Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

My recent reading infuriates me. The book is "The Purpose Driven Church" by Rick Warren. At times, my heart breaks as I consider the misleading, misquoting and misrepresentation of Christ and His Word. At other times, I am furious and amazed that a preacher with a doctorate (albeit from Fuller) can handle God's Word so cavalier. How daring to quote Christ out of context! How brazen to emphasize words that aren't even in the text! How bold to pick and choose particular translations to prove your point! All this is from a revered pastor of the largest church in America. I suppose I am at most times simply aghast.

But at the same time, other portions of the book are touching and sincere. There is a palpable desire to reach the lost. This is why I believe this current pragmatic church movement - "reach the lost at any cost" coupled with "never criticize what God's is [sic] blessing" - is the razor's edge of Christianity. It is a watershed, but that doesn't make it novel. This episode reminds me of Sir Thomas Moore in A Man for All Seasons who realized that if you concede your beliefs, you lose your being. It reminds as well of Charles Spurgeon's battle with his United Baptists or Francis Shaeffer's battle with his heretofore-conservative Presbyterians. This is our defining moment. Yet at this moment, with the exception of John McArthur, most acquiesce while others remain mute - perhaps confused, perhaps uncertain. To be sure, there is a shrill wing that cries foul when Warren uses any translation but King James with shrieks of "Heretic!" I want nothing to do with them. And it may be too late anyhow. The pragmatic movement has formed deep roots - as textual criticisms and intellectualism did a century ago. The impact has already radiated through Christianity although the full affect on the Church is yet to be calculated. I fear it will be many millions.

You may recall a gent named Charles Darwin, a little periodical called The Origin of Species and the ensuing shockwaves delivered and still felt to this day. For the pragmatists, their Darwin is Peter Drucker, expert business evangelist and marketeer. I don't recall the pivotal figure that drank in Origin and transformed Hyde-like into this hideous beast of Christio-modernism. But the hand and draught of pragmatism today is George Barna and Rick Warren.

Barna is particularly astonishing. His own surveys reveal "just 38% of the adult public have confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior, [yet] 99% claim they will not go to Hell after they die. In fact, a majority of Americans do not believe that Satan exists and most adults are leery about the existence of Hell." Still, he has promoted a seriously watered down (if not devoid) Gospel that caters to unbeliever's "felt needs". Warren, who's book prompted me, genuinely desires to reach the lost. But he too has turned off the path, also "targeting" the "felt needs" of unbelievers all under the guise of a successful ministry. Would that Warren remember God's admonishment to Joshua: "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)

Would that he imitate Paul: "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.... For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Co 1:17,2:2)

Warren on one page claims to be drawing a line of which he will not cross - never compromising the Word - and pages later crosses the line and encourages you to come along for the ride. The subtitle of the book is subtly revealing: "Growth without Compromising Your Message & Mission." Notice it is your message and mission that is not compromised, not God's. And your message is left decidedly up to you. Warren's message is intentionally compacted into five "purposes" which he draws from a few passages in Scripture. No biblically based Christian would on the surface disagree with them - they are attractive, satisfying, and ring true. But they are intentionally weakly defined. So it should be no surprise that "hundreds of churches" from "dozens" of denominations have adopted this method and (presumably) purposes. It is easy, inoffensive, and energizing. It is pragmatic in the fullest sense of the word.

It is pragmatic and successful. The book has sold over a million copies, his Saddleback church is packed with well over 15,000 "Saddleback Sam's and Samatha's" in attendance each week. He has launched a web site to "encourage pastors, ministers, and church leaders with tools and resources for growing healthy churches." Apparently everything Warren does has a purpose - and pastor.com charges for it. One wonders how honestly Warren wishes to help others when he charges $4 a sermon (and $4 extra for the accompanying PowerPoint slides). Even "Purpose Driven" is now a registered trademark. Pragmatic to the end, eh?

The problem I have with everything about the Purpose-Driven Church ("PDC") model is that it is predicated on one fact to justify why it is "better" or "more effective" than any other model--NUMBERS.

Having gone to a PDC, I find it disturbing that everything is reduced down to something is watered-down and stupefied for the masses. Even things such as accepting Christ into your heart end up being something that you end up checking off on an impersonal card. Everything has a different term that is watered-down enough to make it palatable to the masses. The PDC produces a generation of "believers" who don't know what they believe, because their Biblical knowledge is supplanted by other Christian self-help books.

The idea that the Sunday service is the focal point and that having a multimedia spectacle somehow will draw more believers is crazy. In the end, I think that you could apply everything you read in the PDC here to any part of your life. It's just purely incidental that they are using Jesus as the subject matter here.

I see alot of churches popping up based off this book and I have even attended. But I've noticed that many are trying to be "pop" churches, some to the effect of making the church seem cheap. And they are all looking more to this book than the actual Bible, which should be the real insperation for church building.

At first, I was enamored by the "Purpose Driven Church." But, to my shame I didn't look deeper into the poor Bible translations used. I was caught uo in the hype. Qouting Robert Schuller as an example of successful ministry is bordering on heresy! Charging $4.00 a sermon on his (Rick Warren's)website is fleecing the flock. If you are a millionaire due to the success of the "Purpose Driven" books, why keep on raking in the bucks? Something doesn't sound right. Most churches are buying into the hype, line, hook, and sinker. It's all starting to scare me. Remember,the serpent in the garden mixed some truth into his lies. Is all this part of the great apostacy? We need to fast and pray for God to bring revival and church growth, the way the apostles and the great men of prayer (Mueller, Luther, Spurgeon, etc.) did! Look up! Your redemption is drawing near!

