GROWING A CHURCH ON PURPOSE –

LAYING THE RIGHT FOUNDATION

Purpose Driven Church Conference
Rick Warren

WELCOME!

We’re so excited that you are here for the Purpose Driven Church Conference.

You are about to join an alumni group of over 100,000 pastors and church leaders from all around the
world who have taken this training. It is our prayer that God will use you to fulfill His purposes in your
own congregation.

SEMINAR GOALS

• TO STIMULATE YOUR CREATIVITY

We’re going to hit you with a ton of ideas.

Then you’ll think up more on your own!

“The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them!” Pr. 18:15 (LB)

• TO SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS

Periodically we all need to be stretched!

“If the ax is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more strength is needed. But skill will bring success.”
Eccl. 10:10

• TO ENCOURAGE YOU PERSONALLY

The ministry is often difficult and thankless.

We want to affirm and support you.

“Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we
don’t get discouraged and give up.” Gal. 6:9 (LB)
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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
Purpose Driven Church Conference

HOW TO GET THE MOST

OUT OF THIS SEMINAR

1. Don’t call your office! You need the time away from distractions to get a fresh perspective and
dream new dreams.

2. Be a “gleaner.” All leaders are learners. We don’t expect you to agree with everything. Just
write down the insights that are helpful to you.

3. Jot down your own ideas. Relate what you hear to your own situation. Make a list of “things to
do” when you return home.

4. Take some tapes back home with you. All of the sessions will be taped so you can:
(1) review helpful ideas
(2) share these ideas with your key lay leaders

5. Spend some time alone with God. Let Him renew and refresh you. Ask the Lord to show you
how to best implement changes in your ministry.

Thank you for coming today. My prayer is that all of us will be more effective servants of Christ as
a result of this day.

“By the grace of God, I laid a foundation as an expert builder… But each one should be careful how
he builds… for his work will be shown for what it is… the fire will test the quality of each man’s
work. If what he ha built survives, he will receive his reward.” 1 Cor. 3:10-14

All Scripture verses from the New International Version

unless otherwise noted.

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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
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THE ASSUMPTIONS THAT THIS

SEMINAR IS BASED ON

“RICK’S RULES”

1. There is no correlation between the size and strength of a church

2. There is more than one way to grow a church. So we never criticize what God is blessing

3. It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people

4. If a principle is biblical, it will work anywhere.

5. Never confuse the method with the message. The message must never change, but the methods
must change!

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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
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BUILDING A PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH

Establishing A Foundation for Growth

THE RIGHT QUESTION: What is ____________________ my church growing?

Growth comes from____________________

Health comes from ____________________

DEFINITION: DRIVE – “To guide, control, and direct”

Every church is driven by some force…

… By tradition

… By personalities

… By finances

… by buildings

… By programs

… By events

… By “seekers”

A Biblical Alternative: Become a ____________________ - driven church!

“Jesus said, ‘… I will build My church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it!’”
Matt. 16:18

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Prov. 19:21

“By the grace of God, I laid a foundation as an expert builder… But each one should be
careful how he builds… for his work will be shown for what it is. The fire will test the quality
of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
1 Cor. 3:10-14

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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
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I. DEFINING YOUR CHURCH’S PURPOSES

Why is it important?

1. IT BUILDS ________________________________________

“Let there be real harmony so there won’t be any splits in the church… Be of one mind,
united in thought and purpose.” 1 Cor. 1:10 (LB)

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Prov. 29:18 (KJV)

2. IT REDUCES ________________________________________

“You Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm…”
Isa. 26:3 (GN)

“The double-minded man can never keep a steady course.” James 1:8 (NEB)

“I’ve labored to no purpose. I’ve spent my strength in vain and for nothing.”
Isa. 49:4

3. IT ALLOWS ________________________________________

(Paul) “I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: forgetting the past and
looking forward to what lies ahead.” Phil. 3:13 (LB)

Efficiency: “Doing things right”

Effectiveness: “Dong the right things”

