The Purpose Driven Church Review - Part 1

Over the next few posts, I intend to review several aspects of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church. Having read it recently with the ability to reflect on the book 19 years after it was written, there are many things about the book worth discussing in today's context.

How has the Purpose-Driven Model fared?

The most natural question to ask of a pragmatic book is, "Has it worked?" Saddleback Church has certainly grown* in the past twenty years, more than doubling its average weekly attendance (~10,000 to ~22,000), but that doesn't really answer the question. As much as Rick Warren would like to credit his Purpose Driven method to the growth Saddleback has seen, it is entirely possible that a personality as strong as Warren is the primary driver for what happens in his church.

The true way to test would be to look at the hundreds or thousands of churches through the country that have modeled their ministry after PDC. Unfortunately, there is no central database that keeps track of these statistics, but a few observations can be made:

1. There has been some success. Rick Warren is happy to point out examples of churches that have grown by hundreds in attendance because of his insights.
2. Not every church that subscribed to PDC has succeeded. Pastor John Dickau of First Baptist Church of Lakewood (Long Beach, CA) saw his congregation size drop from 700 to 550 between 1998 and 2006 while trying to model the Purpose Driven method. He was no longer the pastor in 2008. Surely this was not the only such congregation that struggled.
3. Trying to switch ministry methods to become Purpose Driven has caused many church splits in this country [Christianity Today Article].
4. No church has attainted to the status of Saddleback over these 19 years by using the PDC ideas. Saddleback stands alone in its implementation of Purpose.

Stepping back for a moment and observing that there is some success and some failure using the PDC model, it becomes evident that there is nothing inherently special about Rick Warren's methods. Several churches have flourished and failed using other ministry models, just like PDC.

This doesn't mean that we cannot learn from Rick Warren's book. There are many practical issues that Saddleback has thoughtfully worked through, and as long as a local church remembers to apply each method to the filter of God's Word and to their local context, The Purpose Driven Church can be a helpful guide.

However, nobody should pretend that it is the panacea for church growth. The brightest and most godly minds could work tirelessly for decades and see little observable fruit. On the other hand, the clumsiest and decidedly average pastor could witness explosive growth, if the Lord is with him. In the end, it's not our methods, our wisdom or even our effort that causes church growth--it is God himself [1 Cor 3:7]. The church is God's church, and he will build up and tear down according to his will.

*Caveats apply when talking about church success and failure. I personally do not believe that the health and success of a congregation is tied to its numbers. Revelation 2 and 3 make it clear that Jesus' definition of a church's success or failure is tied to their following him and remaining true to his Word. Yet the goal of Purpose Driven Church is numerical growth, so it will be evaluated on its own merits.

Music in the Church

There have been several wonderful blog posts recently that think through musical worship in the church. For those so inclined, these articles edify and help clarify much that's misunderstood (for leaders as much as anyone).

1. Five Ways to Improve Congregational Singing by Keith Getty

Everything Keith says has been on my heart for a while. If there is only one link you follow, I'd heartily recommend this one.

2. Annoying Things in Worship Songs by Jeremy Pierce (reposted by JT)

The Psalms shouldn't be abused as carte-blanche justification for any bad song, but this helpfully shows how we must be thoughtful in evaluating whether a song is good. One thing I can definitely say about any song written after 100 AD or so: it was not inspired quite the same way the Psalms were.

3. I Love a Church that Sings Badly by Tim Challies

I agree with everything Tim says but want to take it further: good or bad musicians, mature or young believers, old hymns or songs so contemporary they're not quite ripe, I would love to hear the church sing its heart out because they're singing unto the Lord. 

4. Nine Marks of a Healthy Worship Leader by Alex Duke

This is slightly more on the technical side, but it may open your eyes to the part music and the music leader play in the service. The church should hold the music leader to a high standard of character as much as it would hold him to a high standard of musical ability.

Doxological Dictionary

I've twice had the opportunity to teach on atonement recently, and I've found that many of the terms that pastors use in the course of preaching and teaching can be opaque for many Christians. Much of this vocabulary is biblical, but if you haven't attended Bible School or intentionally studied theology, words like propitiation can sound impressive but ring hollow.

So I attempted to create a relatively short list of definitions (one page) for words closely associated with atonement to help laypeople grasp their meaning. Brevity may be an enemy of precision here, but I've done my best to capture the essence of each term without launching into a full discourse. Perhaps that will lead to further conversation, which I would consider a positive outcome. Ultimately, I hope that as we more deeply understand what God planned and accomplished in the gospel that we will stand in greater awe of him and worship him all the more.

Atonement Vocabulary List

Atonement - A term used to describe all the means that God uses to accomplish our salvation--the way we become one with God again. Think of it as the way the gospel is applied to your life: you were estranged from God because of your sin, and God made a way to repair (atone for) that broken relationship. It’s an idea that centers on the cross. God chose to save us through the work of Jesus in his life and his death. It’s the way that God saves us that is entirely consistent with his character--fully satisfying his deep love and his perfect justice. {Lev 17:11; Rom 5:11; Eph 2}

Propitiation - The turning away of God’s wrath from us and the gain of his favor. This happens when God’s wrath is appeased through the sacrifice of Christ. This is the function of the atonement--the way it is accomplished. {Rom 3:21-25; Heb 2:17; 1 John 4:10}

Expiation - Sometimes it’s simply used as a synonym for atonement or propitiation, but it may also be used in the sense that more specifically describes the solution for sin. It means cleansing or purging from our sin, or the removal of our sin, or how our sin is covered over by Jesus’ blood. Expiation is the other side of the propitiation coin.

Salvation - The outcome of being spared from the wrath of God (eternal punishment, destruction, hell). A direct consequence of salvation is that the saved receive eternal life. {Matt 1:21; John 3:16}

Penal Substitution - Simply put, Jesus Christ took the punishment due our sin when he offered himself as a sacrifice on the cross, and we gain his perfect record (his righteousness) that he actually lived out. In a sense, in God’s mind, we trade places with Jesus. It is through penal substitution that we receive a legal declaration of “not guilty” when God judges our life (as Christ bore all of our guilt). {2 Cor 5:21}

Reconciliation - J.I. Packer calls this “the sum and substance of the gospel.” We broke our relationship with God by our sin, but God repairs that! As with the generic definition, reconciliation is the peacemaking restoration of a lost relationship, but here it happens by God’s initiative and efforts through atonement. {Rom 5:10-11}

Redemption - Our sin put us into slavery and debt, and the severity of that condition is great enough that we can never hope to get out. But God was willing to send his Son and pay the price to gain our freedom. Christ’s sacrifice satisfies our sin debt and frees us from bondage to sin and death. Christ is our Great Redeemer, giving his life to make us his. {Eph 1:7}

Ransom - This is actually a very similar concept to redemption (it’s the price of redemption), but it’s so easily confused because of modern connotation. Ransom has more to do with paying a debt to end slavery than paying a bribe to a hostage-holder. Christ was the ransom--paid to God the Father!--that secures our salvation. {Matt 20:28; 1 Tim 2:5-6}

Justification - Most commonly refers to our legal status with God. Salvation is possible because God declares us just or righteous (beyond “not guilty”). We are not actually righteous, but God accepts us because we are seen as justified when we put our faith in Christ. {Rom 3:20-30; Rom 5:1; Gal 2:16}

Sacrifice - The character of God (holiness and justice) requires that he separate himself from evil and punish sin. However, God allows that wrath to be directed to a substitute--a sacrifice. In the Old Testament, animal sacrifices were the means God provided to restore a person’s relationship with Him that was broken by sin. Jesus Christ was the final, once-for-all sacrifice who became our substitute in bearing God’s punishment for our sin. {Heb 9:24-28; Heb 10:12-14}

The Image of God

Our men's group is going through Multiply in Bible Study. It's a fantastic study and I would highly recommend it as a way to encourage discipleship growth in your church. We recently worked through the chapter on Creation [study guide pdf] and wrestled through what it means to be made in God's image.

Consider Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'"

On page 144, the Multiply book states:

There is something absolutely unique about humanity. On the one hand, we are utterly unlike God because, just like everything else in creation, He made us. But on the other hand, God specifically created us to be like Him. This is impossible to wrap our minds around, but God created us like Him in some respect and then set us in the midst of this world to represent Him!  There is a lot of debate about what exactly the “image of God” is. Everyone seems to agree that being created in God’s image is more than a physical resemblance—He is Spirit, after all (John 4:24). Suggestions as to what God’s image in humanity consists of are varied: our ability to reason, our ability to make moral decisions, our personalities, and our capacity for relationships are all leading views. Others suggest that the image of God relates to the dominion over the rest of creation that God gave to man (this ties Gen. 1:26–27 to Gen. 1:28). Perhaps it is best not to attach the image of God to any one faculty or attribute of humanity. In the New Testament, we are told  that Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). Jesus is said to be “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3). It seems that being the “image of God” is about reflecting God in some way. Jesus did this perfectly, but humanity has also been given a responsibility to show God to the world—His handiwork, nature, and attributes are displayed in us in a way that they are not displayed in the rest of the creation. (Of course, this image has been tainted by sin, but that comes later in the story.)

