As an advocate for overcoming disciple-making mediocrity by adapting the purpose-driven approach to ministry, I recognize that some leaders question whether this innovative strategy can indeed reflect non-negotiable Presbyterian beliefs and values. And some leaders wonder whether the Missional and Emerging Church movements have supplanted the purpose-driven approach as the best way to re-tool a congregation for life-changing ministry.
To some observers, the phrase “purpose-driven Presbyterian” is simply an oxymoron, since the concept was developed by Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Community Church, a Southern Baptist congregation! Yet the six Great Ends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) i.e. (G-1.0200) mirror Warren’s premise that Christ’s church exists in order to cultivate worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. (Two of the six “Great Ends” concern “mission,” expressing our Reformed conviction that salvation is holistic, involving both the “proclamation of the Gospel” and the “promotion of social righteousness.”)
Warren’s insight was recognizing that congregations are often ineffective in helping persons fulfill all five biblical purposes because usually they lack an effective strategy to nurture newcomers’ spiritual growth. By designing a developmental approach to new member assimilation, churches significantly increase the percentage of those who grow spiritually and become active participants in the congregation. The typical Presbyterian congregation may expect that only a third of the new members ultimately become full participants, purpose-driven churches often raise their “batting average” past .667! (Warren uses a baseball diamond to illustrate Saddleback’s way of nurturing spiritual growth.)
This model also helps the congregation’s leaders make the transition into “missional church.” The Missional Church Movement reminds us that in this post-Christendom context Christianity is an alien spirituality to many persons, a barrier unlikely to be hurdled unless the congregation’s ministries are retooled. The purpose-driven paradigm provides a continual process for discerning what makes for positive change. Instead of being tradition-driven (“we’ve never done it that way before”), or personality-driven (“what do influential people want?”), or program-driven (“how can we get people to participate in what we’re already doing?), leaders seek to discern the best way to accomplish each biblical purpose in a manner that fits the culture of that generation. Of course, a Spirit-led Session will discern appropriate ways to continue to utilize meaningful traditions. And the Lord always uses personalities and programs to accomplish the church’s Great Ends. What distinguishes a purpose-driven church is the effort its leaders make to have an honest conversation as to whether traditions, personalities, and programs are actually fulfilling those ends in peoples’ lives.
Acutely aware that many congregations were failing to nurture significant spiritual growth, Warren developed what follows as his model of disciple-making. Envision worship as the “pitcher’s mound,” around which disciple-development revolves. The most faithful worship culture allows people to worship in culturally authentic ways, so that spiritual seekers are drawn in to an encounter with God. Create a pathway to help newcomers get connected, grow deeper, discover ministry, and venture into mission. While each congregation’s programmatic expression is unique, many Presbyterian congregations have chosen to utilize Warren’s “base-path,” with each “base” featuring a four-hour seminar that serves as a gateway to orienting people to the biblical ideal of fellowship in small groups (1st base), deeper discipleship through spiritual disciplines (2nd base), sacrificial service with a ministry team (3rd base), and deployment as a world-changing missionary (home plate).
While it may seem crass to use a sports metaphor to portray spiritual growth, the beauty of the “baseball diamond” is it sends disciples back to where they started, into the mission field, a primary goal of the Missional Church movement.
Because the purpose-driven model is so simple, Presbyterian congregations can adapt it easily; they simply re-write the instructional material at each “base” to communicate Presbyterian core values.
The Emerging Church movement is another important voice for re-tooling local congregations. The Missional Church movement challenges congregations not to be inward-focused; the Emerging Church movement helps those who want to be missionally faithful imagine ways to communicate and embody the Gospel in a post-modern setting. Inasmuch as the purpose-driven concept was developed for a modern mindset, for a Baby Boom generation that valued clarity, it is legitimate to question whether the purpose-driven approach is simply “out-of-date,” less useful for congregations seeking to reach Generations “X” and “Y.”
