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Synopsis:
In The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren shares a strategy for church health that includes building the church around five key purposes for the church’s existence, tailoring the church’s manifestation of those purposes to fit the surrounding community, identifying multiple levels of church involvement, and strategies for moving people through those various levels. Partly a biographical history, this book recounts the discovery and implementation of this recommended strategy through 25 years of work with Saddleback Valley Community Church. The strategies in this book were unique in 1995 in that it focuses less on church growth and more on church health, specifically a health that is achieved through the development of each individual that benefits the collective whole. The purposes identified for the church, and subsequently each individual, are worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and evangelism. As the members of the church increase in their understanding and application of each purpose in their own lives, they should find themselves moving along a continuum of involvement that passes through the stages of community, crowd, congregation, committed, and core.

Reading Level (scale of 1-5; 5 being scholarly):
I would rate this book a 3, based on a combination of easy to understand grammar and vocabulary, length (395 pages), and its focus on advanced church leadership and organization principles.

Additional Information:
This book, while greatly popular in and of itself, lays the groundwork for the hugely popular Purpose Driven Life (published in 2002), also by Rick Warren. In that book, the concepts of the five purposes are applied in great detail to the lives of the individual Christian. That book, coupled with small group curriculum, serves as the backbone for the 40 Days of Purpose church campaign program.

Submitted By:
Brad Palmore

Available in Church Library:
Yes

Disclaimer:
This article reflects the views of the reviewer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arlington Church of Christ.