Ever wonder about these "purpose driven" churches (or ministries) that are in the news so much lately? I found a very interesting article online from the Philadelphia Inquirer about Rick Warren and the Saddleback mega-church in California. Several things in the article caught my attention. First, this church is a Southern Baptist Church, but they do not advertise that fact. One blogger I read was not too happy about that, albertmohler.com Dr. Molher is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His comments are copied below, but you can go to his site to read the complete blog. He is concerned about the last part of the newspaper article and Rick Warren's comments about fundamentalists.
from Dr. Mohler's blog-
This is how the current article in the newspaper concludes:
Warren predicts that fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be "one of the big enemies of the 21st century."
"Muslim fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism, secular fundamentalism -- they're all motivated by fear. Fear of each other."
Dr Mohler goes on to comment...
Equating Christian fundamentalism with Muslim fundamentalism is both wrong and dishonest. This falls right into the hands of those who argue for a phenomenological definition of "religion" that includes "fundamentalism" as a general reference to any person or movement that refuses to accept the basic worldview of modernity. Adding the therapeutic category of "fear" just adds to the confusion. The motivation of fundamentalist Christianity is fear of Muslims and Jews?
And, we might ask, just what definition of Christian fundamentalism operates here? Who, exactly, is Rick Warren talking about?
This much is clear -- an approach like this doesn't help.
You can also read the entire article called "The Purpose Driven Pastor" online at www.philly.com
Another thing this article points out is how some people do not want to worship in traditional church settings today, so their church has many places to watch the service without really going into the church building. This to me seems more of a selfish, my own purpose, driven church lifestyle, when we in reality we should allow God to drive our purpose and our focus should be on God.
His 120-acre hilltop campus, with palm trees, waterfall and meandering brook, is a kind of religious theme park, where worshipers meet in different buildings to suit their musical preferences, while watching simultaneous video feeds of Warren preaching at the main worship center.
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