The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church Is Big in God's Eyes [Hardcover]

Rick Warren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2011

'The Purpose Driven Church has brought focus and direction to more pastors and church leaders than you can count. What a gift!'---John Ortberg, bestselling author Every church is driven by something. Tradition, finances, programs, personalities, events, seekers, and even buildings can each be the controlling force in a church. But Rick Warren believes that in order for a church to be healthy it must become a purpose-driven church, built around the five New Testament purposes given to the church by Jesus. 'The issue is church health, not church growth!' declares Warren. 'If your church is healthy, growth will occur naturally. Healthy, consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church.' Rick Warren shares a proven five-part strategy that will enable your church to grow * warmer through fellowship * deeper through discipleship * stronger through worship * broader through ministry * larger through evangelism The Purpose Driven Church shifts the focus away from church building programs to emphasizing a people-building process. Warren says, 'If you will concentrate on building people, God will build the church.'

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The thesis of The Purpose Driven Church is that when churches think first about their health, growth is sure to follow. "If your church is healthy," writes Rick Warren, "growth will occur naturally. Healthy, consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church." These five purposes are to "Love the Lord with all your heart," "Love your neighbor as yourself," "Go and make disciples," "[Baptize] them," and "[Teach] them to obey." And those purposes can only be accomplished, argues Warren, when church leaders stop thinking about church-building programs and shift their focus to a "people-building process" involving fellowship, discipleship, worship, and evangelism. Warren, the founder of the fastest-growing Baptist church in American history, has taught seminars to thousands of pastors from all over the world, many of whom have successfully implemented his techniques.

About the Author

Rick Warren is often called 'America's most influential spiritual leader.' He and his wife, Kay, founded Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, which is now one of the largest and best-known churches in the world. He also wrote the #1 all-time bestselling hardcover book, The Purpose Driven Life. SPANISH BIO: Rick Warren es pastor, estratega global, teologo y filantropo. Los medios le llaman 'El lider espiritual mas influyente de America' y 'El pastor de America'. el y su esposa, Kay, fundaron la Iglesia Saddleback en California, una propiedad de 120 acres con mas de 300 ministerios comunitarios de ayuda a prisioneros, adictos y padres solteros, entre otros. Como estratega global, el Dr. Warren asesora a lideres en sectores publicos, privados y religiosos en temas de pobreza, salud, educacion, la fe en la cultura y desarrollo de liderazgo. Es invitado a dictar conferencias en congresos y agencias estatales como las Naciones Unidas y es catedratico en diferentes universidades. El Dr. Warren es autor de varios libros, incluyendo el exito de ventas Vida con Proposito.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (July 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310201063
• ISBN-13: 978-0310201069
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Ministry & Church Leadership

More About the Author

Rick Warren is often called "America's most influential spiritual leader." He and his wife, Kay, founded Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, which is now one of the largest and best-known churches in the world. He also wrote the #1 all-time bestselling hardcover book, The Purpose Driven Life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, Practical, but Weak in Biblical Foundations, October 9, 2001

By 

Brian G Hedges (South Bend, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church Is Big in God's Eyes (Hardcover)

I find it hard to rate this book accurately. I have read few books that have been more helpful in the realm of practical church life. Warren skillfully presents a blue-print on how to grow a healthy in church in which the five purposes (which are presented Biblically) of worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and evangelism are held in balance. The steps to take are practical and clear. Add to that a plethora of helpful common-sense tips to improving logistics in working with both the visitors and members of your church. This book is full of helpful ideas.

HOWEVER, the demerit of the book is its rather shallow Biblical basis. I believe that the five purposes Warren presents are biblical. I believe that the concept of moving people from membership to maturity to ministry to missions is biblical and very, very well developed. And I was impressed to see that Warren's church uses a church covenant and practices church discipline. I simply wish he had given a better biblical defense for these things. There are points where it seems like the author is taking Scripture out of context to defend a point - evidenced by his excessive use of paraphrases of Scripture. He should have used a literal translation and stuck to what the text actually says.

I also highly disagree with Warren's approach to music. He probably goes a bit overboard on the seeker-sensitive side of things, although I admit many of the things he says are non-moral, non-biblical, common-sense issues.

I was helped by reading this book. I have the sense to know that I can't apply everything Warren says in my own church culture and tradition, but there are some things any one can apply. I say, buy this book and read with discernment. As long as you don't make a Bible out of it, you will probably benefit greatly.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Adopting North American Culture Both Good and Bad, April 9, 2004

By 

James (United States of America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church Is Big in God's Eyes (Hardcover)

There has been a movement among missionaries and mission boards to encourage indigenous churches rather than merely exporting our culture to the rest of the world. The argument runs that the Gospel must always be enfleshed or embodied in a people and its culture. We cannot deny that the Good News of Jesus Christ must be spoken in particular human languages. Forcing Africans to worship like Scotsmen, does a disservice to African culture and the Gospel.

