Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature
Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature
on Sunday to all the church body, at Saddleback, doctrineis only taught to sub-groups of the congregation apart fromthe regular church services. Warren emphasizedSaddleback’s strategy of moving new members “aroundthe bases” by having interested Christians take specialclasses to prepare them for service. Although Bible studygroups also meet together, our question is this: Why is notthe pulpit used to proclaim the “whole counsel of God” tothe whole congregation assembled before it on the Lord’sDay (Acts 20:20-31)? Why make serious, systematic Bibleinstruction an option, heard only by the relatively few inthe crowd who desire to “round the next base”? The wholecounsel of God is to be proclaimed, to all seated before thepulpit, all the time!• A spirit of compromise must prevail in the church that isto experience dynamic growth. The embrace ofcontemporary culture and style will most assuredly set thedesired mood that totally opposes the Biblical mandate toearnestly contend for the faith and separate from error.What works, what is least offensive and what is positiveand uplifting is what should define the ministry, accordingto Warren. The church leaders who are interested indynamic growth must embrace the attitude that says,“Don’t try to tell me the Bible requires holiness and a stylefor worship and ministry that is different from that of theworld.” This “grace-in-your-face” attitude is so prevalenttoday because of church elders who are not willing, or notaware of how, to instruct ones to behave in the house ofGod (1 Tim. 3:15).Rick Warren began the seminar by revealing the vastinfluence his message has had throughout the world. He toldthe pastors and church leaders who were attending the102
seminar, “You’re joining a group today of over 45,000pastors and church leaders that have gone through thisconference in the last few years from about 42 differentcountries, from about 63 different denominations. We have anumber of different countries that flew in today just for thisone day conference, from Europe, from Asia, from SouthAmerica.” To accent the ecumenical mood of the seminar,Warren later suggested, “It really doesn’t matter yourdenomination, folks. We’re all on the same team if you loveJesus.”Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Church and the relatedpublications of Saddleback’s literature ministry haveinfluenced tens of thousands more who have never attendedany of his seminars. As Warren indicated in a closing prayer,the impact of the Saddleback experience is extensive, to saythe least: “Thank you that there is a movement, a stealthmovement, that’s flying beneath the radar, that’s changingliterally hundreds, even thousands of churches around theworld.” It is necessary for the faithful believer today to bewary of any “stealth” (camouflaged, secretive) programintended to fly “beneath the radar” in order to avoiddetection. For many years now the church growth movementhas certainly flown into congregations undetected bythousands of churches worldwide. The onslaught must bedetected, the warning must be sounded now!This report will identify and analyze the programssuggested by the Saddleback Community Church model andwill ascertain whether or not this model is consistent withwhat the Bible says concerning the nature, purpose andstrategy of the church. Although Saddleback CommunityChurch is one of the largest churches in America(comparable to Bill Hybels’ Willow Creek CommunityChurch), the believer must not take a pragmatic approach to103
- Page 52 and 53: how sick and blasphemous this thing
- Page 54 and 55: Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. PlanSpeaking
- Page 56 and 57: “The church is not called to tran
- Page 58 and 59: Roger Oakland rightly observes:“W
- Page 60 and 61: absolutely nothing about kicking pe
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- Page 66 and 67: Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Bahai,
- Page 68 and 69: clamour for a confederacy which wou
- Page 70 and 71: American Baptist ChurchesThe Baptis
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- Page 74 and 75: “Then the third day came. A stone
- Page 76 and 77: eferred to as God in the Scriptures
- Page 78 and 79: 100 “lesbian, bi-sexual, and tran
- Page 80 and 81: “Through visualization and dreami
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- Page 86 and 87: Warren’s and the Ladies HomeJourn
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- Page 90 and 91: Furthermore, if God doesn’t expec
- Page 92 and 93: article; but to a Muslim, that’s
- Page 94 and 95: Warren Doesn’t Mention JesusIn Ju
- Page 96 and 97: Warren Predict’s A “NewReformat
- Page 98 and 99: An Analysis of the “Purpose Drive
- Page 100 and 101: Saddleback model? From our understa
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- Page 106 and 107: program) then the resultant growth
- Page 108 and 109: away from the larger issue at hand-
- Page 110 and 111: unreconcilable dichotomy between fl
- Page 112 and 113: giants,” accepted his methods. Fu
- Page 114 and 115: children of Israel could have said
- Page 116 and 117: that the local New Testament church
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- Page 120 and 121: e turned unto fables. But watch tho
- Page 122 and 123: Paul had no target group! All neede
- Page 124 and 125: Judge Not?The following is from our
- Page 126 and 127: ingeth forth good fruit; but a corr
- Page 128 and 129: must welcome and neither judge nor
- Page 130 and 131: the law, but a judge. There is one
- Page 132 and 133: About Way of Life’s eBooksSince J
- Page 134 and 135: ecumenical; it is charismatic; it i
- Page 136 and 137: Transformational Power of CCM. V. S
- Page 138 and 139: variety of situations, including ho
- Page 140: “The encyclopedia is excellent. T
on Sunday to all the church body, at Saddleback, doctrineis only taught to sub-groups <strong>of</strong> the congregation apart fromthe regular church services. Warren emphasizedSaddleback’s strategy <strong>of</strong> moving new members “aroundthe bases” by having interested Christians take specialclasses to prepare them f<strong>or</strong> service. Although Bible studygroups also meet together, our question is this: Why is notthe pulpit used to proclaim the “whole counsel <strong>of</strong> God” tothe whole congregation assembled bef<strong>or</strong>e it on the L<strong>or</strong>d’sDay (Acts 20:20-31)? Why make serious, systematic Bibleinstruction an option, heard only by the relatively few inthe crowd who desire to “round the next base”? The wholecounsel <strong>of</strong> God is to be proclaimed, to all seated bef<strong>or</strong>e thepulpit, all the time!• A spirit <strong>of</strong> compromise must prevail in the church that isto experience dynamic growth. The embrace <strong>of</strong>contemp<strong>or</strong>ary culture and style will most assuredly set thedesired mood that totally opposes the Biblical mandate toearnestly contend f<strong>or</strong> the faith and separate from err<strong>or</strong>.What w<strong>or</strong>ks, what is least <strong>of</strong>fensive and what is positiveand uplifting is what should define the ministry, acc<strong>or</strong>dingto Warren. The church leaders who are interested indynamic growth must embrace the attitude that says,“Don’t try to tell me the Bible requires holiness and a stylef<strong>or</strong> w<strong>or</strong>ship and ministry that is different from that <strong>of</strong> thew<strong>or</strong>ld.” This “grace-in-your-face” attitude is so prevalenttoday because <strong>of</strong> church elders who are not willing, <strong>or</strong> notaware <strong>of</strong> how, to instruct ones to behave in the house <strong>of</strong>God (1 Tim. 3:15).Rick Warren began the seminar by revealing the vastinfluence his message has had throughout the w<strong>or</strong>ld. He toldthe past<strong>or</strong>s and church leaders who were attending the102
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