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| The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission | 
 enlarge | Author: Rick Warren
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy Used: $4.70
You Save: $15.29 (76%)
New (69) Used (131) Collectible (13) from $4.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  125 reviews
Sales Rank: 4028
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0310201063
Dewey Decimal Number: 253
UPC: 025986201067
EAN: 9780310201069
ASIN: 0310201063
Publication Date: November 27, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
This book does not need ANOTHER review but... September 24, 2006
13 out of 17 found this review helpful
Forget all the hub bub, take the book at face value, and you'll find this is a great book with a lot of practical ideas for churches.
Unfortunately, any time anything "Christian" gets extremely popular, people starting crawling out of the woodwork to warn us that it's satanic, decieving, or unbiblical, and I don't buy into that logic. Neither should you.
Does "purpose-driven" sound very much like a business idea? Sure it does! Does that mean it's automatically unbiblical? Absolutely not. Think about it... we heard the same thing about contemporary Christian music. People worked hard to spread the alarm that it was satanic because it sounded like regular popular music on the radio. So what? Popularity does not equal satanic. Most of the critical reviews I've read on this website are a little ridiculous. For example, one reviewer criticizes Warren for stating that a healthy church should be growing. In the reviewer's opinion, the Bible clearly states that Jesus' teaching drove some people away. I would agree. However, the Bible also says that HUGE CROWDS showed up to hear Him preach. I'm no historian, but I'm willing to bet that a gathering of 5000 people back in Jesus' day was about the equivalent of a million-man march today. I'm also quite sure that besides the 22,000 attendees at Warren's church in Southern California, there are THOUSANDS more that aren't coming to hear God's word. My point is that the logic of many of these critics of the book just doesn't work.
The bottom line for me is that Rick Warren loves Jesus and he has a passion for leading unchurched people to meet his Savior. You can see that in every paragraph of every chapter of this book. God has gifted him and blessed his ministry. Warren is a theologian who has a broad appeal because he doesn't sound like one; he sounds like a normal guy who loves Jesus. I like that.
I didn't find anything unbiblical in this book. It is encouraging and full of great ideas to help churches understand their mission and reach unbelievers. If you don't want to do that, don't read this book.
A Good Aid to Help Your Church Grow September 5, 2006
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Whatever you believe about Pastor Warren, in my humble opinion, he has written an excellent book on how to help your church grow. Whether or not you agree with Warren's conservative theology, there is no doubt that what he has practiced at Saddleback Community Church has been very successful in reaching unbelievers for Jesus Christ.
Among the important points covered include:
1. Prayer should be the first step in any endeavor.
2. 8 myths of growing churches and 5 transferable concepts from the Saddleback Community Church model.
3. The difference between being efficient and being effective.
4. What an effective purpose statement consists of.
5. Our responsibilities as believers.
6. The 5 kinds of churches and why churches need to be balanced in their purpose.
7. How Jesus Christ attracted crowds.
8. 6 myths of spiritual maturity and how to get people to commit to spiritual maturity.
9. The advantages of having God's perspective in our situation.
10. Why having convictions are important.
Why some folks may have problems with Warren's beliefs and theology, I can't help but think that others do not like what he has to say because of cultural differences. For example, I live in the conservative South and usually wear a suit or blazer and tie to church. In California where Saddleback Community Church is, the folks (including Warren himself) wear casual clothes. While casual dress is not my preference for going to church, I'd rather have people wear casual clothes than to not go at all!
Read and enjoy. Highly recommended!
 Much better than I expected August 12, 2006
Rick Warren is founding pastor of Saddleback Community Church, the fastest-growing Baptist church in American history. This book not only tells their story, but offers a paradigm for how to claim (or reclaim) a purpose for your church. I approached this book very skeptically, expecting to have significant issues with this book because I do have significant issues with Warren's theology. (I am not a fan of Warren's other book, The Purpose-Driven Life.) I was pleasantly surprised to discover a depth to this book that I was not expecting to find.
In The Purpose-Driven Church, Warren challenged some of my assumptions and pushed me to explore my own biases and prejudices. He writes with much passion, and often asks thought-provoking questions that challenged me at a number of levels. I think differently now about a number of issues because of this book. My basic theological orientation has not changed. But some assumptions I once had about "how things should be in church" have definitely been challenged.
For folks like me who are troubled by Warren's theology, it would be easy enough to skip this book. But if you think that there might be some wisdom in at least listening to what other people are saying, even if you have some pretty strong disagreements with them, then you have the potential to learn something from a book like this. If you're willing to let yourself become a little vulnerable, dive right in. You may be surprised to discover some gems in here that you will want to take away with you.
One Lutheran's perspective April 19, 2006
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
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.
A Mainline Church Pastor's Evaluation February 28, 2006
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Purpose Driven Church is an excellent matrix for thinking about and organizing a church. It is perfect for a new church development. It is filled with potential leg-and-arm losing mines for the historic church that has a lot of tradition holding it down. With wisdom and intentionality, this model, which is not new to the Presbyterian Church (USA), the denomination I am a part of. Presbyterians have historically been driven by "The Great Ends of the Church," a different name for "Purpose Driven" but whose content matches the 5 Purposes as set forth in the book. Rick Warren's 5 Purposes are not original, which Rick says in the book. They are the same purposes pastors have preached since Christ. Rick just puts them all together and communicates them through a felt need of modern people, the need for purpose. So it connects the historic purpose of the church with the felt needs of modern people and that's what makes it effective. The book is realistic and honest. It doesn't tout this model as the end all. It acknowledges the need for pastors to tailor the principles to thier context, which if you do not do you may be looking for a new job after experiencing tremendous conflict. For the Presbyterian churches that have restructured themselves utilizing the book as food for thought and have done so patiently and wisely, it has breathed new life into what many see as a "frozen" church. The book's value is in how effectively it communicates God's Word concerning the ministry of the church in the world. It highlights the need for balance and for not being a one demensional church (i.e. soul winning church, a mission church, a discipling church etc.) It offers a good model or matrix for thinking about and structuring the church that makes sense and connects to the average person. It is not a how to manual. You have to figure out how to apply what principles when.
If it has a weakness it is in the area of failing to foster a diverse church. Some churches may use it as a justification for remaining just as they are and not reflecting thier community (a point raised in the book, the importance of reflecting your community) but that may be lost when "targeting" people who would feel comfortable in the church. Many urban white churches will not be challenged by the book to change and reflect the community in which they live. Other books will need to be used to develop an intentional process for many of oour wealthy, inner city churches who are mainly white to become more diverse and senstive to the needs of their community.
Richard Pfeil
Head of Staff
White Clay Creek Presbyterian Curch
Newark DE
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