Book Review The Purpose Driven Church

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LIBERTY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY BOOK REVIEW 1 THE PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH: GROWTH WITHOUT COMPROMISING YOUR MESSAGE AND MISSION A PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. ROBERT GOWINS IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLETION OF THE COURSE, CLED 620 VISION AND STRATEGIC PLANNING BY FREDERICK MCDONNELL HALEY III LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA NOVEMBER 18, 2011 INTRODUCTION In The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission, author Rick Warren asserts that churches who organize around their biblical purposes will become healthy, growing churches (Warren 1995, 397). God’s purposes for the church include worship, ministry, evangelism, discipleship, and fellowship (Warren 1995, 394). Though Warren’s ecclesiology is excessively anthropocentric, he provides an effective planning paradigm that merits careful consideration by leaders of the church. ABSTRACT Rick Warren authored The Purpose Driven Church with the intention of defining the biblical purpose of the church and identifying practical implications of those purposes (Warren 1995, 395). His conclusions are drawn from his experiences as the founding and lead pastor of Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in America. The book is organized into five parts: Seeing the Big Picture; Becoming a Purpose-Driven Church; Reaching Out to Your Community; Bringing in a Crowd; Building up the Church. In part one, Warren tells the story of Saddleback church, from its humble beginnings to a church of over 16,000 today. Through Saddleback’s story, Warren shares his passion for discovering biblical, cultural, and leadership principles that produce healthy, growing churches (Warren 1995, 29). Warren also attempts to dispel a number of common myths associated with large, “megachurches.” While some megachurches are readily identifiable as organizations that compromise the
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