4. IT ATTRACTS ________________________________________

“Tell us how to proceed in setting things straight, and we will fully cooperate.”
Ezra 10:4 (LB)

“You have helped me in the work of the gospel…” Phil. 1:5 (GN)

“If your goals are good, you will be respected.” Prov. 11:27 (GN)

5. IT ASSISTS ________________________________________

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.”
2 Cor. 13:5
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HOW TO DEFINE THE PURPOSES OF YOUR CHURCH

1. Lead your members in a study of the biblical passages about the church:

• Christ’s ministry on earth

• The images of the church

• The New Testament churches

• The commands of Christ

Verses that relate to the Purposes of the Church

Matthew 5:13-16 John 13:34-35 Eph. 2:19-22

Matthew 9:35 John 20:21 Eph. 3:6, 14-21
Matthew 11:28-30 Acts 1:8 Eph. 4:11-16
Matthew 16:15-19 Acts 2:41-47 Eph. 5:23-24
Matthew 18:19-20 Acts 4:32-35 Col. 1:24
Matthew 22:36-40 Acts 5:42 Col. 3:15-16
Matthew 24:14 Acts 6:1-7 ` 1 Thess. 1:3
Matthew 25:34-40 Rom. 12:1-8 1 Thess. 5:11
Matthew 28:18-20 Rom. 15:1-7 Heb. 10:24-25
Mark 10:43-45 1 Cor. 12:12-31 Heb. 13:7, 17
Luke 4:18-19 2 Cor. 5:17-6:1 1 Peter 2:9-10
Luke 4:43-44 Gal. 5:13-15 1 John 1:5-7
John 4:23 Gal. 6:1-2 1 John 4:7-21
John 10:14-18 Eph. 1:22-23

2. Ask 2 questions:

• What are we to ________________________________________

• What are we to ________________________________________

3. Write out some paragraphs that say all you think needs to be said.

Then edit out the unnecessary words.

4. Summarize your answers in a sentence.

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4 Characteristics of a Good Purpose Statement:

1. BIBLICAL

2. SPECIFIC

3. TRANSFERABLE

4. MEASURABLE

THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH IN A SENTENCE

“TO THE GREAT COMMANDMENT

TO THE GREAT COMMANDMENT

AND THE GREAT COMMISSION

WILL GROW A GREAT CHURCH!”

The five purposes of the church are given in these two statements of Jesus.

THE GREAT COMMANDMENT

“LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD with all your heart … soul … and mind. This is the first
and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR as
yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matt. 22:36-40

THE GREAT COMMISSION

“GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, BAPTIZING THEM in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and TEACHING THEM TO DO everything
I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:19-20

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Five Instructions For the Church

1. “Love God with all your heart” ____________________

2. “Love your neighbor as yourself” ____________________

3. “Go … make disciples” ____________________

4. “Baptizing them” ____________________

5. “Teaching them to do” ____________________

Jesus’ ministry modeled these 5 purposes: John 17:1-26

Vs 4 “I have brought You glory on earth” (WORSHIP)

Vs 6 “I revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world” (EVANGELISM)
Vs. 8 “I gave them the words You gave me.” (DISCIPLESHIP).
Vs. 12 “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe.” (FELLOWSHIP).
Vs. 18 “As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (MINISTRY)

The first church fulfilled these 5 purposes: Acts 2:41-47

“Those who accepted His message were baptized… They devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… All the believers were
together… they gave to anyone as he had need… Every day they continued to meet together in the
temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
praising God… And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Paul explained these 5 purposes: Eph. 4:11-16

“God gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors
and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built
up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ… From Him the whole body, joined and
held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its
work.”

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THE CHURCH EXISTS TO:

1. Celebrate God’s ____________________ (Worship)

“Exalt our Master”

“O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.” Ps. 34:3 (RSV)

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the Lord’s house.’” Ps. 122:1 (GN)

2. Communicate God’s ____________________ (Evangelism)

“Evangelize our mission field.”

