What Is the Purpose-Driven Church?

• 1st Base is “C.L.A.S.S. 101” (Discovering Church Membership), which “covers salvation, baptism and communion, along with the purposes, targets, structure and affiliations” of the church. 

• 2nd Base is “C.L.A.S.S. 201” (Discovering Spiritual Maturity), which “focuses on the four basic habits every Christian needs to grow to spiritual maturity: time in God’s Word, prayer, tithing and fellowship.”

• 3rd Base is “C.L.A.S.S. 301” (Discovering My Ministry), which seeks to help people discover their “unique S.H.A.P.E. for ministry” (in other words, “developing and using their God-given gifts and abilities in serving God and others”). This reflects Saddleback’s view that “every member is a minister.”(“S.H.A.P.E.” is an acronym for how God made us, equipped us, and gifted us for serving Him. It stands for Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences.) 

• Home Plate is “C.L.A.S.S. 401” (Discovering My Life’s Mission), which equips people to share their faith with unbelievers. This CLASS is paramount because it relates directly to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19).

• Pitcher’s Mound, which is worship (or Magnification), ties together the other bases because everything we do (membership, maturity, ministry, and mission) should be done in worship of God.

These stops along the baseball diamond reflect what Warren sees as God’s five purposes for the church as delineated in the Bible. They are derived from the five commands that God gave Christians via the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). All that Warren is saying is that every church should have balance in all five areas (i.e., give equal time and energy to all five). In other words, church leaders should make sure that just as much attention is being given to spiritual maturity as is being given to membership, or any of the other purposes, and vice-versa.

This is not much of a "fad." It is solid New Testament. Warren, it again must be stressed, is primarily interested in church health—not church growth. He believes that a healthy church (not necessarily a large one) is biblical. And as for growth, this will likely happen (but not necessarily) as a result of health. But growth should never be the final goal (for more in-depth information on this issue, see my book Rick Warren and the Purpose that Drives Him).

Warren has repeatedly stressed that his teachings are not about church growth, but rather, about church health. Warren has explained on many occasions: "[T]he key issue for our congregations in the 21st century is church health not church growth. Focusing on church growth is the wrong focus" (Pastors.com, "Rick Warren Interview," August 2005). He has gone so far as to write an entire article titled Emphasize Church Health, Not Church Growth. And again, another article, Forget Church Growth, Aim for Church Health (11/10/2004).

Moreover, Warren believes that a healthy church can be large or small—sometimes very small! When/if growth happens, then that will be the Holy Spirit working in and through the biblically-sound/spiritually-balanced church: a healthy church. But growth should never be the final goal. In fact, most of the churches within the Purpose Driven network have between 100-200 members. The following text is from my interview with Warren:

As for Warren's role in the so-called Church Growth Movement (CGM), he has explained: "In the early 1980s, I used the term 'church growth' because that was what everybody was familiar with. But I stopped using the phrase around 1986 because of the things I didn't like about the church growth movement" (see Rick Warren, Making Ministry Healthy, Christianity Today). In other words, Warren deliberately left the CGM more than twenty years ago because it was indeed focusing on growth. And that was not something Warren was interested in.