I would agree that it's impossible to precisely determine what being made in God's image means, but I also think it's possible to look at Scripture and understand it at a deeper level than mere speculation.

Look at how Genesis 1:24 describes the creation of the animal kingdom: "And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.' And it was so." These creatures were created like everything else, by God's word, and they were 'brought forth' from the earth. Beast and bug alike are made of earthly material--entirely terrestrial--nothing more and nothing less.

Genesis 2:7 gives a more detailed account of the creation of man: "then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." Adam's creation is far more intimate. Yes, he too is made of the stuff of earth like the animals, but life is given him by the breath or the spirit of God. This is the foundational distinctive from which all the attributes of being made in the image of God come. Paired with our physical being is a soul from God that lives beyond the chaotic physics of this world.

From there, attributes of being made in God's image may be discerned. No one truth needs to be the definitive qualification for imaging God. Rather, it's all of these qualities (many of them listed in Multiply) that follow from the endowment of life by the Spirit of God.

• We have a spirit that will endure through eternity
• We can be in relationship with God
• We share in God's communicable attributes
• We are creative like our Maker
• We are not bound by instinct--our reasoning and actions are based in morals
• We [ought to] have dominion over this creation

Surely this list is not exhaustive. The point is to see that in many ways we're like the God who made us. We're corrupted, flawed versions of what that should be, but our hope is that one day we'll be perfected and represent the image of God purely as we dwell with him forever in his new creation. Thanks be to Jesus Christ, the image, the radiance and glory of God, who by his atoning sacrifice on the cross opened the way for us to be restored to this glorified image that Christ holds.

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:16-18).

Two Kinds of Love

Raising children both adopted and born to us gives our family plenty of opportunities to answer various adoption related questions. One common question relates to the nature or quality of our love toward our children: do we [or can we] love all of our children the same?

The surprising answer is no! However, what 'no' means may not be as offensive as it first sounds.

Just as marriage ought to help us better understand the deep theology of Christ's love and devotion to his bride, the Church, human adoption should grow our understanding of the Doctrine of Adoption. See Galatians 4:1-7, Romans 8:18-25, and Ephesians 1:3-14 if this doctrine is foreign to you.

Imagine God's love toward Adam and Eve after he created them. Adam was a son of God (Luke 3:38), and God showed him paternal love in the garden. Besides providing for Adam's needs, God also set the balance in freedom, responsibility and boundaries. Most importantly, God walked with Adam. The picture is one of tender care as the father sets life's tenor for his child. Parenting children born to a husband and wife feels this natural, and love pours out to the one made in your image.

However, this relationship didn't remain. Adam and Eve fell and lost their status as children of God. The point of showing this isn't to use that as part of any analogy, but rather to get to redemption. Because the fall happened and because God wanted to demonstrate his love (Rom 5:8), he sent his only begotten Son. The beauty of God's plan is that we can be restored--"But to all who did receive [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

What kind of love is this? It's the blood-soaked, tear-stained, brutally painful love of adoption. And because the cost was so high to God--the precious life of his Son--you can infer the value that God places on this relationship. "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" [Romans 8:38-39]. It is not easy love, but it is real love.

As a parent, there is no quantitative difference in my love for my children. I would trade my life for any of theirs in a heartbeat. There is a large qualitative difference in the love, however. The fear inherent in the question over whether my wife and I can love all our children the same is that we (or any adoptive parent) may love the children born to us more. But there is a reality here that the children born into the family may never understand: the sweat, blood and tears involved in adoption gives our adopted children a special status. We've all had to fight for love, and that ground is not easily surrendered.

Adoption helps me appreciate God's love in Christ for me. I hope all of my children grow to understand this in some way as they see adoption played out in the home or if they choose to adopt some day. Most of all, I hope they understand this love because they have it through their Savior, Jesus Christ. And I pray that they understand it--not simply intellectually--but in their souls as they cling to their Abba Father in faith.

Beware Antinomians

Antinomians, Paul has his sights set on you:

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? [Rom 6:16]

You misunderstand your freedom. Grace is not license to do as you please [Rom 6:15]. If that is your perspective, you don't really understand grace. Your faith is not in the Savior; your faith is still in you. That is the heart of the rebellion of mankind, and the person who puts away God's law (making a new one unto himself) is still vying for God's throne.