“The most important thing is that I complete my mission – the work the Lord gave me to do –
to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.” Acts 20:24 (NCV)

“You will be My witnesses…” Acts 1:8 (NIV)

3. Incorporate God’s ____________________ (Fellowship)

“Encourage our members”

“You are a member of God’s very own family and you belong in God’s household with every
other Christian.” Eph. 2:19 (LB)

4. Educate God’s ____________________ (Discipleship)

“Educate for maturity”

“…building up the church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity.. until all
become full grown in the Lord.” Eph. 4:12b-13 (LB)

5. Demonstrate God’s ____________________ (Ministry)

“Equip for ministry”

“… to prepare God’s people for the work of ministry.” Eph. 4:12a

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SADDLEBACK’S PURPOSE STATEMENT

To bring people to Jesus and membership in His family,

develop them to Christlike maturity, and equip them for their
ministry in the church and their life mission in the world,
in order to magnify God’s name.

What makes an effective purpose statement?

1. It is stated in terms of ____________________ , rather than activities.

Our Business: Developing effective lives for God’s glory. (Eph. 4:11-16)
Our Product: Changed lives

2. It is stated in a way that encourages ____________________ by every member.

3. The purposes are arranged into a sequential ____________________.

“Bring them in… build them up… Train them for… Send them out!”

II. COMMUNICATING YOUR PURPOSES

It’s not enough to simply define your purposes!

The #1 task of leadership is to continually clarify and communicate the purpose of the organization

5 Ways to Communicate vision and Purpose

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
Purpose Driven Church Conference

Some of the ways we’ve communicated our purposes at s:

• Every Membership Class 101

• Annual “State of the Church” message
• Monthly emphasis
• Print it in the bulletin
• Articles and brochures
• Monthly Pastor’s coffee
• Sermons!

EXPLAINING THE CHURCH’S PURPOSES

BASIC THE
LIFE HUMAN CHURCH EMOTIONAL
PURPOSE TASK ACTS 2:42-47 OBJECTIVE TARGET COMPONENT NEED PROVIDES BENEFIT

“… added to their number Mission Community My Witness Purpose A focus Significance

Outreach Evangelism daily those who were to live for for living
being saved.”

“They devoted themselves

Worship Exalt to…breaking of bread and Magnify Crowd My Worship Power A force Stimulation
prayers… praising God.” to live on for living

“… devoted to the fellow-

Fellowship Encourage ship… all the believers were Membership Congregation My People A Family Support
Together… they ate together.” Relationships to live with for living

Discipleship Edify “They devoted themselves Maturity Committed My Walk Principles A foundation Stability
To the apostles teaching.” to live by for living

Service Equip “They gave to anyone Ministry Core My Word Profession A function Self-
as he had need” to live out for living expression

Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself. Nobody gets it the first time.

Say it over and over – in fresh ways. Practice “creative redundancy!”

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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
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III. APPLYING YOUR PURPOSES

It’s not enough to just define and communicate your purposes.

You must apply the purposes to every area of your church’s life.

The key to application is ________________________________________

NOTE! Unless you set up an intentional plan to balance the five purposes, your church
will tend to overemphasize the purpose that ____________________ is most passionate
about.

MOST CHURCHES TEND TO FOCUS ON ONLY ONE PURPOSE

PRIMARY PASTORS PEOPLE’S PRIMARY KEY CENTRAL TOOLS SOURCE OF
PASSION FOCUS ROLE ROLE ROLE TERM VALUE USED LEGITIMACY

Soul
Winning Evangelism Evangelist Witnesses The Save Decisions Visitation & Number
Church Community for Christ Alta Call Baptized

Experiencing Worship Worship Worshipers The Feel Personal Music & “The Spirit”
God Leader Crowd Experience Prayer
Church

The Family Fellowship Chaplain Family The Belong Loyalty & Fellowship Our
Reunion Member Congregation Tradition Hall & Heritage
Church Potluck

