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

The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission | Rick Warren | Reaching the Unchurched

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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 124 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Planting

This book is a true gem of modern Christian thought. With the eye of an ethnographer, the mind of a military tactician, and the heart of a Christian, Rick Warren draws the ground-plans for the modern church. For decades, traditional minds have been challenged by the task of showing the timeless relevance of the Bible to the modern man and woman who were raised in the age of airplanes, not Aramaic. This book shows how careful planning and strategic adjustments enable the truth of the Bible to be evidently relevant to the modern reader without sacrificing theological integrity. Warren is the pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, California-not exactly the Bible belt! This book traces the planning and growth of Saddleback to an average weekly attendance of 10,000 people. The Saddleback story acts not as a model for outcome but as a model for practice. Warren makes it very clear that how his church looks now is a direct result of its physical and spiritual circumstance, but that the methods that engendered Saddleback's growth can be transposed onto any geographical location.
Noting that God loves variety, Warren shows that it is "OK" to use a variety of techniques to spread the gospel (variety implies difference). One of Warren's main themes is "catching fish on their own terms." He was not afraid to make small concessions in matters of style in order to communicate the saving grace of the gospel. Warren gives practical advice on topics ranging from community research to church music to the preparation of a sermon.
However, this book is not just for the Church planting Christian. Blatantly hidden in these pages is a picture of love, understanding, and passion that inform the soul of the reader as much as his notepad. The observations that Warren relates regarding the methods of reaching unbelievers work as well on the personal level as they do at the church planning level. Critical is Warren's realization that the key to reaching unbelievers is loving them. Included in this loving is an understanding that sanctification comes after salvation. Warren accepts and loves individuals as they are, invites them into the body of Christ, and in that process they are inexorably changed. Underlying this process is the fact that it is God working, and not man. It is a beautiful thing that in a book on church growth Warren spends the first few pages discussing the fact that it is the hand of God that grows a church and then concludes his book with the imagery of the dry bones of Ezekiel 37. Though Ezekiel was commissioned to act, it was the breath of God that brought the bones to life. I recommend this book not only to individuals who plan on planting a church, but to any individual interested in planting Christ.

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Reaching the Unchurched

Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Church, provides valuable ideas for church planters and those who take on leadership positions within the church. Many people are wary about the claims that Warren makes because he seems to leave behind traditional and sometimes biblical ideas of how a church should be run. These claims arise from his methods of developing his church services around the felt needs of the community, his separation of seeker and believer services, and his strict policies of obedience to membership covenants. While these issues are controversial, a careful reading of Warren's book shows that he deals delicately with each of these issues and has aimed to separate cultural tradition from biblical instruction to make church relevant to people of this day and age.

Warren's primary goal in developing Saddleback Community Church was to attract the unchurched from the surrounding area. His methods of beginning with researching the community and asking its members why they do not attend church is biblically sound. Jesus knew the needs of those he met before they even told him. Since people now do not have that ability, they must ask before they can begin to fill the needs people have. Warren presents a helpful strategy for creating a church that answers to the needs of the community. He also recognizes that each community will have different needs so the method of discovering and meeting needs will take different forms in each case.

Once people from the community enter the church family through membership they are encouraged to grow through several programs. The explanation of the process of leading people to greater spiritual maturity is a strength of this book. Too many churches allow people to become stagnant in their faith once they have committed their lives to Christ. Warren shows that even a big church can be personal enough to ensure that each member is growing.

While The Purpose Driven Church presents many helpful church strategies it is important not to read it as more than the lessons and wisdom of one man. Warren has been successful in leading thousands of people to Christ and developing them into maturing Christians. He has learned from his journey and those lessons are valuable to other people. However, as Warren even notes, no two journeys will ever look the same. Furthermore, there are some valid areas of concern in Warren's suggestions, such as his separation of seekers from believers, the way he caters to the needs of the unchurched, and his seeming lack of concern for those who leave the church. Therefore, as with any book, it should be read with a discerning mind and prayerful openness to discover what is useful and what should be considered more carefully. I would recommend that it be read by anyone wanting to plant a church or in some cases those who are looking to revitalize a pre-existing church.

