Churches Debate Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Model
The widely popular Purpose Driven church model is stirring up controversy among congregations in the United States. While the model is adopted worldwide across denominations, arguments over it go back to the age-old debate of Christian tradition versus cultural relevance.
by Lillian Kwon, Christian Today US Correspondent
Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007, 8:02 (GMT)
The widely popular Purpose Driven church model is stirring up controversy among congregations in the United States. While the model is adopted worldwide across denominations, arguments over it go back to the age-old debate of Christian tradition versus cultural relevance.
The brainchild of megapastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, the Purpose Driven model is changing the way thousands of churches are worshipping and reaching out in the 21st century. Pastors adopting the change preach a more culturally relevant message, ditching the traditional language of theology.
"I like to teach theology to people without telling them it's theology and without using theological terms," said Warren on ABC News' Nightline. "Simple does not mean simplistic. Simple does not mean superficial. Simple means it's clear."
Amid some complaints that the popular teaching may be more "self-help" than biblical, Warren acknowledged the difficulty in balancing relevance and biblical teachings. The evangelical pastor, however, is trying to bridge what happened over 2,000 years ago to today.
"When you're preaching and teaching the good news, you walk a very fine line where you're taking the world of the Bible and the world of today, and you're building a bridge between those [worlds]," he explained on Nightline. "Now, it's easy to be biblical if you don't care about being relevant ... And it's easy to be relevant if you don't care about being biblical. I happen to want to be both."
Not everyone is a fan of the Purpose Driven sermons.
First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, debated for weeks in town hall-like meetings over its new senior pastor's use of The Purpose Driven Life and other modern adoptions such as contemporary music and twin movie screens. David Cox, who led the 4,000-member church for less than five months, resigned from his position in January.
But one pastor believes the entire debate is "silly".
"It's kind of silly to me to hear somebody criticising the [Purpose Driven] model," said the Rev Jim Cowart who heads Harvest Church in Warner Robins, Georgia. "It's just a model. It's really what you make it."
"The model is not about theology or denomination," he said. "The essence of it is to live out the Great Commission and the Great Commandment."
Purpose Driven churches are not all the same. Each church follows the same system, but targets different audiences and ministers in their own context, depending on their surrounding community.
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Added: Saturday, December 6, 2008, 16:53 (GMT)
It disturbs me that this article doesn't go into more of the unbiblical reasons for the objections and harm that the PDM has brought into churches. Didn't Jesus say that he would leave the 99 in search for the one stray sheep? It doesn't seem the PD model encourages this. And just who is the church for? Is the church for the lost, or the regenerate? Orienting the church to be appealing to lost people is to make the church worldly, and specifiically, not to obey the commands and dictates of scripture for the life of the church (ekklesia), made of saved souls gathered for mutual worship and teaching in God's word. As we know, the prayer of the unrighteous is an abomination to God (Prov 28:9, 3:32), and they can have no fellowship with God until they are saved. So to make reaching them, and explaining Biblical truths to the lost (1 Cor 2:14) is harmful to the life of the church, which is to be growing up in unity, into the fullness of Christ, which Paul wrote to the Ephesian beleivers (Ephesians 3:13-21). I am also disturbed tha auhtor of this article immediately in paragraph 2, last sentence, immediately set the article in favor of Warren's Purpose Driven church model. I thought only the liberal secular media were biased towards their own agenda. Maybe it's true of liberal Christian media too. Or is there such a thing as liberal Christians? That may be a blasphemous statement in current cultural context.
Chris, Cambridge, USA
Added: Saturday, September 8, 2007, 16:33 (BST)
It disturbs me that pastors/churches are in essence saying that it is ok to lose a few if it reaches others. How is this showing love? Just because something is new doesn't make it better. Jesus himself followed traditions and celebrated the feasts and festivals of the Jewish tradition. He continually did things so we would "remember" what happened. The past and tradition is important. The church is not here to entertain or appeal to the unsaved. We are here to witness to them the Truth of the Gospel, and it is the Holy Spirits job to convict and woo. We need to hear the power of the cross and the resurrection of Christ, and the salvation will follow. Jesus did not preach "feel good" messages. He preached repentance and acknowledgement of sin.
jewell, winder, usa
