Beware of the Purpose Driven Church
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, June 07, 2007
- Viewed 389
- (42) comments so far
Here is some of the list. I was going to comment on each one; but I think they speak for themselves.
My personal favorite is #6:
“The pastor, or a new leader with a few assistants, usually four, takes charge of all church business.”
Huh? They must know something the I didn’t know. I thought it only took three leaders and assistants to subvert the pure doctrine of the church. Now I know that it ‘usually’ takes four.
Interesting note: This pamphlet also (if you read it) encourages gossip and subversion be telling people that they can regain their leadership of the church by getting 10-20 percent of the membership on their side. They call this “activist intervention”. What does the Bible call that kind of thing?
You can read the real pdf here (thanks to our friends at the VCY website)…
Here are some of the ways you can tell if your church is transitioning to Purpose Driven:
1. Change in music to a contemporary rock style.
2. Removal of hymn books; eliminating the choir.
3. Replacement of organ and piano with heavy metal instruments.
4. Repetitive singing of praise lyrics.
5. Eliminating of business meetings, church committees, council of elders, board of deacons, etc.
6. The pastor, or a new leader with a few assistants, usually four, takes charge of all church business.
7. A repetitive 40–day Purpose Driven Church study program stressing psychological relationships with each other, the community, or the world, begins.
8. Funded budgeted programs are abandoned, or ignored, with ambiguous financial reports made.
9. Sunday morning, evening, and/or Wednesday prayer meetings are changed to other times; some may even be eliminated.
10. Sunday School teachers are moved to different classes, or replaced by new teachers more sympathetic with the changes being implemented.
11. The name “Sunday school” is dropped and classes are given new names.
12. Crosses and other traditional Christian symbols may be moved from both the inside and outside of the church building. The pulpit may also be removed.
13. In accordance with Dr. Warren’s instructions, new version Bibles are used; or only verses flashed on a screen are referenced during regular services.
14. Purpose Driven Church films, purchased from Saddleback, precede or are used during regular services.
15. The décor, including the carpets, may be changed to eliminate any resemblance to the former church.
16. The word “church” is often taken from the name of the church, and the church may be called a “campus.” Denominational
names may also be removed.
17. An emphasis on more fun and party sessions for the youth.
18 Elimination of altar calls or salvation invitations at the close of the services.
19. The elimination of such words as “unsaved,” “lost,” “sin,” “Hell,” “Heaven,” and other gospel verities from the pastor’s
messages.
20. The reclassification of the saved and lost to the “churched” and “unchurched.”
21. The marginalizing, or ostracizing, of all who are not avid promoters of the new Purpose Driven program.
22. Closed meetings between the pastor or chosen staff members without any reports made to the general membership.
23. Open hostility to members who do not openly embrace the new program, or who may have left for another church.
FOR DISCUSSION: Any thoughts?
This is one of the more humorous things I've read in a while. But really, it's not all that funny. This is a REAL list of 'warnings' printed to help people know if their church is being taken over by scrupulous Purpose Driven leaders. It's not funny because people are buying this stuff. I read it and wonder how anyone can write this with a straight face... Regardless, you've been warned.
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Leonard on Thu, June 07, 2007
Don’t forget #24, Lives get changed and people start coming to Christ, growing to maturity in Christ and the church begins to give a crap about the lost verse how shiny we can make our halos. Oh did my inside typing become outside typing? Sorry
Derek on Thu, June 07, 2007
In 2004 our church went the an identity crisis, resignation of the senior pastor, a less-than-entertaining church fight, and the departure of bunch of core families. This all happened weeks after our church did 40 Days of Purpose and those who left blamed it on who else…..but Rick Warren and the dangers of the purpose driven movement….real original right?!?
Last summer one of our former member wrote a letter to the editor warning people of the dangers of the “seeker sensitive movement”—Warren, Hybels and the Message Bible all get thrown in there together. We are a non-denominational church and we have been enriched by the influence of Warren, Hybels and the Message Bible, but in the letter to the editor this former church member attack our church ( and me ) without naming us directly.
The article listed 10 signs that your church is being destroyed by the seeker-sensitive TAKEOVER! It is similar to the list from the YCY.
Here they are:
1. The church leadership may point out that you need a new, larger more modern building at a new location. This may or may not be true, but it will certainly be impressive.
2. They may point out that you need to update or create a new church logo. It will many times include a contemporary rendition of a cross that is a little sloppier in design than the traditional pictures of the cross that you are used to. The original cross was by no means attractive, but it was well built.
3. They may point out that your church needs to target the younger people, young families, 20- to 40-year-olds. This point may be introduced through a church growth seminar with an outside moderator or church growth expert. Where does this leave our senior citizens?
4. You may actually recognize, in some instances, an introduction of New Age practices. If you’re not familiar with such, you won ‘t recognize them. Many times they take on the shape of religious all-inclusiveness. An Internet search on the New Age Movement will again give you much information. The local library would be another source.
5. You may notice other changes that are odd to you, but you can’t put your finger on what’s different or why they don’t feel right.