Such disregard is shortsighted because the purpose-driven approach is not a program; its significance is not in the “baseball diamond” or its seminars. Rather, it is an attitude that seeks to reach people “where they are” in order that the church be Christ’s catalyst in “taking them where they ought to be.” It is a commitment to change church culture whenever it becomes apparent that there are better ways to help persons experience the five biblical purposes, along with awareness that spiritual growth is developmental.
But what about the Emerging Church concern that spiritual seekers are turned off by “cookie-cutter” discipleship methods, since post-moderns value ambiguity and mystery? Is the culture of purpose-driven too “modern,” too “programmed” to nurture spiritual growth for post-modern people? The answer would likely be “yes,” if the “baseball diamond” were used mechanically, if post-modern seekers were asked to resolve all of their questions before moving from one base (purpose) to the next. But a Presbyterian adaptation of the purpose-driven model should never pretend that a person completely masters fellowship before moving on to discipleship and ministry. Instead, it can serve the modest goal of providing newcomers with a better understanding of the purposes by focusing on them one after another. A realistic assessment of post-moderns recognizes that it takes time for seekers to commit to the Lordship of Christ or join the church. But he or she can join a small group Bible study, and sign up for the Spiritual Growth Seminar. (2nd base). While not yet making a commitment to Christ or his church would prevent that person from being placed in teaching or leadership roles, the process would provide them with meaningful ways to serve on a ministry or mission team. Some post-moderns will profess faith in Jesus openly after following him!
Aspects of the Emerging Church movement should be welcomed as a corrective to some of the reductionistic aspects of contemporary church culture, including those associated with the purpose-driven church. The Emerging Church movement’s efforts to reclaim ancient and traditional worship practices will provide meaningful ways to give post-modern people the tools to honor God authentically. And commitment to communicate God’s Word using multi-sensory and dialogic methods is a faithful way to be purpose-driven in a post-modern context.
Purpose-driven church leaders will continually ask themselves, “Is this program of disciple-making the most effective in our cultural context?” Some congregations will continue to make gracious use of successive seminars, encourage newcomers to “go around the bases.” Other purpose-driven churches will have intentional strategy of inviting spiritual seekers to participate in spiritual formation retreats or Cursillo-type weekends. And others may use newly-formed small groups to be spiritual growth greenhouses, with the group covenanting to focus together on one purpose at a time. Others will train more mature disciples to serve as mentors to adults for a yearlong, one-on-one disciple-making process.
What purpose-driven churches will not do is revert to a laissez faire approach to disciple-making, offering a smorgasbord of programs in the naïve hope that busy people will have the discipline and the self-direction to find their own path to spiritual maturity. The non-directive approach typical of mainline churches has produced a legacy of disciple-making mediocrity. In the name of “letting the Spirit lead them,” pastors and elders have neglected their primary calling to be spiritual shepherds, with the tragic effect that most new members to Presbyterian churches eventually end up on the Inactive Roll.
The Missional Church Movement is right to protest the insular mindset of many churches, in order that they embrace their new situation as missionary outposts in a Post-Christian mission field. And the Emerging Church Movement is surely right to critique those contemporary church structures that are wedded to modernism, in order that congregations communicate the Gospel to post-modern people.
Because heeding the insights of these two movements is so important, it’s also critical that each congregation develop a strategy for disciple-making so each church is useful to God in helping seekers become believers and members and disciples and ministers and missionaries, people who worship God in the broadest sense. Such a strategy is the essence of being purpose-driven, a commitment to letting traditions, programs, and personalities all serve the great end of God-honoring, life-changing, and world-blessing ministry.
Michael Carey is co-pastor of Trinity Church, Satellite Beach, Fla. He will present a workshop at the Church Unbound Conference in Montreat in July. For more information on the April 23-25 Presbyterians Seeking Purpose-Driven Ministry Conference, see https://www.purposedrivenpresbyteriansnetwork.net.