However, the solution to antinomianism is not to destroy justification by faith alone. A misunderstanding of Sola Fide and Sola Gratia by a few does not invalidate its truth. God saves by grace through faith [Eph 2:8] and calls us to walk in newness of life [Rom 6:4]--not in oldness of the flesh, as we had always stumbled along.

I don't think I've ever met a pure antinomian. I'm sure they exist, but the pure doctrine is a rare elixir. Yet, is that struggle not within each of our hearts? A watered down version of this poison still courses through the veins of the flesh. Don't we occasionally think that "this one sin" is okay because God will forgive? Isn't it easy to presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience. God extends that grace to us for an opportunity to repent [Rom 2:4].

The good news is that God does forgive this sin, and in our repentance we will bear good fruit.

Jesus said, "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit" [Luke 6:43-44].

Are People Without Christ Really Lost?

It used to be that skeptics toward Christianity would ask this question, but increasingly I hear Christians asking this same question. The motivations of the two groups are different. Honestly, every person asking the question does so for his own reasons, but the typical reason a skeptic would ask it was combative--he wants to justify his unbelief; he doesn't want to believe in a God who didn't create the world the way he would fashion it. That really is the root of the issue, that each person has rebelled against his Creator and wants to be the god of his world. However, this isn't directly about that issue.

It appears that now members of the household of faith are asking this same question. In one sense it confuses me because the Bible make the way of salvation so clear. Any Christian ought to be ready and able to answer the question of the Philippian Jailer [Acts 16:30], "What must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas answer this in the next verse [Acts 16:31], "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." So the means of salvation is crystal clear, and that's why this question confuses me as it comes from a Christian.

On the other hand, I think I understand where it's coming from. There are billions of people in this world who are born, live out their whole lives and then die without ever even hearing the name of Jesus. There is a sense of empathy in the question, "Are people without Christ really lost?" The questioner looks for a glimmer of hope within the reality observed on this planet. I believe it also relates to the way Christians apply the character of God today. They know that God is merciful [Psalm 103:8]; after all, God has shown them great mercy. And so the real question is, "How can God show love, mercy, grace and peace to a people who can never hear of Jesus if Jesus is the only way of salvation?"

Ephesians 2 helps with the biblical perspective on this issue. However, instead of toning down the nature of God's judgment (is that not the answer the question seeks?), it really sharpens the contrast between God and man, and between those who are lost and those who are found. After the fall, all humanity was alienated from God. Then he called a people to himself through Abraham. At that point in history, Gentiles [non-Jews] had very little hope. Paul admits this in Eph 2:12. But by God's grace, the blood of Jesus draws Jews and Gentiles into the family of God [Eph 2:13, Eph 2:4-8]. In other words, humanity has always been in this predicament. The way of the world today still rhymes with history. The problem in mankind hasn't gone away. The person who never hears of Jesus is still hostile toward God. Because each person has forsaken God, without his intervening action, none of us has hope. And yet, there is real hope in the blood of Christ, offered for the whole world [John 3:16, Eph 2:19].

In the end I think the question posed, "are they really lost?" is still the wrong question. God has indeed provided a means for all of the people of the world to hear of Jesus. He has given the world the Church--you , if you are Christ's, and me--sent with the command to go and make disciples [Matt 28:18ff]. We must be goers and senders. It's the way of showing Christ's love to this world.

There is a deeper problem yet. I believe there is still a self-justification angle coming from the Christian who asks this question (perhaps we're not unlike the unbelieving skeptic). The problem is that we know the Great Commission, yet stay in our comfortable middle-class Christian lifestyles while wringing our hands about those who might not hear about Jesus. Let's be honest together (I confess I struggle here too)--isn't the truest question a combination of the following:

• Do I really have to obey Jesus when he calls us to make disciples of all nations?
• Must I forsake my comfortable lifestyle to reach the lost?
• Can't God use something or someone else to bring people the gospel?

The fundamental reason that person has not heard the gospel is because we're unwilling to take up our cross and bring them good news. And then we want to blame God for being unfair. We want God to save them without inconveniencing ourselves. But he has made us the vehicle to spread his gospel. Eternity is at stake; we must be obedient.

It would be worth the investment of your time to watch the following videos or listen to the audio.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/entry/are_people_without_christ_really_lost

http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/entry/why_the_great_commission_is_great_reaching_more_and_more_people

If you do, let's talk and see how God might be working in our lives to shine the light of God's glory and grace to the world.