According to Warren, "If your church is healthy, growth will occur naturally." His main purpose for writing the book is to provide the necessary information to build healthy churches. Warren relates his thoughts in five sections: (1) "Seeing the Big Picture" (growing deeper through discipleship), (2) "Becoming a Purpose-Driven Church" (growing through ministry), (3) "Reaching Out to Your Community" (growing through evangelism), (4) "Bringing in a Crowd" (growing through worship and fellowship), and (5) "Building Up the Church" (growing through discipleship and ministry). Some of Warren's points seem obvious. For example, Warren states that a pastor "must be loving" towards people -believers and unbelievers alike (212), and that a church ought to have an "atmosphere of acceptance" (210). Warren had many good suggestions for reaching the "unchurched." For instance, he recommends that churches place "newer translation" Bibles in pews and during the sermon announce the page number so as to not embarrass visitors (297). He also shares that sermons ought to be based on the "needs, hurts and interests as human beings" in order to have "common ground" with unbelievers (295). Though there are many helpful points to Warren's book, his emphasis seems to be on making the "unchurched" feel comfortable (257). He promotes "seeker sensitive" services without traditions, and expects sacrifice from church members in order to accommodate unbelievers. It appears the main focus of Warren's agenda is to bring in new converts. This is a worthy task; however, it would be interesting to see if "old members" view this as a personal form of neglect. Warren claims, "Strong churches are not built on programs, personalities, or gimmicks," but his model for growing his own church falls into this realm (83). Maybe Warren's own notoriety is the reason for increases of number at Saddelback. It would be interesting to find out how many people leave after a certain amount of time and for what reasons.

Rick Warren, the pastor at Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, California, writes The Purpose-Driven Church in an effort to help other parish pastors. This is essentially a presentation of how Saddleback began, grew, and how it is governed. Through this presentation, Warren hopes the local pastor will be able to glean information helpful for restructuring his own ministry to create healthier, growing, goal-oriented churches. My overall impression is lukewarm. Warren comes across in this book as an incredibly faithful, caring, mission-oriented Christian, yet also displays glaring weaknesses in his doctrinal understanding-he is certainly no brilliant theologian. From these personal strengths and weaknesses stem the strengths and weaknesses apparent in both Saddleback Community Church and The Purpose-Driven Church.

In the realm of practical theology, Warren excells; the reader can glean many useful principles and techniques. These range from simple acts like using high-wattage lightbulbs and minimizing "dead time" in services to a purposeful analysis of how gifted you are at reaching particular demographic groups (young couples, educated African-Americans, etc.). Most helpful for this reader is Warren's continual emphasis that the church structure must be normed and guided by its evangelism-centered mission statement; Warren shows that as his church grew (and changed), the mission continually guided Saddleback's decisions. This reader very much appreciated seeing the principles outlined in Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and Hyrum Smith's "What Matters Most" applied in a mission-oriented church setting.

Not all in The Purpose-Driven Church was helpful, however. As mentioned previously, the strengths and weaknesses of Rick Warren are reflected both in his book and in his congregation, and the most glaring of his weaknesses is his heterodox theology. Unfortunately, much of what Warren advocates and establishes-indeed, Saddleback's mission statement itself-is build upon weak theology. Warren's lack of Biblical understanding is evident in his outrageous statements that the pastoral office is not divinely established, but was invented by Roman Catholics (391) and the statement that the early Church "...didn't have altar calls because...there were not aisles to walk down and no altars to come to!" It is clear that Warren reads his own ideas into Scripture.

Beginning with a particular theory or practice, then purposefully looking for Biblical passages to give this subjective theory objective Scriptural support is a tactic regularly employed by Warren. This is further seen in the fact that he uses seven different Bible translations and paraphrases to present proof-texts and word studies. In doing this, he not only "puts the cart before the horse," but he also confuses Scriptural mandates, practices Scripture forbids, and adiaphorous practices. He often presents an adiaphorous program in existence at Saddleback as "Biblically-based" and goes on to show that Scripture commands this particular practice; by its nature, this implies that differing practices un-Biblical-foolish at best and sinful at worst.

A second area that is problematic for the Lutheran community is Warren's tendency to confuse Law, Gospel, Justification, and Sanctified living. In fact, these concepts are so confused that this reader found himself hard-pressed to unravel Warren's treatment of these in any meaningful way. According to Warren, Church membership and Christian identity is not tied to faith and baptism, but is rather tied to good works-specifically educational classes and written promises to tithe, study the Bible, and engage in acts of service. Warren goes so far as to say that "If you're not having regular fellowship with other believers you should seriously question whether or not you are really walking in the light." It is certainly not helpful for a Lutheran to motivate his parishioners into acts of service by questioning their justification or using guilt-inspiring references to the Law, or deny them membership into the congregation until they promise to engage in particular acts of sanctified living.

Finally, a pastor may find Warren's consumer-driven approach to decision making problematic. While it is proper to give Warren credit for relying heavily on his mission statement, especially in the area of outreach, one can similarly fault him for relying too heavily on popular secular opinion and "meeting perceived needs." Warren tends to rely on popular public opinion to norm his church and not theology enough. But again, Saddleback reflects Warren's personal strengths (social and personal analysis) and weaknesses (theology).

I am hard pressed to make a recommendation either way. Its practical strengths merit a wide readership but its theological weaknesses are shameful. Check out "Twelve Keys to an Effective Church" by Kennon Callahan instead.

There are some very good insights in this book for pastors. However, if Scripture is your authority, this is not the book for you. Most Scripture quotations are taken out of context or are misquoted. The Theology in this book violates basic Hermenutical prnicples, and is overall poor. My question to the author is: Are you viewing Scripture through the eyes of your expirience, or viewing your expirience through the eyes of Scripture? The author has made the Bible say what he wants it to say. But, DO NOT take my word for it. Just look up all the Scripture References.