6. Should you point these out to church leadership, you may be identified as a “resistor” and told, “If you don’t like what’s going on here, you can leave.” Loss of membership is to be expected in a church desiring growth.
7. Unfortunately, the book “The Purpose Driven Life,” by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California, will sometimes usher in or be linked to the changes you see in your church. It reads well at first glance, but look again. Also, the Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois seems to be heavily involved.
8. Your church may be engaging in “feel-good” activities to draw more people to church but then not giving them the meat of the Bible for fear of hurting their feelings. Go to the Bible and see what Jesus said to them ... it wasn’t always pretty, but it was always the truth and always for their good because He loved them enough to not leave them in the condition they were in.
9. You may notice people in your church falling into the deception of these traits that you never would have dreamed would be involved, people you love, people with whom this may cause a break in relationship, people you thought would have been able to “see it coming” and helped the church avoid such destruction.
10. A relatively new version of the Bible, called The Message, is used in a large number of seeker friendly churches. If you will compare your favorite version with many scriptures in The Message, you will find that much has been added to The Message, for example, I Corinthians 6:9, where, not only was an idea added, but the existing idea was muddied and made unclear. There are many others, but to save space I’ve only included this one. If you would like to compare scripture from almost any version of the Bible with The Message, http://www.biblegateway.com is an excellent resource. It includes The Message version.
Frank on Thu, June 07, 2007
Are you SURE it’s not Friday?
Funny, we still do altar calls here every few weeks, in fact we’re doing one this weekend, right after we sing Amazing Grace (Chris Tomlin’s version). Alas, no hymnals, and there will be heavy metal instruments (our grand piano is really heavy and has a lot of metal!).
Oh, and we are one of the pillars of the Willow Creek Association, and will be spending next week at the Arts Conference. I wonder what VCY has to say about that gathering of people?
It has to be Friday…......
Paul J. on Thu, June 07, 2007
What the???
The sad thing IS that people take this seriously. Unbelievable.
Hey Frank, see you at the Willow Arts Conference. I’ll be in the “Heavy Metal In Worship” seminar….
Jim on Thu, June 07, 2007
There is some truth to the concerns expressed by those who oppose the “Purpose Driven”, or “seeker friendly” approaches to worship. However, the problem isn’t the approaches reprensented in these or other approaches, the problem is revealed when any church attempts to used a canned approach to solve their unique problems and situations. The Saddleback appoach works for the Saddleback Church, but it will not work for every church, because few other churches will find themselves in the same cultural setting, or attempting to reach the same group of people. When a church, or any ministry for that matter, attempts to use another’s apporach to ministry, it will most likely fail. Why? Because the approach that works for one church will not necessarily work for another. One size will never fit all! And that applies to ministries as well as clothing. Therefore, the real problem isn’t the appraoch as much as it is often a reflection of a lack of spiritual discernment among the leadership. When any leadership group looks for a canned apporach to ministry ,and people are leaving in droves, it often looks more like someone looking for numbers than a real ministry. If leadership doesn’t seek God’s solution to reaching the lost and ministering to those within the congregation, and doesn’t use real discernment in ascertaining what is useful and what will not be useful within their congregations, then the real problem is a lack of spiritual maturity and discernment within the leadership. There are few individuals within today’s Christian Church that hasn’t seen a power struggle within the leadership of a congregation that has not hurt or driven away many within the body of Christ, just because the leadership team was more interested in an approach than ministering to the body, as well. We are of little good in taking a message of love and salvation to a lost world when we can’t get along with those already within the Church by maintaing the bond of peace. Sometimes leadership needs to realize that another’s lack of excitement to a particular plan may not be a negative, but may be a necessary hesitation to slow down and keep praying for a united front. We tend to forget that the Fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, meekness, patience, long-suffering, and self-control. I see few of these fruits encouraged, demonstrated, or sought after in today’s Church leadership seminars. Have too often forget that God is more interested in our character development than He is in the size of the congregation.
The Founders of our Nation did just that-they refused to sign the Declaration of Independence from Great Britian until they were united in their cause. Just having a majority vote wasn’t acceptable-they demanded unanimity before they separated from Britian. Therefore, should the Church be less concerned about seeking a peaceful resolution to these questions?
DanielR (a different Daniel) on Thu, June 07, 2007
Oh No! I think I missed the takeover. We’ve already done 1-4, 11, 12 and 16.
Wait, actually our children’s programs were never call Sunday school, so drop 11. We’ve never had a real pulpit, just a little table thing, so drop 12. And the denomination name was never in the name of the church, although church is, so drop 16 too.
And 1-4 weren’t really changes either, it’s just always been that way, and we do actually have a piano (but no organ).
Whew! I guess maybe we’re ok, I was afraid for a second that we’d been assimilated.
Camey on Thu, June 07, 2007
Okay…..... As with any thing involved in any type of “movement” - what some see as pros others will see as cons. The colors of our glasses is too often what gets most in trouble. When we put a person or a thing (such as the PDL book or PDC book) ahead of Christ and time in the Word - there is cause for concern.
