CREDO500 article on the PD paradigm

I have just came back from a good holiday. In my absence, Pastor Jonah has been taking care of the CREDO 500 blog conference. Yesterday saw the publishing of my CREDO500 article on the Purpose Driven paradigm, which is a more thought-out article on the entire PD paradigm than my book (being after all written this year instead of 2006). The article can be found here. An excerpt:

The center of Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ, and His Gospel by which we are being saved. Apart from Christ, there is nothing but darkness and death. In Him we have life (Jn. 6:35) and hope (Mt. 12:21; Rom. 5:2) and peace (Jn. 14:27). As wicked sinners who are by nature justly under the wrath of God (Jn. 3:36; Rom. 1:18, 3:10-18), we have now been justified (Rom. 5:1) and changed by the Holy Spirit who now resides in us (2 Cor. 3:18). Such love as this should birth in us gratefulness and love unto our Lord, that Christ “may dwell in [our] hearts through faith”, that we “being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19). Amen.

In recent times, a new wave has swept up upon our shores. From the pen of Evangelical pastor Rick Warren has come the best-selling books The Purpose Driven Church [1] and The Purpose Driven Life [2]. Together with readily available resources from pastors.com, Pastor Rick Warren has created a movement around the world in an attempt to grow the Church and impact the world for Christ. Serving to promote this movement are the teachings and programs (such as the 40 Days of Purpose, the 40 Days of Community, and the 40 Days of Vision) from Warren, Saddleback Church and her associates, which together promote a ministry paradigm hereby entitled the Purpose Driven paradigm. Attempting to so impact the world, Warren has even engaged in a crusade to fight what he calls the ‘Global Giants’, as outlined in his P.E.A.C.E. plan [3].

Within Evangelicalism, many churches have for various reasons embraced in part or the whole of the Purpose Driven paradigm within the life of the Church. As Christians, we are to evaluate everything according to the Word of God (Acts 17: 11-12; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Jn. 4:1), so how does this paradigm measure up to Scripture? More importantly, since Christianity is about Christ and the Gospel, how does the Purpose Driven paradigm measure up to Scripture in this respect?

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Pastor Peter Wong, a graduate from London Reformed Baptist Seminary, who is currently a minister of Brunei Reformed Baptist Churh, has reviewed my paper and his response can be seen here.