Bible Edification Instructor Students The Know Bible Notebooks Verse by

Classroom Committed Knowledge & Overheads Verse
Church Teaching

Social
Conscience Ministry Reformer Activists The Care Justice & Petitions Number of
Church Core Mercy & Placards Needs Met

THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH PHILOSOPHY INSURES BALANCE

PRIMARY PASTORS PEOPLE’S PRIMARY KEY CENTRAL TOOLS SOURCE OF
PASSION FOCUS ROLE ROLE ROLE TERM VALUE USED LEGITIMACY

Purpose Life Changed

Driven Balance Equipper Ministers all Five Be & Do Christ-like Development Lives
Church Process

Only a purpose-driven strategy and structure can maintain balance

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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
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HOW TO BALANCE THE FIVE PURPOSES

Begin to see 5 target groups that you minister to.

TARGET PURPOSE

Community Evangelism

Crowd Worship

Congregation Fellowship

Committed Discipleship

Core Ministry

Current Saddleback Church Statistics

Target Group Number in Group

“The Core” – those active in Ministry ____________________

“The Committed”- those committed to Maturity ____________________

“The Congregation” – those committed to Membership ____________________

“The Crowd” – the regular attenders at Worship ____________________

“The Community” – the Mission field ____________________

(occasional attenders 4x a year)

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TEN WAYS TO BE PURPOSE-DRIVEN

1. ASSIMILATE NEW MEMBERS ON PURPOSE

Grow the church from the outside in, rather than from the inside out!

Build a healthy church by focusing on one level of commitment at a time.

2. PROGRAM AROUND YOUR PURPOSES

Design or choose a program to fulfill each of your purposes with each of your target
groups

At Saddleback, we have a major programs for each group:

WHO WHAT HOW

Is our target? Is our purpose? Do we do it?

PEOPLE PURPOSE PROGRAM

Community Evangelism Bridge Events

Crowd Worship Seeker Services
Congregation Fellowship Small Groups
Committed Discipleship Midweek Worship
Core Ministry SALT

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3. EDUCATE YOUR PEOPLE ON PURPOSE

Build your Christian Education ministry around the purposes

Saddleback’s Life Development Institute (CLASS)

1 -- Class 101 – Discovering Saddleback Membership – Membership Covenant

-- Growing in Christ –

2 -- Class 201 – Discovering Spiritual Maturity – Maturity Covenant

-- Serving Christ –

3 -- Class 301 -- Discovering My Ministry – Ministry covenant

-- Sharing Christ –

4 -- Class 404 -- Discovering My Life Mission – Missions Covenant

5 -- Magnification

Note: You don’t get credit for people ________________________________________

Christian Life and Service Seminars

100 Level Seminars: To lead people to Christ and membership at Saddleback

200 Level Seminars: To grow people to spiritual maturity

300 Level Seminars: To equip people with the skills they need for ministry

400 Level Seminars: To enlist people to the worldwide mission of sharing Christ

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4. FORM SMALL GROUPS ON PURPOSE

• Place the Purpose-Driven Church diamond in the heart of every small group!

• Find a group member to champion each of the five purposes.

5. ADD STAFF ON PURPOSE AT SADDLEBACK

Director/Pastor of Membership (1st base coach) Brett Eastman

Director/Pastor of Maturity (2nd base coach) Tom Holladay
Director/Pastor of Ministries (3rd base coach) John Baker
Director/Pastor of Missions (Home plate coach) Doug Slaybaugh
Director/Pastor of Magnification – Music (worship leader) Rick Muchow

Any church can be purpose-driven, regardless of size.

Start with volunteers, and grow them into paid positions!

6. STRUCTURE BY PURPOSE

Organize your staff & lay leaders into purpose-based teams with a clearly defined task and
target group.

