Subject: purpose driven? |
Bible Note: Greetings Doc! You wrote: "The very fact that a philosophy or teaching becomes popular means that it has found a way to coexist contentedly with the flesh and falleness of the many who are on the broad way." This is the same type of false assumption I was referring to earlier. If a church is growing, it must be fake! :-) If a teaching is sucessful, it must be false! Look at the first century church, the Lord was adding people to the church by the hundreds and thousands by the day. Why are we not seeing results like that today? I believe that there are several primary reasons. 1) We don't believe that God will give us those kind of results today. 2) We don't do anything to obtain those kind of results. We practice the fortress mentality in church. "Well, the doors were open! If the lost wanted to be saved, they just have to come in!" :-( Yet, Scripture says that we are to pray for workers to go INTO the harvest, not wait for the harvest to come to us. 3) We don't have healthy churches! This is one of the primary points of emphasis in 'The Purpose Driven Church'. He demonstrates, from Scripture, that there are several primary purposes for the church. They include, evangelism, disciplemaking, teachings, worship, and fellowship. The 'popular' theology that Rick Warren advocates is that we should be doing these things well, if we're not, we should learn to do them well. Gasp! ;-) Are people being taught God's word in church? If not, let's intentional come up with a plan to teach it. Are people fellowship together as they body of Christ? If not, let's come up with ways to get people together. Frankly, I don't see what is unbiblical about that premise! :-) By the way, the Bible is sold at Wal-mart! ;-) p.s. - 'The Purpose Driven Church' is not really a theology book. It is a ministry book that helps a church examine itself and see if it is fulfilling it's purposes effectively or not. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |