The founding pastor of Saddleback Church in California, Rick Warren has been in attendance at the Baptist Centenary Congress in Birmingham, UK. He has been amongst a high-profile list of leading Baptist leaders as well as other Christians that have gathered at the momentous event to celebrate with 12,000 delegates.
Rick Warren is one of the most high-profile among the attendants; as the author of one of the most read Christian books worldwide in recent times – The Purpose Driven Life. The book has sold more than a million copies in 20 languages across the globe.
Christian Today had the chance to speak to Warren, and he reported that he was “humbled to be here at the Centenary Congress”.
“My parents attended the 75th Jubilee Baptist Congress, and I always thought that it would be so great to be at one of these events,” expressed Warren.
The Baptist Centenary Congress is the largest event ever held at the International Convention Centre reported the conference director, with about 1,000 more attendees than expected prior to the event.
When Warren was asked what was hoped to be gained from the four-day event, he answered: “This is a celebration of diversity and unity at the same time. You can get 10 Christians in one room and they will not all agree on certain issues – we have 12,000 here. If we all have to agree to make a fellowship then the fellowship would remain very small. So celebrating both unity and diversity is what this congress is about.”
The Saddleback Church in America began as just a home church in 1980, with just one family as its congregation. The work of God in the ministry has been extraordinary, however, with the church currently attracting more than 16,000 each weekend, with more than 50,000 names on the church roll.