TEAMS TASK & TARGET

The MISSIONS Team Evangelize the Community

The MAGNIFICATION Team Exalt Christ in the Crowd (worship)
The MEMBERSHIP Team Encourage the Congregation
The MATURITY Team Educate the Committed
The MINISTRY Team Equip the Core
LIFE DEVELOPMENT Team Fulfill the purposes with children & youth
ADMINISTRATION Team Support the other teams

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7. PREACH ON PURPOSE

Balance your annual preaching plan with at last one series related to each of the five
purposes.

Examples of some of my series:

“You are Shaped For Significance” (a ministry series)

“The Six Phases of Faith” (a maturity series)

“Learning to Hear God’s Voice” (a worship Series)

“Building Great Relationships” (a series to deepen our fellowship)

“Answering Life’s Toughest Questions” (an evangelistic series)

8. BUDGET ON PURPOSE

Categorize every line item in your budget by the purpose that it relates to.

9. CALENDAR ON PURPOSE

Designate two months of each year to give special emphasis to each purpose.
Each Team is responsible for events and special programs during their months.

10. EVALUATE ON PURPOSE

We use a simple report form we call the Saddleback Snapshot to give us a picture of who’s
on each base and how many are in each circle.

The Priorities of a Purpose-Driven Church

Priority #1: God’s Purposes Priority #2: People

Priority #3: Programs Priority #4: Property

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 GROWING A CHURCH ON PURPOSE –
LAYING THE RIGHT FOUNDATION
Purpose Driven Church Conference
Rick Warren

I want to welcome you to the Purpose Driven Church Seminar. You are joining today over
115,000 other pastors and church leaders who have been through this conference literally all
around the world. We’ve taught it in half a dozen or more languages to about 70 different
denominations. Even today we have in our midst church leaders and pastors from 31 countries.

We’ve done this conference many, many times but I want to begin by saying from the bottom of
my heart thank you for coming. We never take this for granted. We’re always thrilled to see
people who have come for the first time or returned for a conference. I say this every time: It
says more about you than it does about us. It says that you are a learner. That is a valuable
concept to me because all leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning you stop leading.
The moment I think I’ve got it all figured out, I'm dead in the water. I am constantly learning,
constantly growing. So I honor you for being here today.

Your time is valuable and we don’t want to waste it. Let’s begin on page one in the conference
syllabus. I want to review the conference goals before we get started.

On page one, the first goal is we want to stimulate your creativity. As I said all leaders are
learners and we’re here to help you learn and how you become a more creative person. I have
discovered that everybody is ignorant, just on different subjects. You know some things that I
don’t know. The person next to you knows some things that you don’t know. I know some
things they don’t know. The Bible says if we get together and share, iron sharpens iron. Nobody
knows it all. I’ve discovered that you can learn from anybody if you just know the right
questions. The Bible says “Council in the heart of man is like a deep well but a man of
understanding will draw it out.” If I had fifteen minutes to spend with you, if I knew the right
questions, you could teach me things that I need to know. So you must always be in this
teachable mode that says, “God, I want to learn what You want to teach me.” There’s a verse,
Proverbs 18:15, “The intelligent man looks for new ideas; in fact he’s open to them.” Living
Bible Paraphrase. A willingness to learn is an indication of brilliance so we have a brilliant
group here today. That’s very obvious.

The most important page in the syllabus is at the end of each session is the application questions.
Those are questions about your church. It’s far more important what you discover about your
own church than what you discover about our church. We don’t want this whole week to be
lectures of sit-still-while-I-instill. We want you to be able to think about your church. That’s the
most important page.

Our second goal for this seminar is that we want to sharpen your skills. One of my life verses is
Ecclesiastes 10:10 “If the ax is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more strength is required. But
skill will bring success.” Circle “skill”. It takes more than dedication to grow a church. I have
been to a lot of conferences – pastors’ conferences – where they make it sound like the reason
your church isn’t growing is you’re just not dedicated enough. You get the impression, “If I just
prayed more… if I just served more … if I just loved Jesus more … if I were just more
dedicated, my church would grow.” That simply isn’t true. It isn’t true.
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I know a lot of very dedicated people who love the Lord with all their heart, who are filled with
God’s Spirit, who are doctrinally sound, they love their people, they are highly committed and
dedicated. Yet their church grows at a very slow pace or they may have plateued or they may be
declining. It takes more than dedication to grow a church. So I hope we can relieve a little bit of
guilt today. It has nothing to do with your level of dedication. I assume that the very fact that
you’re here means that you’re dedicated to the cause and the calling to which Christ has called
you.

