The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church Is Big in God's Eyes

I got the wrong version again.

My Church is using Purpose Driven Church in our Bible Study. Th member are enjoying the Study, His book is very good in helping with church growth.

These days, the average reader is innundated with books that promise to grow their church overnight. Every day a new author publishes a book with a program that all but guarantees you immediate growth from a small country church to a mega-church. This book isn't like that. Instead of composing a book full of programs to increase the number of people in your church, Rick Warren addresses the real reason many of today's churches aren't growing: Too many churches today are wallowing in a lack of direction and purpose. In this book, Rick Warren explains why direction is important, the process of setting a vision for your church, and how to sell that vision to your church members. Through this book, Rick Warren will teach you how to increase your church's impact without compromising what you stand for. This isn't a book for pastors only, but for anyone interested in seeing their church improve their impact, and make a difference in the world. Make this the next book you read.

This book is about building your church and structuring it around the 5 biblical purposes of the church: worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and evangelism. It is a powerful, biblically centered book, and it will get you excited about the future of the church in America. Yet I want to caution the reader about three things: Number one: The book gives a very detailed and organized plan for growing healthy churches, and if you neglect even one bit of instruction, your plans could go awry. The close attention to detail sometimes made me feel a bit overwhelmed. Number two: This paradigm is most effective for planting new congregations. I have discovered that the book's principles are very difficult to implement in a congregation that is over 100 years old. Not impossible. Just difficult. For those of you who are serving in older congregations with an average attendance of 100 or higher, I would also want to refer you to literature such as "Help for the Small Church Pastor" by Steve Bierly...which deals with renewing smaller, existing churches with an extensive history. And a third thing to keep in mind is that what worked for Rick Warren in the laid back culture of southern California may not necessarily work in the breadbasket of America. Another caution that I would want to mention is that Rick is not always careful with the text of scripture. For example, he argues that we should tell more stories in our sermons to make the truth plainer. He supports this by referring to Matthew 13:34 where it says that Jesus taught in parables. But what Rick overlooks is that Jesus taught in parables so that "you would be ever hearing, but never perceiving." He spoke in parables so that only the wise in heart would comprehend, which is the exact opposite of what Warren says! There are enough misuses and misapprehensions of scripture in PDC to fill a small book. In spite of these shortcomings, the book talks a lot of good sense. mMy advice would be to read the book once to get a feel for the Purpose Driven Church paradigm. Then read it a second time with your particular church home in mind to draw out some principles and to brainstorm ideas.

This book goes beyond "contemporary versus traditional" worship issues and addresses the greater question: how can we reach a lost world that is increasingly pagan and diverse? Warren uses the Bible as a reference point, rather than the traditions of the 1900's church models, to build a ministry model capable of communicating the gospel to a modern day world whose decadence and world view is becoming more and more like that of the pagan nations that surrounded the early Christians of the first century.

Sorry. My English is poor...(I'm suffering now) But I can say that this book give me a biblical imotion, And my life-purpose be changed from the survival to the realization distinct vision on God's surf. In spite of my terrible English, I'm happy because I can say somthing about this lovely book. Thans to Jesus our saviour & Rick. La, la, la~

This book is a rare treasure of godly wisdom, totally scriptural, inspired by the Spirit, and born of practical experience. These principles will revolutionize and energize any church to reach its full potential. Every pastor MUST read this book. It is destined to become a classic. Bill Bright, Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