As I read Rick Warren's book, the Purpose Driven Church, I thought about this current trend in mission. Whether we like it or not, Rick Warren's Saddleback Church is a church indigenous to Southern California at the end of the twentieth century. Warren has attempted to translate the Gospel into the language of young, suburban professionals. As Paul quoted Stoic poets on Mars Hill, Rick Warren can comfortably quote Peter Drucker and utilize the marketing techniques of Starbucks. Anyone interested doing ministry in this culture can learn something from this book, especially if we take Rick Warren at his word--"Read this book like you'd eat fish: Pick out the meat and throw away the bones" (pg 71).

That being said, there is a danger. As the Gospel is expressed in culture, it must also critique the culture. Our sinfulness is pervasive, and the Gospel should expose the evils of our culture for what they are. Rick Warren subtitles his book, "Growth Without Compromising Your Message and Mission," but on several instances he compromises the Good News to the culture.

For example, we live in a self-segregated society. We routinely segregate white from black, rich from poor, and young from old. The Purpose Drive Church perpetuates these separation by slavishly focusing on target audiences. A church filled with only Saddleback Sams and Samanthas are a betrayal to Pentecost where "your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 1:17-21). Rick Warren may suggest that Saddleback is only part of the greater Church. Others may be called to evangelize other target audiences. He states, "I feel right at home with entrepreneurial businessmen, managers, and professions. In fact, I've noticed that they are attracted to my ministry. It's nothing I planned, it's just the way God wired me" (pg 176). Perhaps that is true, but it reminds me of an observation that a friend made in seminary, "Isn't amazing that God calls so many people to pastor affluent, white suburban churches?"

We also live in a competitive culture which is inherently results-oriented. On occasion Rick Warren seems to replace the grace of God with a works-righteousness preached by the culture. In the beginning of the book, the author writes, "Only God makes the church grow" (pg 14). Later however, he uses the Bible's teaching on fruitfulness as a guilt trip. He states, "God expects both faithfulness and fruitfulness" (pg 62). Although he quotes from John 15, nothing is made of Jesus' admonition: "He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing." Fruitfulness grows out of faithfulness. Moreover, Rick Warren exclusively defines fruitfulness as conversions: "The fruit of a believer is another believer" (pg 63). There is no mention of the fruit of the Spirit. Rick Warren seems to imply that churches which are not growing, must not be bearing any fruit.

Rick Warren does have some important things to say. I appreciate his desire to move Christians beyond membership and into ministry and mission. Three cheers for his statement: "I believe that you measure the health or strength of a church by its sending capacity rather than its seating capacity" (pg 32). Nonetheless, while reaching out to the culture, the Purpose Driven Church should beware becoming too much like the culture.

160 of 207 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Western, business-based and deceivingly unbiblical at times, October 18, 2000

By 

Robert Knetsch "Wanna-be theologian" (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church Is Big in God's Eyes (Hardcover)

I was given this book to read by my pastor as an elder of a church in Toronto. We are a vibrant growing church that seeks to discover how God would have us do His will. Therefore, may I say that I also believe that Rick Warren wants to do the same thing. He is an ernest believer who wants to help the Church grow.

That does not preclude my right to criticize this book. May I first begin with the title. Are we to start "Purpose Driven" churches? Or are we Spirit driven? The idea of having a purpose is not without warrant, but I strongly caution the kind of terminology that is too often used. May I also quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Life Together: "God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious...God has bound us together in one body...long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients." WE do not make the vision for the church - we enter into God's vision.

I should address my claim in my title that he is deceivingly unbiblical. While reading the book, especially in the "Vision" section, I noted how many different translations he had to employ as he quoted Scripture to try and show the use of the word "vision" in the texts. Moreover, many of these verses really do not refer to a "vision statement" which he implied, but a vision of taking part in God's vision for the world. In this way, Warren instead uses biblical text to support a vision statement approach that is in fact directly copied from taht of large corporations.

Some of the ideas in this book are also very questionable. For example, he insists that the pastor should be there a long time, that he or she is the essential Sheppard of the flock. As a protestant who believes strongly in the priesthood of all believers, how can this be? Is it about getting a single charismatic leader that we all rely on? What happens when the person eventually DOES leave (death, goes somewhere else, etc.) If the church is not strong enough in its own lay leadership, then this is a truly unhealthy church based on a cult of personality.

Finally, the concept of growth is a slippery one. Warren is admittedly careful not to say that this is what it is all about, but he says that if you are healthy you will grow. I want to echo a fellow Amazon reviewer who commented that the more hard truths Jesus spoke, the more people left! Let us not forget that sometimes the gospel is offensive to the world!

On a personal level, it is hard to read this book. It is what I call an "exclamation mark" book, meaning it seems that almost every page has 2 or 3 exclamation marks and almost flippant comments without a lot of deep thought. Its writing style puts me off and makes me feel like I am reading a pop book and not a spiritual book.

This is not to say that he did not make me think or that he did not challenge me to rethink my current view of the church. However, in comparison to Bonheoffer, I must say I have learned more from the latter.