I want to say that as we teach you, assisting me will be Pastor Tom Holladay. Tom has taught
this seminar with me literally all around the world. We just got back from Asia where we were
teaching it in Korea and Taiwan. He knows this seminar backwards and forwards and honestly if
I were to drop dead, he could take over, we have taught this so many times in so many places
together.

I do want you to understand right up front that we are not authorities. We are students of church
health. We are students of church growth. We are all learning. Just about the time I think I’ve
got it all learned, God pulls the carpet out from under me a little bit and shakes it up and says,
“Just remember who’s in charge here!” So we are always learning.

Here at Saddleback church we have done more things that didn’t work than did. We are just not
afraid to fail around here. We fail a lot. We’ll have 100 things and we’ll try 99 of them and
they’ll fail. And then one of them will work and we’ll go out and do a seminar and pretend like
we planned it. Someday I'm going to write a book called A Thousand Ways To Not Grow a
Church because I know them all and it might save you a little bit of time.

You will quickly discover as we get into this seminar that Saddleback leaders and pastors are just
ordinary people. As we begin to share with you some of the insights we’re doing to build this
Purpose Driven Church along, about session two or three a little light is going to go on and
you’re going to say, “Shoot! Anybody could do that!”

That’s the point! What we’re doing here is not a strategy for superstars. People often think that
what we’re doing only big churches, mega churches can do that. But remember every big church
started off as a little church. None of you started any smaller than me. I started in my home with
my wife – one person. I preached the first sermon and she didn’t like it! So none of you have
started a church smaller than I have. Unless you’re a single adult and you started with one
person at your first service – you preached to yourself.

But we were doing these things when we were little. The things that we’re going to share built
the big church but they’re not just for a big church. We were doing this when we had 50 people,
when we had 75 people, when we had 125 people. That allowed us to continue to grow.

Our third goal is we want to encourage you personally. Would you agree that ministry is tough
today? It’s a hundred times tougher today than it was in the previous generation. The reason we
do this conference and continue to do it over and over and over is because I love pastors. My
father was a pastor, my great grandfather was a pastor, saved under Charles Spurgeon. He came
to the United States as a circuit rider. My brother-in-law is a pastor. My father-in-law is a
pastor. I love pastors. We want to encourage you.
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You may think that your ministry is small and insignificant and I want to say you’re dead wrong.
Your ministry matters to God. God knows why you’re here and God put you where you are and
you better stay there until He chooses to move you somewhere else.

It doesn’t really matter what denomination you’re in. If you love Jesus we’re on the same team.
We’re all together.

I do want to say that when I use the word pastor, please just interpret that “church leader”. If
you’re at this conference you are obviously a church leader of some sort. So don’t get hung up
on the term “pastor”. Just interpret it to whatever term you want to use. I'm referring to those
people who carry the burden of the church in ministry.

We want you to enjoy this conference so get comfortable right at the start. We’re obviously very
casual around here. This is as dressed up as I get. My philosophy of fashion is I wear what
doesn’t itch. My wife says my philosophy is you wear what’s clean! I recently read this,
“According to a recent study doctors have concluded that snug neckties are bad for your health.
They restrict the oxygen flow to your brain by restricting the arteries that carry blood to your
brain. This makes it harder to think. And a too tight shirt collar has the same effect.” So if you
want to think, take your tie off! I read this in a women’s magazine the other day, “If men are so
smart how come they get up in the morning and tie a noose around their neck?” If you want to
take off your tie and coat go ahead. It’s summer time. If you want to take off your shoes, ask
your neighbors.

