Rick Warren and Reconciliation

In early 2008, the Christian Post Reporter ran an article titled "Rick Warren: Mainline Church Problems Need Evangelical Solution" (1/28/2008), which noted the following

Rick Warren suggested Sunday that mainline churches need to reconcile with evangelicals to counter its mounting problem of membership decline. "The reconciliation is that in a pluralistic world. . . we (Christians) need to be on the same team because we share the same savior," Warren contended Sunday, as he spoke with the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, Samuel T. Lloyd III, who observed that evangelical churches are thriving and full of vitality, while most mainline denominations are confronting worrisome membership decline. . . . "100 years ago the phrase social gospel first came out," Warren responded. "Some people took that to mean only if we reform the social government and society and not personal faith in Christ Jesus—that is, if we make the world a better place—we don’t need personal redemption." That idea led to mainline churches going "one way" and evangelical churches another way, he said. "Who’s right? The fact is both are right," Warren emphasized. "Somehow we got divided like Jesus didn’t care about society or members of society didn’t need Jesus. I think we need both." Warren called for "reconciliation" between mainline and evangelical churches and reminded the audience that Jesus taught his followers to love their God with all their heart, mind and soul, as well as to love their neighbors as themselves. "You can’t just love your neighbor; you got to love God," Warren said. "And you can’t just love God; you have to love your neighbors. And mainline protestant and evangelical—we need both wings.'"

This comment from Warren has caused great concern among many evangelicals who: a) fear that Warren is seeking to liberalize evangelicalism; and/or b) believe it is impossible to reconcile with liberal mainline churches steeped in many heretical and aberrant concepts of God, Christ, and scripture (see definition of liberalism).

These are understandable concerns. But Warren's remarks must be viewed carefully, and with an eye toward his entire philosophy (for the P.E.A.C.E. Plan) and his doctrinal belief structure (as a conservative Southern Baptist). First, and foremost, it is important to understand that he whole concept of "reconciliation"—i.e., reconciliation between us and God, and reconciliation between each other—is extremely important to Warren. He sees it as a virtual panacea (i.e., "a remedy for all diseases, evils, or difficulties; a cure-all") for the world because to his mind a lack of reconciliation (an obvious sin) is one of the main causes of suffering in the world. This is evident from the official P.E.A.C.E. Plan website, which explains

The key to reconciliation, according to Warren, is the Jesus Christ of the Bible. As Warren noted in his Christmas message of 2006:

"Christmas is the celebration of an invasion when God came to earth 2,000 years ago, and the world has never been the same since," said Pastor Warren. "It is a time for celebration – 'don't be afraid for I bring you good news of great joy;' salvation – 'for unto you is born a Savior;' and reconciliation – 'peace on earth, good will toward men.' "Christmas is also a time of coming together, and we need reconciliation in so many areas – in families, in communities and between nations," added Pastor Warren. "Many times when families get together over the holidays, there is a lot of brokenness, dysfunction, hurt and heartache. That's why this message of reconciliation, – peace with God, of God and with each other – is one that will ring true in a lot of hearts" (Christan News Wire).

Clearly, the idea of "reconciliation" is very important to Warren and its fits nicely into his P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

THE CONCERNS & THE QUESTIONS

There are a number of issues that need to be addressed at this point:

1) Is the P.E.A.C.E. Plan truly just another version of the liberal social gospel?

2) Is Warren seeking to liberalize evangelicalism via reconciling with liberal denominations?

3) Is working socially with unbelievers and/or reconciling with people of other faiths (which might as well included many liberal denominations) in the social arena against scripture?

4) Exactly how much of the original P.E.A.C.E. Plan has actually been altered as a result of changing the "P" to Promote Reconciliation?

Warren sees the idea of reconciliation (in all its varieties) as something firmly rooted and grounded in Christ. Consequently, it seems that in pushing the idea of reconciliation, he can better spread the Gospel and what he sees as a major fruit of the Gospel -- i.e., reconciliation. Not surprisingly, in 2007 Warren changed the "P" in his P.E.A.C.E. Plan from Planting Churches to Promoting Reconciliation. This decision, however, also irritated his critics, who basically argued that if he was no longer going to be even planting churches through his P.E.A.C.E. Plan, then his P.E.A.C.E. Plan was really nothing more than a bankrupt Social gospel.

[1]

It has been made very, very clear by Warren on numerous occasions that his P.E.A.C.E. Plan is not by any stretch of the imagination any kind of Social Gospel (see The P.E.A.C.E. Plan).

[2]

As for Warren and liberalism, Warren is no liberal. Nor has he any desire to become a liberal or push liberalism on the church. He is a Southern Baptist who preaches/teaches all of the essential doctrines of Christianity, including salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the shed blood of Christ on the cross for our sins (see Saddleback Church: The Cross, Sin, and Hell and "The Doctrinal Essentials of Christianity—and Rick Warren).

Moreover, in the very news article quoted above, Warren points directly to some of the problems in the liberal/mainline churches, saying that the social gospel's initiation occurred when mainline churches mistakenly eradicated from their programs the preaching of a "personal faith in Christ Jesus" and began focusing on simply making "the world a better place," which effectively meant "we don’t need personal redemption." He later added: "You can’t just love your neighbor; you got to love God."

