Purpose-Driven PCA?

[M. Wayne Bradley]

My parents are members of a PCA church, which I will refrain from naming, and the church is about to embark on Rick Warren's 40 Days of Purpose program, though slightly modified as I understand it. I'm not sure how, but still, it's basically the same deal. Everyone reads the book, The Purpose Driven Life, all adult sunday school classes and sermons are oriented to it for the duration, etc. My question is, does anyone know of any other PCA churches that have or are considering doing this? My dad, an elder, says as far as he knows, their church is the first and only.

 

[rmwilliamsll]

via google

April:

* 14 – Bible Study – Job 8, 11 & Psalm 51
* 28 – Bible Study – This will be the first Purpose Driven Life Study. Please call Dan Saxby if you are interested in attending!!!





May:

* 5 – Bible Study - Purpose Driven Life
* 12 – Bible Study - Purpose Driven Life
* 16 – YAF Picnic at Woodland Mound Park. See Becky Woods or Amy Saxby for Details.
* 19 – Bible Study - Purpose Driven Life
* 22 – Ronald McDonald House! See the Linams for Details!
* 26 – Bible Study - Purpose Driven Life



June:

* 2 – Bible Study – Purpose Driven Life
* 9 – Bible Study
* 23 – Bible Study

from google's cache at: http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cach...f.html+pca+purpose+driven+study&hl=en&start=1


using:
http://www.google.com/search?q=pca+...church+study&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=20&sa=N

yields a large number of PCA churches with the book title in their church bulletins and as reading material for either adult education classes or weekday studies.....

 

[Donny_B]

From what I've read, it sounds a little "new age" to me. I found this on Rick Warren's program:

http://www.fundamentalbiblechurch.org/Foundation/fbcAnalysis.htm
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/warren/visit.htm
http://www.newswithviews.com/BeritKjos/kjos20.htm

 

[calgal]

From what I've read, it sounds a little "new age" to me. I found this on Rick Warren's program:

http://www.fundamentalbiblechurch.org/Foundation/fbcAnalysis.htm
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/warren/visit.htm
http://www.newswithviews.com/BeritKjos/kjos20.htm

My elders don't much care for this stuff. I find it about as relevant as the book of mormon or a koran is to a Christian Walk. YMMV of course. It is a marketing plan with incidental scriptures attached at best.

 

[M. Wayne Bradley]

using:

http://www.google.com/search?q=pca+...8&start=20&sa=N

yields a large number of PCA churches with the book title in their church bulletins and as reading material for either adult education classes or weekday studies.....

Hmm, thanks rmw. Guess I could have done that kind of search myself, but was just curious if anyone here personally knew of any churches that are embracing it. I’m a little surprised. I didn’t think there would be a ‘large number.’

From what I've read, it sounds a little "new age" to me.

My elders don't much care for this stuff. I find it about as relevant as the book of mormon or a koran is to a Christian Walk. YMMV of course. It is a marketing plan with incidental scriptures attached at best.

I agree with you both, after reading several reviews and quite a few shorter, but critical comments. It sounds like shallow, Arminian-flavored theology that doesn’t really offer any new information or insights that can’t be found in any number of Reformed authors, or even in the WCF. Why bother? It really troubles me that my parents’ church is using it. It seems to be part of a visible trend there. Not good.

 

[Bulldog]

My church isn't. It seems a little too synergistic and New Age and Donny_B said.

 

[theseed]

My elders don't much care for this stuff. I find it about as relevant as the book of mormon or a koran is to a Christian Walk. YMMV of course. It is a marketing plan with incidental scriptures attached at best.

You are thinking of The Purpose Driven Chruch, not The Purpose Driven Life.

 

[theseed]

There is nothing new age about The Purpose Driven Life; nothing even remotely close. Because it's not from reformed theology doesn not make it Satanic.

My church did the campaign, and it has not been hurtful in the least way, but helpful.

 

[rnmomof7]

My parents are members of a PCA church, which I will refrain from naming, and the church is about to embark on Rick Warren's 40 Days of Purpose program, though slightly modified as I understand it. I'm not sure how, but still, it's basically the same deal. Everyone reads the book, The Purpose Driven Life, all adult sunday school classes and sermons are oriented to it for the duration, etc. My question is, does anyone know of any other PCA churches that have or are considering doing this? My dad, an elder, says as far as he knows, their church is the first and only.

I belonged to a Nazarene church that bought that program . I was put in charge of it.

What I saw was the purpose was all directed at being "seeker" friendly first and the gospel a distant second .

Lots of target population studies , and "life application" sermons .

Every member class taught the "method" of the target population seeking.


The outcome was a church that had 200 on most Sundays now has an attendance of 30.

God will not be mocked

I find it almost funny that a Reform church that takes Paul's words to heart.

" There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.'

Plans on looking for seekers is out of our doctrine I would think.

On another note, I usually go to my Pastors Sunday school which is a Bible survey. For the summer they are doing one of those stupid series that come with a tape and book.
I decided to go to the women's Sunday School for the discussion part. I found out they are doing the Purpose Driven Life and will pick it up again in the fall

Presbyterian women studying pap it is an embarrassment

 

[calgal]

I belonged to a Nazarene church that bought that program . I was put in charge of it.

What I saw was the purpose was all directed at being "seeker" friendly first and the gospel a distant second .

Lots of target population studies , and "life application" sermons .

Every member class taught the "method" of the target population seeking.


The outcome was a church that had 200 on most Sundays now has an attendance of 30.

God will not be mocked

I find it almost funny that a Reform church that takes Paul's words to heart.

" There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.'

Plans on looking for seekers is out of our doctrine I would think.

On another note, I usually go to my Pastors Sunday school which is a Bible survey. For the summer they are doing one of those stupid series that come with a tape and book.
I decided to go to the women's Sunday School for the discussion part. I found out they are doing the Purpose Driven Life and will pick it up again in the fall

Presbyterian women studying pap it is an embarrassment

The women's study doing the PDL? Oh brother! I would likely have a friendly chat with a Ruling Elder or two over that but would be waiting in line behind the Teaching Elders. Can you suggest a couple of RC Sproul's books or some Ligonier Conference tapes or Elisabeth Elliott's books instead? My condolences.

 

[Beoga]

for a leadership thingy that i am doing with my youth group, i have to go through the PDL this summer, it should be exciting?

 

[theseed]

Don't confuse PDL with Purpose Driven Chruch. When you speak of "target groups", no one knows what you are talking about, and they may write you off as crazy because PDL says nothing about "target groups".

 

[Donny_B]

I noticed "Purpose Driven" is a registered trademark. This includes Purpose Driven ® Life and Purpose Driven ® Churches. Does this mean churches and individuals must pay for it and may not copy its ideas? This should raise some red flags, especially in light of Acts 8:20 and II Cor 2:17.

I would rather just rely on the Bible itself.

By the way, to type the Registered Trademark symbol on your keyboard use alt 0174

Here is an interesting chart I found comparing Purpose Driven ® with the Bible:
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/purpose%20driven%20church.html

 

[Knight]

Our church went through the 40 Days of Purpose last Fall.

Let me make this as clear as I know how........


THERE IS NOTHING HERETICIAL ABOUT THIS BOOK NOR THE CAMPAIGN!!!!!!!!

It's all in how it's done. Yes, the campaign does not have a clear gospel message. That's because the book is directed at Christians. I would say that it would be good for new Christians or those who are stagnant in their walk. This is why, I think, it has become so popular. There are many people in such a state.

Here is a review I wrote for this book and posted on Amazon.

Our church recently finnished the 40 Days of Purpose campaign where everyone went through this book a chapter a day for 40 days. This was coupled with sermons on Sunday and a weekly small group meeting. The intent was to use this campaign as an outreach to the unchurched community. In that respect I would call it a success. God used this campaign to bring many people to church who otherwise might not have come.


The book had it's good points and it's bad points in my opinion.
First, the good points:
1) Rick Warren does an excellent job of describing each of our purposes in life. Things that God made us for. I can find no fault in the 5 purposes. (Worship, Fellowship, Dicipleship, Service, and Missions)

2) The book is theologically sound overall. I have been a Christian for over fifteen years and an avid Bible student for the past 5 and I can find nothing docurnally wrong with the material presented in the book. There is very little denominational slant in any part of the book. Even though Pastor Warren is Southern Baptist, he does a good job of avoiding the disputible matters that divide churches.

