A Purpose-Driven Inheritance
At one point, not that long ago, one out of every 10 churches in the United States was “Purpose Driven,” measured by some level of participating as part of that network. It was higher in some parts, and lower in others. But the influence was amazing.
Obviously, the terminology has certainly declined in the United States, though it’s still the rage in other places, like Brazil. This decline is no secret to the folks at Saddleback, as they use different terms in the United States in some cases.
Yet, and here is the important part, despite there being fewer churches using “Purpose-Driven” terminology, it’s left a helpful and important impact. Even if you don’t use the phrase, you’re probably using the structure (or a variant of it). Perhaps not the famous baseball diamond, but certainly the fact that there is a progressive plan to bring people to deeper spiritual maturity through a process.
In a 2002 Christianity Today article, Tim Stafford wrote, “Purpose-Driven principles are best explained with two diagrams you can scribble on a napkin. One is the baseball diamond, used to explain the flow of church ministry in a person’s life.” The other, and perhaps more important, has to do with purposes, but for this article, I will focus on processes.
And, that really was a revolutionary idea—made simple.
Rick Warren created the baseball diamond to show there are things that every Christian should know and experience, such as evangelism, church membership, community, discipleship and ministry engagement. It was an easy and effective way to demonstrate the sequential process of discipleship—which is one of the reasons it exploded globally.
At our church, we talk about begin, connect, thrive and engage. The names have changed and perhaps the way it is applied, but the need for a structure that encourages a culture of making disciples has not. We are children of a Purpose-Driven structure—and your church probably is a well.
We’re using the process without the terminology.
And, that’s what we need to move people toward mission.
You need a process.
