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5 Principles of a Purpose- Driven Church

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5 Principles of a Purpose- Driven Church BIBLE STUDY 5 PRINCIPLES OF A PURPOSE- DRIVEN CHURCH Rick Warren’s genius is in helping pastors see the obvious. alifornia megachurch pastor Rick Warren is the master of the obvious, according to CHRISTIANITY TODAY’s senior writer Tim Stafford. But if his principles for ministry are so self-evident, Cwhy aren’t more churches already practicing them? In this study, we will explore two biblical texts Warren cites as foundational to his thriving ministry. We will also compare his principles to local church practices in the first century and the twenty-first century. Scripture: Mark 12:28-34; Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 2:42-47 Based on: The article “A Regular Purpose-Driven Guy,” by Tim Stafford, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, November 2002 1 ©2011 Christianity Today International ChristianBibleStudies.com Christianity Today Bible Study 5 PRINCIPLES OF A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH How to use this resource for a group study HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE FOR A GROUP STUDY This Bible study can be used for an individual or a group. If you intend to lead a group study, follow these simple suggestions. Make enough copies of the article for everyone 1 in the group. If you would like your group to have more information, feel free to copy the leader’s guide for them as well. Don’t feel that you have to use all the material in the study. Almost all of 2 our studies have more information than you can get through in one session, so feel free to pick and choose the teaching information and questions that will meet the needs of your group. Use the teaching content of the study in any of these ways: for your own background and information; to read aloud (or summarize) to the group; for the group to read silently. Make sure your group agrees to complete confidentiality. This is essential 3 to getting people to open up. When working through the questions, be willing to make yourself 4 vulnerable. It’s important for your group to know that others share their experiences. Make honesty and openness a priority in your group. 5 Begin and end the session in prayer. 2 ©2011 Christianity Today International ChristianBibleStudies.com Christianity Today Bible Study 5 PRINCIPLES OF A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH Leader’s Guide Part 1 IDENTIFY THE CURRENT ISSUE Note to leader: Provide each person with the article “A Regular Purpose- Driven Guy” from CHRISTIANITY TODAY, included at the end of this study. As you begin the session, give each person several post-it notes. Multiple answers are allowed, but write each answer on a separate sticky note. Ask group members to write responses to the following questions. (1) What is our church doing well? (2) What does our church need to do better? Don’t discuss the answers yet. Set them aside for later. Discussion Starters: [Q] What do you think God had in mind when he created what we have come to call the church? [Q] Do you think local churches turned out the way God planned? If not, how are they missing their purpose? [Q] Stafford says Rick Warren’s “purpose-driven” principles are obvious. Do you think they are obvious? Are any of the terms foreign to your congregation? [Q] On Warren’s baseball diagram, the home plate is maturity that results in magnification (worship) of God. In your estimation, what is the sign of a mature believer? • How do you think a Christian grows to that point? Is maturity a constant state that one arrives at? [Q] Rick Warren said most people don’t want to go to a megachurch. So why do they go? Part 2 DISCOVER THE ETERNAL PRINCIPLES Note to Leader: For the teaching time, make a chart of five columns with five rows. (You may wish to prepare one large chart for the group, or provide individual charts for the members to complete.) Across the top, label the columns “Purpose,” “Commandment,” “Commission,” “Jerusalem Church,” “Our Church.” 3 ©2011 Christianity Today International ChristianBibleStudies.com Christianity Today Bible Study 5 PRINCIPLES OF A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH Leader’s Guide Write the five purposes in the first column. At Saddleback, the purposes all begin with the letter “m,” but for our study, we will use the words that more clearly define the functions. They are “Fellowship,” “Discipleship,” “Service,” “Evangelism,” and “Worship.” Warren places them on his diamond diagram in that order, but as the author of the article points out, the order can be debated. None of the purposes happens independently of the others, and, while a person generally becomes a Christian prior to leading others to faith in Christ, evangelism is not limited to people who have first mastered discipleship or service. We should be growing in all the areas all the time. But by identifying the principles and giving them order, Warren has developed a system for assuring that all