Rick's Purpose or Paul's Purpose?

Paul the Apostle's Purpose Began With Doctrine, not church growth methods.

"But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me."
Paul the Apostle (2 Timothy 3:10-11)

Paul the Apostles 'Purpose' always began with doctrine, as did our Lord Jesus Christ's. [See also Sound Doctrine or the Newest Fad?] Sadly, the purpose driven movement is not based on solid Bible teaching, but a mixture of church growth methods, pop-psychology[A Critique], and unbiblical ideas.

One has to ask, "Is the Purpose Driven church growth movement based on the Holy Spirit building the Church through the solid teaching of the Scriptures, or, is the Purpose Driven church growth movement growing because it has business and marketing principles at every turn and the church is running after the next 'new thing' to come along?" One must remember that just because a movement grows, does not necessariyl mean it is of God. Islam and Mormonism are growing extremely fast too and the Mormon church spends close to 700 million dollars a year on 'evangelism'. By what criteria do you 'test' a movement or a ministry? See the following article by Sandy Simpson to learn How To Discern, Test & Judge Rightly

The Following is an interesting post from Rick Warren's Ministry Tool Box dated Jan 18, 2006.

Balancing the biblical purposes in a Charismatic/Pentecostal church
by Dennis Baril (Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox Issue #242, 18 Jan 2006 20:41:51 -0800)

"Charismatic churches all across the country are becoming more balanced and healthy as they seek to apply the Purpose Driven model of ministry to their church. These churches are discovering that they don't have to lose their theological distinctiveness to become churches committed to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. Here are five principles one pastor discovered during his church's purpose driven journey.... Read Full Article...

BUT IS 'PURPOSE DRIVEN' REALLY A HEALTHY THING FOR THE CHURCHES?

And should Christians just jump on the bandwagon of what seems to be a global Christian craze?

The Following links will take you to a mass of discernment articles from Bible based discernment ministries refuting the Purpose Driven movement.

You can also find 17 Sobering Reviews of the Purpose Driven Movement at our previous Blog Post - Purpose Driven? - 17 Sobering Reviews

Eastern Regional Watch - Purpose Driven discernment articles
Kjos Ministries - Purpose Driven discernment articles
Lighthouse Trails Research Project - Purpose Driven discernment articles
Deception in the Church - Purpose Driven discernment articles
Christian Research Service - Purpose Driven discernment articles
Slice of Laodicea - discernment articles
Church Growth - discerment articles

It is up to each individual to

"test all things, hold fast what is good".
(1 Thes. 5:21)

Be a Berean and take a closer look at what the Purpose Driven thing is really all about.