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.

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....

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.

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

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.

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 - 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

Okay, you guys who are going to the Arts conference… let’s pick out a place to meet. I vote for after the end of the first day by the fountain outside the main worship space on the entry level. Shall we? I can’t wait to listen to all those emergents and emergent wannabes.

I have another one…

25. People who dont’ want to reach the lost leave and start attending the ingrown, in-focused, navel gazing _________(you fill in the blank) church down the street.

My purpose is God’s Great News. Thanks Rick, thanks Bill, thanks _____(you fill in the blank) for awakening it in me!

See y’all in Chicago on Wednesday!

So this band of Unhappy Campers produces pamphlets and at many churches, blogs, full of inaccuracies to promote their personal measuring tools for spirituality. You could put them all together in a book entitied The Preference Driven Church: My Way or the Highway.

My prayer is that we never become so “driven” that we forget our “purpose.”

Sadly my observation is that’s what seems to happen at some “purpose-driven” churches where, as noted here, the leaders decide to move the congreation in a “new” direction using “new” methods. Do they think they are smarter than God? That preaching the Gospel doesn’t “work”?.

Then they have the arrogance to say to those who have labored to build the kingdom in a city—“Thanks for the foundation, we’re smarter than you so leave if you don’t like it?”

What’s up with that?

Are they building up? Tearing down? Or just a bunch of adolescences rebelling against the parents?

I am neither going to praise or slam the “purpose driven” program itself, as I can not speak for God in His view of this idea, or the seeker-sensitive model.  I can definitely understand the challenge in reaching out to our modern and post-modern culture. However, what I will do it outline my own experiences.

I have been part of a church that went purpose driven. I had recently returned to seminary, as my first pastorate fell apart and it was impossible to find another pastorate at the time (being young, single, and lacking the necessary 10 years experience or sufficient contacts to get another ministry placement), and the church that I was involved with decided to go PD. (I have a friend whose church went through the program earlier, and he was one of the ones who fought it all the way through, because of various issues with it. I didn’t listen to him much because it never came to my attention until later, when my church began implementing the program.

It started with announcements, which I thought may be alright.  But then the pressure started. The insistence was placed onto the PD agenda, where everything in the church during the 40 Days of Purpose would be canceled, except for those that are specifically geared toward said program. Also, because there were 50 members of the church (including children), there will be 50 groups, where each member is expected to form a group, host them in their home, show the videos, etc. If the person will not make a group, they have no place in the church. My primary gifts and ministries have never included hospitality, as I have never been in a situation where I could be a host. Also, such strong-arm intimidation has never been my favorite form of convincing people to get involved, nor does guilt-tripping or lumping everyone into one specific ministry group, without any thought as to where they could best serve.  I brought these concerns to the pastor, and I was told to find another venue, where I could host a group, and also that it is not too difficult to do this. (in other words, my concerns were ignored).

I was only able to sit in the first session of the campaign. The pastor used canned sermons, straight from Warren’s notes (apparently, he was told by Warren’s staff that this will make it more effective)… and it was an exegetical nightmare, just as my other friend (mentioned earlier) had told me. It was more like eisogesis, taking half-verses out of context (from the Message and a few other paraphrases) to say what they do not in their original context, adding verses that do not exist in other versions (not just KJV.  I also referred to ESV, CEV, NIV, NRSV, NASB, and NLT - not in any of them), and not doing the topics discussed any justice. Again, I approached the pastor with my concerns regarding context and faithfulness to the Biblical text.  And again, my concerns were dismissed. I mentioned the responsibility of the pastor to safeguard the flock and raise them up in the Truth, and I was told to be careful in how I use the word “truth”, and that I should “grow beyond this”. Suffice it to say, I left that church.

The principles that Warren is trying to convey aren’t bad in and of themselves. They are very important for our faith, so long as they are properly understood, and also so long as they are properly explained and outlined.  Actually, they are at the elementary, “milk” stage of our faith. It doesn’t really matter about what songs or instruments are used in worship, so long as God’s people worship. Same thing with the chair/pew debate, or what color the carpet should be, or what the church should be named. These are not the fundamental issues. I think it was already mentioned above - every church context will be different. I, myself, am not a “seeker-sensitive”, “purpose-driven” guy, nor am I “staunch Pharisee”. All I am is a man who wants to be faithful to the LORD and what HE stands for.

Greg

I am sorry that you went through a bad experience. I think some of the earlier posts hit on the idea that the problem you are talking about is poor leadership in the local church. So you are right not to slam PD for the problems in that church.

We did 40 DOP and it was good for our church. It helped shape our identity but did not necessarily change our identity. Our pastor and I (I was the associate pastor at the time.) didn’t preach Warren’s message. I could see how doing that would be messy and unauthentic.
We certainly need strong exegesis in our preaching. The problem with preaching other people’s sermons is that you do not do all of the exegetical work and study that goes into preparing the sermon. Maybe RW does all this work before writing his sermons with 18 different Bible translations. I don’t know...but that is why I wouldn’t preach his sermons.

I also agree that we need to be authentic expressions of Jesus whever we are. It is ok to be influenced by various streams in the Church, just don’t try to be like them. Allow the Spirit to make you to be like Jesus. That is enough for me.

Derek