Purpose-Driven® Church, The

Rating:
Summary: Planting
Review: 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.


Rating:
Summary: Reaching the Unchurched
Review: 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.


Rating:
Summary: Church Growth: Traditional vs. Upstart
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A complete lack of faith in the Holy Spirit
Review: I was curious about this book because I heard of his prior book. When I got to the part about "pick your targets" i.e. niche marketing I became very turned off. Pick your target people to save by income, age, etc. REALLY??? This is so unscriptural it's unbelievable. Jesus mixed with tax collectors, prostitutes, rich people and poor people, sick people to show us that his saving grace is available to all -- not just a select demographic few. This book is taking business tactics and trying to apply them to saving souls. If Jesus were physically with us at this time we would once again see him with his whips chasing the "money changers" out from the church entrance. This book and the tactics it promotes demonstrates a complete lack of faith in the Holy Spirit's ministry on earth. One pastor I know gave a sermon about this and refused to comply with this approach and had the most growth in his church over the others. This is because it is God and not men and their strategies and tactics who saves souls. Jesus warned us "beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits... every good tree bears good fruit, but every bad tree bears bad fruit. Matthew 7:15-16

Rating:
Summary: This is a concerning book
Review: I read this book to try to understand Purpose Driven Life. Warren's use of Psychological methods, software watching, and even contracts. Where is this in scripture? This is concerning.

Warren heavily uses the Living Bible. I can understand some Paraphrasically type translations in Life. But, Church is written to Elders and Pastors.

Warren as in Life misuses scriptures. He treats transfer members differently than new converts. Where is that biblical. Maybe the people had a good and scriptural reason to leave. He works them harder. Since God is not a respector of persons we are supposed to be?

The final and most disturbing thought. Is the Kool-Aide mentality of don't question or make waves. In fact tells the pastors to either marginalize or publically humiliate the discenters regardless of if they are right or not. This is dangerous and unscriptural. We must be faithful Bereans and check for ourselves.

Warren is after the money plain and simple. This is the new Prayer of Jabez etc... It will come and go. I just hope not doing too much damage as churches have split over these books. All I can say is Woe to the shephard who doesn't care for the sheep.

Rating:
Summary: If you want to read a history of Saddleback....
Review: There may be some valid, useful points in this book, however, to find them you have to wade through the history of Saddleback. While Saddleback may be a very good example of a growing church, and a very good example of successful redemption of non-believers, there are very few, if any, examples given of things that didn't work and why they didn't work. Reading this book it makes it look like Saddleback has never had any failures, that the way that Saddleback has been organized and is operated is the best way to operate a church today. There are few examples of options of doing things other than the way Saddleback has developed. If you would like to have yet another Saddleback clone, read this book and follow the programming suggestions. If you would like to grow your own church, take the information given in the book, adapt it to your purposes and create your own programming.