describing (and reiterating) the process that eventually helped him achieve his current status as pastor of a rapidly growing megachurch. Frankly, I think I'm getting a lot out of it as a marketing know-nothing. This book will probably gain more mileage in the secular/mass psychology/pop marketing field, but I first came across this book not through Borders, but through my church's Bible study group. (Apparently, my pastor was trying anything to induce more evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry into my little aging church group. We'll see if Rick's strategy comes through for us...)

And yes, in response to the author's most fiercest detractors (most specifically, James Sundquist and others), the purpose-driven church IS driven by Biblical principles. Rick simply--ingeniously--applied phrases gleaned from the Great Commission and the Great Commandment to construct his 5 New Testament Purposes, so as far as I'm concerned, Jesus would probably agree to that part of Rick's argument. However, I don't think the historical Jesus wouldn't agree to some of the New Age references Rick (consciously?) puts in his book. (Personally, I've found trace elements of Jungian Theory, Pop Psychology, Tarot references--though he doesn't mention any cards or spreads, he does talk about combining skills with prayer to produce results, which can be interpreted as a meditation of the MAGICIAN-HIGH PRIESTESS-EMPRESS energies. And he curiously minimizes the role of the Holy Spirit, concentrating on God, the creator of all and Jesus the head of the Church). Depending on how traditional you are of church history, you probably wouldn't identify with the new-church tactics Rick used to get where he is today (build a community before you build a core, for example).

But, I'm giving this book three-and-a-half, four stars. Rick's model for church--or career--building is worth reading about. Perhaps one day when I meet him at Saddleback I will commune with a more gentle soul. That'll surely balance the image of the author I get from reading this book.

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