Finally we want you to meet some new friends while you’re here. It doesn’t matter where you
serve, if you love Jesus we’re on the same team. To start this off I'm going to ask you to stand,
turn around and meet somebody you haven’t met before. That should be easy. Tell them your
name, where you’re from and your secret un-confessed sin!

Turn to page 4. Too often we ask the wrong question when it comes to our churches. We ask
“What will make my church grow?” That is the wrong question. The right question is “What is
keeping my church from growing?” All living things grow if they’re healthy. I don’t have to
command my children to grow. I have three kids and I don’t have to say, “I command you to
grow!” If they are healthy, growth is automatic. The Bible says the church is a body. It is a
living organism. It is a body, not a business. It’s an organism, not an organization. Therefore it
is alive and because it is alive, it’s natural for churches to grow. It is unnatural for them not to
grow. If my kids did not grow, something would be terribly wrong. The question we need to be
asking is, “What are the barriers preventing growth in my church?” As a church leader, your
first task is to discover what those barriers are and then remove them so growth can happen
automatically.

What is it that causes growth? Growth is caused by health. When a church is healthy it
automatically grows. I believe that the issue of the 21st century is going to be church health not
church growth. I believe then the logical question is, “What brings health?” The answer is,
“Balance.” Balance brings health. In your body there are nine different systems. You have a
circulatory system, a respiratory system, a central nervous system, a skeletal system, a digestive
system… When these nine systems are all in balance that is called health. Any time any of
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those systems in your body get out of balance, that’s called dis-ese or disease. The key that
doctors do is bring the body back into balance and once its balanced it’s healthy and once its
healthy it grows.

In the same way there are systems in the body of Christ, the church. There is a worship system,
an evangelism system, a fellowship system, a discipleship system, a ministry system. When
these are in balance, it produces health. If they get out of balance, churches do not grow.

The problem is that most seminars and conferences only focus on one part of the body of Christ -
- one system. I’ve been to conferences and so have you where they say, “The key to church
growth is….” and they’ll say the key to church growth is small groups and you go home and you
start a bunch of small groups until you go to the next seminar that says, the key to church growth
is lay ministry. So You go home and try to start a bunch of lay ministries. Then you’ll go to
another conference that says, “The key to church growth is dynamic worship and seeker sensitive
evangelistic services.” And you go home and try to start one of those. Then you go to another
that says, “The key to church growth is discipleship and we need to get mature believers and then
the church will grow.” So you go home and start developing all these discipleship programs and
tools. Then there are other courses that will say, “The key to church growth is fellowship.
Warm up the church. If people love each other, you’ll have to lock the doors to keep people
out.”

Pretty soon you just get tired of going to conferences learning to see what is “the one” key. I’ll
tell you right up front. There is no one key. Any body who says, “This is the one key to
growing a church,” is dead wrong. There is not one key. There are many keys. Anybody who
thinks he has the one right answer hasn’t even asked all the right questions.

What I want to do in this seminar is help you put it all together. See it all in perspective. Which
of those seminars is right. The answer is they all are. They give a true but partial or incomplete
picture of the body of Christ.

Yes, you need worship. Yes, you need fellowship. Yes, you need discipleship. Yes, you need
small groups. But you need them all and you need them particularly in balance because balance
produces health.

If you were to look up the word “drive” in a dictionary, you’ll find it says drive means “to guide
or control or direct.” When you drive a nail into the wood, you guide, control, direct it into the
wood. When you drive a car, you drive, control, direct it down the street. When you drive a golf
ball, hopefully, you drive, control direct it down the fairway.

Every church is driven by something.

Some churches are driven by tradition. How do you know if a church is tradition driven?
They’re favorite phrase is ‘We’ve always done it that way!” or “We’ve never done it that way.”