So, it seems that Warren's hope is two-fold. First, by encouraging reconciliation, the evangelicals will help mainline churches get their focus back on Jesus Christ, the Gospel message of personal redemption, and also simple love for God. Second, at the same time, from the liberal/mainline churches, evangelicals will learn a thing or two about actually getting out into the world and doing something socially to help alleviate the suffering of humanity (on a much larger scale than ever before).

[3]

With regard to working socially with people of other faiths, secularists, and those of liberal denominations, see my article Working Socially With Unbelievers).

[4]

Concerning how much of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan has actually changed as a result of the shift from "Planting Churches" to "Promoting Reconciliation," it does not seem that very much has changed at all. Anyone visiting the official P.E.A.C.E. Plan web page would be hard-pressed to find areas where something significant has been changed from the original P.E.A.C.E. Plan. In other words, it appears that the alteration of the "P" from Planting Churches to Promoting Reconciliation may be mostly cosmetic. With regard to the overall P.E.A.C.E. Plan, the purpose driven web site still reads:

» "The P.E.A.C.E. Plan will be a 'revolution' for global Christianity, Warren told the congregation."
(Notice not a global religion, but rather Christianity.)

» "The great evangelist Dwight L. Moody said, 'The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him,' Warren said."
(Notice that Moody is quoted about people being consecrated to the Christian God.)

Little, if anything, appears different—except for the presence of the "P" for Promoting Reconciliation, which truth be told, is a bit less threatening to those of other faiths (or of no faiths) who might be willing to help Warren achieve his main goal, which is evangelism.

AN EVANGELISM STRATEGY

An important aspect of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is alleviating suffering on a large scale. And that is only possible with help from others, even other religions, and governments possibly hostile to religion. It is difficult to see why changing the "P" from planting churches to promoting reconciliation would be very strategic—i.e., more people might be inclined to help Warren if they didn't have "PLANTING CHURCHES" shoved in their faces (even though a few churches might actually end up being planted all over the world).

Whether or not churches are planted is almost immaterial since there will certainly be a sharing of the Christian gospel by Christians in places that would otherwise be closed to them. It all makes perfect sense. Interestingly, at purposedriven.com it says:

"The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is a massive effort to mobilize 1 billion Christians around the world into an outreach effort to attack the five global, evil giants of our day. These are the world’s biggest problems, affecting billions, not just millions, of people: spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy. These five global giants ravage the lives of billions of people worldwide and all work together to constrain them and cut them off from knowing the saving grace of a loving God who sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for their sins allowing them eternal hope and security" (P.E.A.C.E.).

Notice that Christians are the main participants. This statement also indicates that a main problem resulting from these global giants (spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy) is the way the Gospel is kept from reaching people who are being cut off "from knowing the saving grace of a loving God who sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for their sins allowing them eternal hope and security." We can see easily in these words what Warren's primary motivation for destroying his "global giants" is evangelism!

We can see easily in these words what Warren's primary motivation for destroying his "global giants"—evangelism! Equally clear are the sentiments expressed on the official P.E.A.C.E. Plan website under "The Solution" summary:

"These giants [spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy] work together to constrain and prevent masses of people from knowing the saving grace of a loving God who sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins allowing us eternal hope and security. . . . The only successful solution is the global Church of Jesus Christ."

Notice that the solution is the global church of Jesus Christ, not some pluralistic one-world, New Age, religious melting pot. And we again see Warren's primary motivation for destroying his "global giants"—evangelism! He wants to get rid of the social giants of that working together to "constrain and prevent masses of people from knowing the saving grace of a loving God who sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins allowing us eternal hope and security."

By attacking spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy, Warren is apparently hoping to not just alleviate suffering, but more importantly, he is looking to open the doors for evangelizing the people who are being helped!

As the official P.E.A.C.E. Plan web site reads: "Billions . . . don't know that they're not an accident, and that Jesus Christ died for them so that their past can be forgiven, and they can have purpose for living, and they can have a home in heaven" (What's the Problem?). This is why a halt to missions and missionary work is NOT part of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan (no matter what the "P" stands for). The official P.E.A.C.E. Plan website clearly states:

"The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is not advocating giving up supporting full-time missionaries. The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is a supplement not a replacement for what is being done on the mission field today. Our purpose is to mobilize Christ followers around the world into an effort to disciple every nation, not just plant a church in every geo-political region. As we look at the statistics there are 3,500 people groups who are considered unengaged. The need for the local church to become involved is critical to fulfilling the Great Commission" (see "Where does the P.E.A.C.E. Plan fit historically in the global effort of mission sand what is the effectiveness of small groups?," under Frequently Asked Questions).

This sounds exactly like the original "P" (for Planting Churches) as it was explained back when Warren first launched his idea. The fact that the "P" now stands for "Promote Reconciliation" apparently has had very little overall effect on the primary, initial, main objective: i.e., evangelism. (For more information on Rick Warren and his P.E.A.C.E. Plan, see What is the P.E.A.C.E .Plan)

The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is also often referred to by Warren a "New Reformation" of deeds, rather rather creeds. This phraseology, too, has raised a number of additional accusatiosn from his critics, none of which are based on accurate facts or thoughtful arguments (see Rick Warren's Second Reformation).