Z a n e
2004-07-13 19:58:43 UTC
HI all,
I notice on the jacket of this popular book that the author claims that
Saddleback Church went from one family to 10,000 members "without owning a
building" over a period of 15 years. That's interesting to me on two
accounts. Does he actually believe a church could consist of one family? Does
he, Rick Warren, encourage churches not to build buildings?
He does address the second issue in the book with the assumption that
buildings will eventually follow.
I stood there and thumbed through the pages, knowing that I didn't need such
a book right then. That's not to suggest that it's filled with errors or is
totally useless. Far from it. Compared to some of the other books in the
"devotional section" it looked pretty good.
But think of it, here's the ground-up account of the most successful church
in the USA in terms of the numbers. It comes across as a how to book for
others wanting to expand. Yet the issue of church structure/leadership is
carefully avoided. Warren explains that his views on the subject are revealed
in a cassette tape and that the purpose of the Purpose Driven Church is not
to examine such (highly controversial) issues. Since he refers to himself as
THE Pastor, I suppose I can connect most of the dots from there. And since he
is trying to appeal to just about every denomination under the sun, to
highlight any specific kind of leadership or structure would necessarily
offend more than a few.
Needless to say, there is page after page of ways to get the laity involved.
Rick Warren, an apparent marketing genius, also founded pastors.com and
purposedriven.com... He quickly followed up "Purpose Driven Life" with
several companion products - things like a P D Workbook, A P D Diary, and an
"Inspiration for the P D Life" book. Also, a P D Leaders Kit! Churches pay
thousands of dollars, depending on their size, to do the Purpose Driven
program.
Like some in the house church circle Rick believes his books are starting "a
New Reformation." I wonder if it crossed his mind that putting his books on
the internet to be downloaded without cost would greatly increase his
audience and thus hasten the coming of his "New Reformation?"
Such a bold move might actually increase his sales in the long run and other
Christian authors would also be forced to consider the idea of freely given,
freely receive. Who know where that might go?
Just a few observations from my trip to Wal*Mart, last night, while most of
you were asleep. You are entirely free to disagree. Who can argue with
success, anyway?
Zane Anderson
I notice on the jacket of this popular book that the author claims that
Saddleback Church went from one family to 10,000 members "without owning a
building" over a period of 15 years. That's interesting to me on two
accounts. Does he actually believe a church could consist of one family? Does
he, Rick Warren, encourage churches not to build buildings?
He does address the second issue in the book with the assumption that
buildings will eventually follow.
I stood there and thumbed through the pages, knowing that I didn't need such
a book right then. That's not to suggest that it's filled with errors or is
totally useless. Far from it. Compared to some of the other books in the
"devotional section" it looked pretty good.
But think of it, here's the ground-up account of the most successful church
in the USA in terms of the numbers. It comes across as a how to book for
others wanting to expand. Yet the issue of church structure/leadership is
carefully avoided. Warren explains that his views on the subject are revealed
in a cassette tape and that the purpose of the Purpose Driven Church is not
to examine such (highly controversial) issues. Since he refers to himself as
THE Pastor, I suppose I can connect most of the dots from there. And since he
is trying to appeal to just about every denomination under the sun, to
highlight any specific kind of leadership or structure would necessarily
offend more than a few.
Needless to say, there is page after page of ways to get the laity involved.
Rick Warren, an apparent marketing genius, also founded pastors.com and
purposedriven.com... He quickly followed up "Purpose Driven Life" with
several companion products - things like a P D Workbook, A P D Diary, and an
"Inspiration for the P D Life" book. Also, a P D Leaders Kit! Churches pay
thousands of dollars, depending on their size, to do the Purpose Driven
program.
Like some in the house church circle Rick believes his books are starting "a
New Reformation." I wonder if it crossed his mind that putting his books on
the internet to be downloaded without cost would greatly increase his
audience and thus hasten the coming of his "New Reformation?"
Such a bold move might actually increase his sales in the long run and other
Christian authors would also be forced to consider the idea of freely given,
freely receive. Who know where that might go?
Just a few observations from my trip to Wal*Mart, last night, while most of
you were asleep. You are entirely free to disagree. Who can argue with
success, anyway?
Zane Anderson