3) For the new Christian this book is wonderful. We have some friends who recently became Christians and this book was a wonderful introduction to the Christian faith.

Now for the bad points:
1) I did not care for the way Bible passages were represented in the text. All scripture quotes were italicized but no reference (book, chapter, verse) was given in the text. You have to look in the back of the book and then it is only a list so it's difficult to determine which is which. I enjoy studying the Bible and would like to have been able to look up the verses in my Bible as I went through each chapter. This would also allow me to understand the context of the passage presented.

2) As others have indicated there was too much use of the Message translation. Don't get me wrong. The MSG is fine if you like paraphrases. However, as a mature Christian I think the MSG is far too "dumbed down" for me. I understand Rick Warren's desire to present scripture in fresh ways. But there are other translations that do this and are still readable without being over simplified. (The NLT for example.)

3) The book was far too repetitive. I found myself noticing the same material being presented again and again. It almost seems as if this was necessary to stretch the book to 40 chapters. (ie: 40 Days) Repetition is fine for some but not all.

4) Finally, there seemed to be little real-life application. Particulary in the later chapters. This surprised me a bit since I've heard Rick Warren teach before and he's always been big on application. There was plenty of conviction on what we should do but apparently little on how.

All in all I think it was a good book for those new to Christianity and those seeking to learn about it. It would also be good for someone who has grown stagnant in their Christian growth. For my part, yes I learned some from it but it was nothing I couldn't have learned from any one of a dozen Christian books.

One final note:
The whole marketing campaign with everything under the sun for the Purpose Driven Life (T-Shirts, Bible Covers, Journals, Prayer cards, etc....) has gotten a little out of hand.

Our church successfully used this campaign to reach people. We also followed it up with a study on the gospel messge itself.

 

[calgal]

I noticed "Purpose Driven" is a registered trademark. This includes Purpose Driven ® Life and Purpose Driven ® Churches. Does this mean churches and individuals must pay for it and may not copy its ideas? This should raise some red flags, especially in light of Acts 8:20 and II Cor 2:17.

I would rather just rely on the Bible itself.

By the way, to type the Registered Trademark symbol on your keyboard use alt 0174

Here is an interesting chart I found comparing Purpose Driven ® with the Bible:
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/purpose%20driven%20church.html

Interesting indeed. Thanks for the chart.

 

[theseed]

Knight, I agree with your assessment. It's old stuff for mature Christians, but there are many who have remained babes in Christ, and hopefully the PDL will be a wake up call.

It does not have a clear Gospel message, not as much as I would like. And it assumes that we are Christians to begin with. It is a an ecclessiatical book.

It's appears not to take the view of Reformed theology, and that might highy offend some .

 

[theseed]

All Christian books are copyrighted righted today, including stuff by RC Sproul. That's nothing new. All contempory translations are copyrighted also, including the NIV and NASB.

 

[Donny_B]

Purpose Driven ® is a registered trademark, whereas the Purpose Driven ® books are copyrighted ©. Note that a registered trademark is always an adjective before a noun.

As far as a Purpose Driven ® Church, this is very unique, since I have never heard of a Church that had an adjective that was a registered trademark. I've heard of Presbyterian Churches, Baptist Churches, Methodist Churches. But now there are the Purpose Driven ® Churches.

Oh yes, and the Purpose Driven ® Life.

And about copyrights. A copyright is granted by the United States and other countries to its authors for original works. So the publishers of these newer Bibles are claiming it is their original work?

 

[theseed]

So the publishers of these newer Bibles are claiming it is their original work?

They claim that it's thier unique translations.
Now, when that I think about it, if Purpose Driven ® was not a register trademark, then people could use it and possibly ruin the reputation of the Purpose Driven ® people

 

[michael servetus]

My parents are members of a PCA church, which I will refrain from naming, and the church is about to embark on Rick Warren's 40 Days of Purpose program, though slightly modified as I understand it. I'm not sure how, but still, it's basically the same deal. Everyone reads the book, The Purpose Driven Life, all adult sunday school classes and sermons are oriented to it for the duration, etc. My question is, does anyone know of any other PCA churches that have or are considering doing this? My dad, an elder, says as far as he knows, their church is the first and only.

Not me mon