the members of his church receive teaching and ministry opportunities in all the areas. (As you write the purposes in the first column, give a brief definition for each, and ask, “Is that clear, or is there a term that communicates this better for our congregation/small group?”) Fellowship is a connection to and interaction with the body of believers. For Warren’s congregation, fellowship begins with the steps leading to membership. In the New Testament, the root for the Greek word koinonia literally means “partner.” Paul wrote about the partnership his church plants shared with him in spreading the gospel. Believers are in partnership with Christ in his sufferings. In the local congregation today, fellowship is often equated with the quality of relationship among the believers, or sometimes it means the chatter over a potluck dinner. But fellowship is much richer than sharing Jell-O recipes. Discipleship is growing in the likeness and knowledge of one’s teacher. A disciple is a “learner” in New Testament terminology. The disciples of Jesus were shaped in faith, character, and actions as they spent three years following him around the countryside. Some churches today use the term discipleship to indicate a special program of Christian education. The term spiritual formation has growing use among Protestants to describe the believer’s ongoing, personal faith development. Service is ministry to and within the church, according to Warren’s definition. Warren uses a series of studies, spiritual gifts inventories, and personal interviews to determine where a church member may be best suited to serve. Volunteer church jobs, such as deacon ministry, music leadership, and teaching Sunday school fall under this heading. There may be some overlap with the other principles, but the defining characteristic, according to Warren, is that this ministry is done within the church body. Evangelism is ministry done (generally) outside the local church body with the intent of leading people to faith in Christ. Some churches are overtly evangelistic; others choose 4 ©2011 Christianity Today International ChristianBibleStudies.com Christianity Today Bible Study 5 PRINCIPLES OF A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH Leader’s Guide to represent Christ by their actions and plant seeds for a later faith harvest. The tendency may be to justify every church ministry as evangelism. The defining characteristic of evangelism may be intent. While ministering in laid-back Southern California, Warren and Saddleback are very intentional in their evangelism ministries: through recovery ministries and service in their community, they want to lead people to faith in Christ. Worship, or as Warren calls it, “magnification,” is glorifying God through a variety of means. Worship is not limited to the Sunday morning sanctuary experience. It is not defined by musical style. Worship is a whole-life experience, in which God is honored intentionally and purposefully by individuals and groups. By placing worship at the center of his diagram, Warren indicates that that’s where all of the Christian life begins and ends. Those are the purposes of the church as Warren identifies them. He cites two passages of Scripture, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, as the foundation of his purpose-driven principles. Let’s look at those passages and also compare two churches to Warren’s standard. Teaching Point One: What do Great Commandment Christians do? Read Mark 12:28–34. [Q] How does this passage show the key vertical and horizontal relationships in the believer’s life? Leader’s Note: Jesus tells the scribe that God is to have first place in every aspect of our lives. He quotes, in part, the Shema (Deut. 6:4–5), Israel’s statement of faith that God was not one of the panoply of pagan gods, but that he was One, above any others. Yahweh alone, in his unique relationship with Israel, was to be worshiped with heart, soul, mind, and strength. What Jesus did do, however, was to take the application out of the family setting and place it in a broader laboratory among all who are our neighbors. Here Jesus gave his followers a new ethical challenge: our love relationship with God is not played out just between us and him; if we love God, it will show up in our relationship with our neighbors. The quality of our vertical relationship is tested and attested on the horizontal plane. [Q] How do the purposes of the church line up with this passage? Leader’s Note: Invite the group members to look at the chart. In the column labeled “Commandment,” write the words from this Scripture next to the purpose to which they are most closely related. Use the words “heart,” “soul,” “mind,” “strength,” and “neighbor.” (You may wish to give the group members a minute to consider this, 5 ©2011 Christianity Today International ChristianBibleStudies.com Christianity Today Bible Study 5 PRINCIPLES OF A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH Leader’s Guide then discuss it as a group as you place the words on the chart.
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