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by Mark Tabb
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (PD)--When word got out that the 100 year old Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Minneapolis had adopted the Purpose Driven model of ministry, critics accused pastor Chris Nelson of trying to turn it into a non-denominational mega-church. “I gave the appropriate liturgical response,” Chris said. “I laughed.” Nine years after starting the transition process, Bethlehem still looks like a traditional Lutheran congregation.
“If you were to come worship with us, you would find our largest service to be a liturgical, traditional service complete with pipe organ and choir,” Chris says. “The subtitle of The Purpose Driven Church says, ‘Growth without compromising your message and mission.’ I think we are a great case study that shows this statement is true. Becoming purpose driven doesn’t mean surrendering your traditions or your doctrinal distinctives.”
Of all the myths surrounding the purpose driven model of ministry, perhaps none are more prevalent than the myth that becoming purpose driven means becoming a clone of Rick Warren and Saddleback Church. Even though Rick has continually said he has no interest in producing clones of Saddleback, many still associate purpose driven with laid back, Southern Californian style seeker-sensitive rock music blaring worship services oozing with Baptist theology.
Churches fear adopting the PD model means surrendering their unique identity and becoming something they never wanted to be. Bethlehem Lutheran and thousands of churches around the world and across the denominational spectrum show this isn’t the case.
“God has a custom ministry for every church. Your church has a unique thumbprint that God has given it,” Rick writes in The Purpose Driven Church. Churches do not have to choose between maintaining that thumbprint and incorporating God’s five purposes into their church life. The two can go hand in hand when the church’s leadership pays attention to several details.
Know thyself
Saddleback’s story resonated with pastor Todd Hudnall, and the principles behind its success grabbed him. In them he discovered a whole new way of thinking about the church’s mission and methods. More than a decade later he is now leading his second church in the transition from a traditional Assembly of God congregation to the purpose driven model.
Yet, in both First Assembly of Lufkin, Texas, and First Assembly, San Diego, he has been careful to hold onto the churches’ unique identity. “We don’t want to be like everyone else, because we’re not,” Todd says. “We came out of the Azusa Street Revival, we came out of the Holy Spirit movement, we have the distinctive of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, and the moving of the Spirit. And we don’t want to lose that. We don’t want to blend in and be just another church.”
Every congregation has historical and theological distinctives that make them who they are. Most leaders who find themselves in trouble do so because they fail to understand what is non-negotiable. Michael Carey, pastor of Satellite Beach Presbyterian Church, notes: “There are pastors who, yearning for church growth and yearning for renewal, are tempted to imitate the Saddleback model without being careful to preserve what’s non-negotiable about being Presbyterian.” Recognizing their unique non-negotiables will allow church leaders to adopt and adapt purpose driven principles without losing their tradition and history.
Build on principles rather than copy methods
Rick Warren makes no secret of the fact that the PD model is not his unique invention. “Anytime I see a program working in another church, I try to extract the principle behind it and apply it in our church” he says. “I learned a long time ago that I don’t have to originate everything for it to work. ... While you cannot grow a church by trying to be someone else, you can grow a church by using principles someone else discovered and then filtering them through your personality and context.”
Becoming a purpose driven church means building on the biblical principles behind the movement rather than copying specific characteristics that are unique to Saddleback or other PD churches.
Chris Nelson used this approach in leading Bethlehem Lutheran Church into the PD model. From the beginning he recognized the key issues weren’t worship styles or Baptist theology as opposed to Lutheran theology. Instead he looked to the principles under girding the movement.
“The genius of PD is that theology/doctrine has so little to do with it!” Chris says. “It is a way of thinking about church, and a model of ministry that is biblically based, straightforward and focused in helping people grow in their faith, and providing avenues for people to do that.” When the principles are biblical, they will work in any church, whatever the denominational labels, anywhere in the world.
Purpose driven means just that. Purpose driven churches are driven by a quest to fulfill and balance God’s five purposes for the church. Worship, mission, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry should characterize every healthy church. As Chris Nelson put it, “How can you argue with the Great Commandment and the Great Commission (the foundation of the PD model)?” How the purposes are expressed will be as unique as each congregation, but the biblical principles will not change.
Interweave the five purposes with your distinctive expressions of faith
Salem Fields Community Church may not have its denominational label in its church name, but that doesn’t make it any less of a Nazarene church. Their theology remains thoroughly Wesleyan, with its emphasis on sanctification as a second work of grace.
When pastor Buddy Marston and other leaders adapted the PD model for their church, they didn’t abandon this key doctrine that made them who they are. Instead, they combined their understanding of sanctification into their 201 class.
“Our doctrinal distinctive is the second work of grace,” Buddy says. “The second work of grace is when you give the Lord absolute control of your life, and he fills your life, and he has the power to begin to form us and make us into who he wants us to be. We incorporate this teaching into the fact that we believe part of this process is becoming purpose driven.”
They’ve been so successful weaving together the PD principles with historic Nazarene doctrine that the church’s district supervisor has taken their membership class book and sent it to other churches.
Combining historic expressions of faith and the purpose driven model is exactly what every church should do as they embark on this path. Rick has this in mind when he talks about filtering PD principles through your personality and context. Each church’s theological traditions and heritage are a key component of their personality.
Rather than choose between these and the PD model, the two can be combined. That is why Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Trinity Presbyterian have both added God’s five purposes to their confirmation classes. By combining the Bible’s emphasis on God’s purposes for our lives with their historic means of training children to love and serve the Lord, they are able to fulfill their mission without compromising their message.
Don’t gloss over areas of difference
Trinity Presbyterian Church of Satellite Beach, Fla., is one of the founding churches of the Purpose Driven Presbyterian network. However, that doesn’t stop the church from having a section on its website entitled, “Ways we are not like Saddleback!”
Rather than gloss over the theological differences between their church and both The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life, the church highlights them. “We’re not Baptists, and so we’ve incorporated Presbyterian Church (USA) perspectives on baptism, the Lord’s Supper, God’s concern for justice, and the legitimacy of women serving as leaders, etc., in our Newcomers Seminar (C.L.A.S.S. 101) material,” the site says.
Becoming purpose driven does not demand a church see eye-to-eye with Rick Warren in every area. During 40 Days of Purpose, Bethlehem Lutheran Church pastor Chris Nelson used theological differences with The Purpose Driven Life as a way of honing the faith of his congregation. “We challenged our members to review and clarify what they do believe when they came across something with which they disagree,” he said.
Trinity Presbyterian pastor Michael Carey found the definition of “mission” in The Purpose Driven Life to be too narrow. “In PDL Rick defined mission in terms of evangelism. This is a very narrow definition of mission for Presbyterians,” Michael says. “Many Presbyterians have been turned off by the lack of talking about helping the poor, disadvantaged as part of the Christian mission when they read PDL.”
Rather than drop out of the campaign, Carey added the manifestation of social righteousness to the church’s expressions of mission during 40 DOP. He points out to his members that PDL contains only half of what they consider to be God’s purpose of mission, and then proceeds to explain what Presbyterians consider to be the rest of the story.
For Michael Carey, he didn’t have to choose between the PD model and being a faithful Presbyterian. The two have gone hand in hand. “Some of what we’ve gained from Saddleback has been Presbyterian values that have largely been lost,” Michael says. “The Purpose Driven movement has helped us reclaim some of our historic biblical values.”
Rather than turning Trinity Presbyterian Church into a Saddleback clone, Michael believes discovering God’s five purposes has made his congregation even better Presbyterians. When applied properly, every church should have a similar experience.
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