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

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 400 pages
• Published by: Zondervan November 27, 1995
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0310201063
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0310201069
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 1.4 pounds

Product 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.

Product Description
This groundbreaking book offers a biblical yet practical strategy that will empower churches to minister in the 21st century. After testing and refining these concepts for fifteen years, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, shares the five-part growth strategy he developed. It gives a step-by-step process that will cause your church to grow warmer through ministry, and greater through evangelism.

Reader Reviews
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.