One of the other concerns stems from Warren using Eugene Peterson’s The Message in some of his “Bible” quotes. While I do not personally believe that it was Eugene’s attempt to create another translation - others take it as that and question Warren’s use of it as such.
Comin’ at this from a different angle.
Derek on Thu, June 07, 2007
Jim—I think you are right on. The problem is not with RW, BH or the Message Bible. The problem is how leaders in local churches process and impliment what they are learning from these guys. The problem is when church leaders try to produce a carbon copy of these other churches.
I looked over the YCY list and I thought it is interesting that the majority of the warnings are not theological or biblical in nature—most are methodological.
I especially like #7. “A repetitive 40–day Purpose Driven Church study program stressing psychological relationships with each other, the community, or the world, begins.”
Oh please, no psychological relationships!?!?! Are there relationships that are not psychological? Can you have a relationship with someone without connecting psychologically?
Derek
Leonard on Thu, June 07, 2007
That said, the real issue is not purpose driven but leaders that lack wisdom. Warren says all the time, one size does not fit all. He says change anything you want on his stuff. It is leaders looking to PD for a fix rather than God. Truth be told much of warrens principles, when truly understood can be adapted almost anywhere.
The list above is not about PD but about 1956 and hoping it comes around again. This is a brand of faith that believes anything that isn’t the flag waving, mom, apple pie of the bible (KJV) comes from the devil or Warren. This is a brand of faith that says when you get saved you will look just like me or you wont be saved at all. This is a brand of religion whose best days are behind it and the future looks bad and it is the devils fault, Rick and Bill’s fault, young peoples fault, those liberal Message reading pastors fault, anyone but them because they are the true sheep with the true way.
This is the brand of faith that is more upset that the neighbors dog dropped a #2 on the lawn than the fact the neighbor will spend all their days not knowing Jesus Loves them, spend all their days not knowing they can be forgiven, not knowing the God who made them and why and enter into eternity separated from God.
If you cannot tell, these people irritate me. They are like a rash on the body of Christ that just wont go away.
DanielR (a different Daniel) on Thu, June 07, 2007
It is so aggravating that I can’t figure out how Leonard really feels about this. Oh well, maybe it’s just me.
Is it that these people, and VCY, are aggravated that Warren quotes The Message, or that he quotes anything other than the KJV.
And really, I don’t think The Message is an attempt at a new translation, but rather just a paraphrase meant to be an easy-to-read introduction to scripture for those who’ve never read the Bible before. I would hope no one is using it as an authoritative literal translation.
Brad Raby on Thu, June 07, 2007
This is the VERY brochure used in the blowup at FBC Daytona Beach when David Cox officially took over for Bobby Welch and then resigned just 6 months later.
Derek on Thu, June 07, 2007
There are churches that have fought and contintue to fight fights over WHAT KIND of church they are going to be. If leaders want a PD or seeker sensitive or Message Bible-taught or rock n’ roll worship kind of church then maybe they should resign and plant a new church than to drag a 175 year old church through a PD renewal campaign.
In the long run, isn’t it “easier” and less painful to plant a new church than to transition an old one? Don’t get me wrong, I know of churches that have done it. Ewin McManus’ Mosaic was once the Church on Brady, which was once The Second Baptist Church of Something-or-another. Certainly and example of a historical church that has sucessfully transitioned.
If I was leading a traditional church and the people say, We don’t want a music stand for a pulpit, guitars in worship or the Message Bible,” then I would politely resign and plant a new church. That would prevent some of the blow ups and church fights.
Derek
nora on Thu, June 07, 2007
Derek,
I’m not a pastor, so I have zero experience, but I think that you are right when you say that if the choice is transition a church stuck in tradition, or plant a new one, that planting the new one might be easier. But I really think that the question is not which is easier, but which am I called to? The truth is that the churches who refuse to change are not just saying no to guitars and video clips; they are saying no to the lost and yes to themselves. And so, there may be specific leaders called to help these churches see what is not biblical, what is not kingdom advancing about their attitude and lead them to the greener pastures of others-centered ministry. A hard, messy calling, to be sure, but a calling nontheless.
Just my thoughts.
Nora
Derek on Thu, June 07, 2007
Nora - I agree. The most important issue is calling not personal comfort. I guess what I was saying is that if the pastor is called to transition the church and the church does not receive that calling the maybe the pastor should take it upon himself (or herself) to resign and plant a new church than to drag the church through a bloody war. It is a subjective call. The pastor would have to decide whether or not he or she was called to wage the war or not.
I am not transitioning a traditional church or planting a new one, so I am standing on the onside looking in to churches being ripped apart in the process of change and I am think it may be easier and of greater kingdom value for the leader to step aside and plant a new church.
Derek
Dave on Thu, June 07, 2007
Leonard, I love you!
This is exactly the kind of talk that I heard from Bill Easum 6 years ago, that brought me to my feet, got me out of the 1956 church, and into churches where saving people is more important than what we’re wearing, what the choir is wearing, or what the pastor’s wife is wearing!
Preach it, brother!
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