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A Church Dichotomy

Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Church is a church model/church-help guide that I still cannot determine whether I like it or not and whether I agree with it or not. The book is an excellent 400 pages of successful tactics for outreach, church growth, and inspirational example. I must commend Warren for his mastery of understanding human nature, application of psychological techniques, and effective outreach methods. Warren has succeeded highly in creating a church that fits the keyhole of south Orange County suburbia, yet I cannot help but be turned away by the ethnocentrism and egoism that are rampant throughout this book. In reading this, I reaped more of a sense of mind and heart manipulation than of love and Jesus' example. I was also turned away by how formulated his methods and faith are. I felt like God's church and a person's spirituality were textbook materials- that I could put the right ingredients into a box and pull out a Christian. Something inside will not let me feel right about defining a person's life, pain, love, spirituality, and purpose into stepped methodology.
Warren's focus was to church the unbelievers. Why do we want to "church" unbelievers? The last thing I want to do is commit a person to an organization that defines their spirituality. Spirituality and faith should be defined only by Jesus' love, not doctrine. There exists such a consumer mentality in the Saddleback mega-church. I feel that in our society the "Church" has become an institution and not a body of God's children and Warren's church model feeds just to that. It is so important in this age where the church truly needs redemption in society that mass-produced and influential writings represent true Christian values, Jesus' love, and humility. Religion, the church- these need to be redefined in our modern society and I do not feel that this book guides the practice of Christian faith in a truly biblical and spiritual direction. This book came off as a how-to on mastering the art of Christian Evangelism in middle-class, white suburbia. There is so much more in the world than that! Where is Warren's connection to that? As an artist, I understand that great art is not simply a mastery of technique but rather the outcome of growth, expression, and learning that occur by circumstance and discovery, not by step or pre-planned psychological manipulation. Effective? Intelligent? Inspiring? Yes, Warren's art is all those; however, I cannot get by my hesitation to accept an ethnocentric, procedural view of spirituality and faith as presented by Rick Warren in his Purpose-Driven Church. Rick Warren is a blessed, faithful, intelligent man and I would like to see credit given to the Holy Spirit that is what moves our spirituality and faith, and will guide our churches where they need to go.

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Church Growth: Traditional vs. Upstart

I found this book to be quite useful and in depth in the field of church growth. This book however is not for everyone. This book should only really be considered for those who are willing to take risks in their own, already established, churches and those who are looking to start a church of their own. This book is not for those who feel that a change in their church would destroy the whole infrastructure and cause a split in their church. Rick Warren does stress the fact that one should only challenge the traditions of the church if they really feel they are being called by God to do so. For those who are about to start a church themselves, this book contains many useful ideas. Those who are not restrained by tradition and history of a church can look at this book for guidance. It contains great ideas for a church and many great ideas of how to help your church grow. If you are looking for a practical outlook on how to start a church then this is the book for you.
I did have several problems with the book however. Warren seems to not give the Holy Spirit enough credit. Warren tells those who read this book that they must reach out to those who are most like them. He makes it sound as if you can not reach out to those who are different, not relying on the Holy Spirit to work through you. He also relies a whole lot on you changing and fitting your church for the needs of others rather than relying on the Holy Spirit to move them. This brings me to another problem I have with the book. Nowhere in the Bible do you find a church having separate church services for non-believers. When Paul speaks of church in his Epistles he speaks of it as believers and non-believers communing together. The whole point of church for him is to edify and build up the believers and through that non-believers themselves would be edified. Warren relies strictly on separating his believers from non-believers. Warren's relaxed attitude toward believers also worries me. It seems at times that does not worry about whether he keeps or loses his members but is only focused on gaining more.
Once again this book works fine for those who are just starting a church. It gives great ideas for how one can go about this. I would not recommend it for churches already well established however for Warren does not give much attention to current members and to edifying them. There is definitely a leaning toward churches that are just starting because that is what Warren knows.

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