Summary Of The Purpose Driven Church Rick Warren

(Romans 15:6; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:31) He continues by sharing how “the purpose of the church is for the born-again believers within, as well as for the church’s community outside of the local body, whereas the mission, is reserved for the believers and it is what they are supposed to be doing, (110) Malphur also provides the five elements of mission; “first, it is broad, comprehensive, overarching, it is the primary goal which takes precedent over any and all other church mandates and goals. Secondly, it is brief, consisting of a sentence in length. Thirdly, it is Biblical, Fourth, it is a statement, and the fifth element-it is what the ministry should be doing.” (112-113) “Once the mission is developed, it must be communicated.” (126) Vision must be clear, compelling, a picture of what the mission will look like, (128) and it is the ministry’s future. It is personal and once developed it too must be communicated. (143) According to Malphurs, “it can and must be” (128- The author shares how “the mission under no circumstances changes, however, the visions detail and the words used to express them will

My personal view of mission revolves around Servant Leadership or what can be better called “Incarnational leadership”. This is rooted in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, as “He took a towel” (John 13:2-5) and washed Peter’s feet. He was efficient with people, had goals in sight, but was also relational over being task-driven. This kind of leadership produces new churches filled with real purpose and motivation as people are called, appreciated, loved, encouraged, discipled, involved by mentoring and discipleship before they are deployed in ministry (Prov. 27:23; Mark 10:35-45; Luke 22:26; John 13:2-17; 1 Cor. 3- 4; Eph. 4:1-16; Col. 3:13; 1 Thess. 5:13-14; 1 Peter 3:8;

Galindo analyzes that the fundamental “mission” of a congregation is the same as any other congregation that exists in any part of the world. He argues that though every congregation has a mission and a vision, at the same time, it shares a basic common mission. (43) This reminds me of my home church The First Church of Evanston and my Field Site, The Evanston Vineyard Church. Both churches have a common mission of welcoming people to the church, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural, racial, and economic and, gender backgrounds. The mission is to help people be received in the house of God with due and deserved Christian love so that they feel loved and welcomed. Both these churches encourage church attendees to attend the service and receive the Eucharist.

I have never known a time in my life where I have not gone to church. With that being said, it’s not my largest priority. I tend to get distracted during the school year with deadlines and hanging out with friends. It’s when I’m able to go on a mission trip that I can truly show and see what I believe in. I have been on four mission trips altogether and this summer I took a leap of faith and left the country for the first time to serve. Nicaragua held the same focuses as trips in the United States, but what I consider a mission trip from my experience in the past was not what this trip had in store.

The compassion shown by the Pastors and leaders helps people's faith walk become "a mile deep" while walking in Christ and engaging in the community. Individuals who remain active in the church, are the ones discovering their gifts and using their talents for the glory of God and to build the kingdom of God up. Also, the church must take ownership of their faith and grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ to the point where they are willing and ready to reinvest their faith into the life of another person. One of the ways to succeed in doing this is by putting together

I had the privilege of interviewing Brian Bagwell for this project. He is, in my opinion, one of most humble, wisest man we have at Church of the Highlands. Once you get through a joke or two, the fruits of the spirit radiate from his personality. A man that I have the privilege to call my mentor and teacher. He is currently serving on staff at the Church of the Highlands as a Dream Team Coordinator. His shares the vision of the church which is passed down from our senior pastor, Chris Hodges. Evangelism is the definition of the church so to speak, Church of the Highlands stands behind the final authority of God’s word which is the bible. It is often said among the staff “we do not argue the essentials, but we can disagree the non essentials.” The church believes and acts in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, and helping people move through four steps our God has outlined in the Great Commission. Our Church exists to see people saved, delivered, redeemed, and fulfilled. This is accomplished with four systems that allow the people to move through the four steps. The first is weekend services to allow them to know God (saved), small groups to find freedom (delivered), growth track to discover purpose (redeemed), and dream team to be fulfilled and make a difference (fulfilled). This vision is how the church evangelizes (Bagwell). This vision is clear to all members of the church who call Church of the Highlands home, and even clear to people

I think Church’s have major responsibilities to communicate the gospel message. We need to remember that it was God’s kindness that saved us. Church’s shouldn’t focus too much

Some estimate that 70 percent of the worlds bible-believing Christians (as opposed to nominal or cultural Christians) now live in the majority world.”1 This reality should entirely changes the way we think about missions. If the greater part of Christians no longer live

Sustaining missionaries already on the mission field is absolutely critical in the expanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God loves his Church and Jesus is the one who builds the Church. Then, it goes without saying that God loves the local church and Jesus builds the local church. Unfortunately, there are many factors that come into play, causing churches to become complacent or stagnate before entering into a season of decline. Yet this can be avoided through the process of revitalization.

In the Marine Corps, accomplishing the mission is the number one priority. “The mission of the Marine Corps rifle squad is to locate, close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy assault by fire and close combat.” In comparison, the mission of the church is to locate the enemy (devil) and destroy him at all cost. The mission of the church, whether missional or attractional, should be to win the lost to Jesus Christ.

With this in mind, a critical element in determining whether a church is able to accomplish its stated mission is the average level of differentiation of a congregation. Differentiation decides how much of the church is affected by the reactions and complaints of key people in church as well as to what extent a church is influenced by social, cultural, political, or economic pressures (Ronald Richardson, 2005). “Differentiation is what allows us individually to fulfill our Christian calling more closely, to choose our principle, ethical and moral stances with clarity, and to act with courage in fulfilling them” (Richardson, 2005, p. 389). It allows for people to relate to others in a loving way, without taking part in the ‘party spirit’ Richardson (2005) suggests that destroys ministry and church life. Also, Richard (2005) suggests:

It has been said that worship is the core or center of mission. The ultimate goal of any missionary is to bring people (entire people groups) into a passionate, relationship with God. John Piper states,

David Wesley’s main idea is a set of best practices, or what he terms “healthy patterns,” in congregational mission partnerships. Wesley observes that in the emerging “third way” of missions that began at the end of the 20th century and is coming into its own in the early 21st century is focusing on congregational partnerships. As such, Wesley seeks to lay out “common patterns for healthy global partnerships observed in these congregational partnerships.” Consequently, Wesley presents five healthy patterns around which common mission can flourish.

The last of the initial tasks for missions is spreading the Gospel. Once a strong, healthy body of believers has been organized that is well provided for and self-sufficient it