Some churches are driven by personalities. The driving personality may be the pastor if he’s
been there a long time. Or if this is a church that changes pastors every few years, there’s
usually some key lay leaders who are the driving personalities in the church. That’s ok for a
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while but the problem is what happens when that person dies? Or when that person moves? Or
if that person has a moral failure? We’ve all seen what happens to ministries that are built on a
single superstar. When that person crumbles or leaves, the ministry collapses.

Some churches are driven by finance. How do you know if you have a finance driven
church? The favorite phrase is, “How much will it cost?” But in the church the bottom line is
not the bottom line. The bottom line is changed lives.

Some churches are driven by programs. And it could be different in different churches.
Some churches are driven by the Sunday School program or by the music program or by the
youth program or by the women’s program or by the preschool program – something. You have
a program driven church.

Some churches are driven by events. You would look at their calendar and figure out that
the goal of that church is keep the saints busy. As soon as one Bible conference ends we start a
seminar. As soon as that ends we’ve got a camp. As soon as that ends we start a special
emphasis in the home. People are running from meeting to meeting to meeting. Mary had a
little lamb/It would have been a sheep/But it joined a local church/And died of lack of sleep.
Meeting driven churches wear people out.

Some churches are driven by Seekers. This is a new phenomenon in the last 10-15 years.
You hear people saying, “What do the unchurched need most?” I believe we need to be sensitive
to unbelievers, sensitive to seekers in our evangelistic efforts. No doubt about that. We’re going
to talk about that in one of our sessions – how to build a service that attracts and keeps
unbelievers. But I do not believe that Seekers should drive the church. They don't set the
agenda for the church, God does. We must be seeker sensitive in our evangelism but we need
something greater than that.

In this seminar I'm going to offer to you what I believe is a Biblical and balanced alternative.
That is to become a Purpose Driven Church.

Matthew 16:17 Jesus said this, “I will build My church and the gates of hell will not overcome
it.” Circle the word “build”. Notice the church is something that must be built. Whose church
is it? Jesus’. And who does the building? Jesus. It’s His church and He does the building. But
the Bible says that God also works through people.

Proverbs 1921 “Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
If you want to build something that lasts, you must build it on purpose. Churches that last are
not built on programs. They’re not built on personalities. They’re not built on events. They’re
not built on gimmicks. Churches that last that are healthy and grow are built on purpose. “Many
are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

One of my life verses is 1 Corinthians 3:10-14, Paul speaking, “By the grace of God I laid a
foundation [circle “foundation”] as an expert builder but each one of us should be careful how
he builds for his work will be shown for what it is. The fire will test the quality of each man’s
work and if what he has built survives he will receive his reward.”

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I love this verse. Notice three things about it:

1. God works through people to build His church. Paul says, “I laid the foundation as an
expert builder.” Paul was a co-worker in building the church. This is what my goal is for you,
that you too will become an expert builder. Not an amateur builder but an expert builder like
Paul was.

2. The test of your ministry is not how big it gets. The test of your ministry is does it last
over the period of time? That is the ultimate question in your life. Only healthy churches last.
Big churches don’t necessarily last but healthy churches do.

3. To build something that lasts you must have the right foundation. He said, “By the grace
of God I laid the foundation as an expert builder.” That’s what we’re going to talk about in this
session. How to build a foundation for a healthy church.

Strong churches are built on purpose. To be a Purpose Driven Church you have to do three
things:

1. You have to define your purposes

2. You have to communicate your purposes to everybody in your church
3. You have to apply them to every area of your church and organize your church around
those purposes.

1. DEFINING YOUR CHURCH’S PURPOSE

Let me first talk to you about why you need to define your purposes. How many of you are in a
brand new church? If you’re planning a new church, your very first task before you do anything
else is to define your purpose. You need to sit down and decide, why in the world are we doing
this? Why in the world are we starting this church? Define your purpose.

For those of you who are in existing churches, the first step in getting a plateued church growing
again, a declining church to grow or to get a growing church to grow more is redefine your
purpose. Go back and rediscover the original vision of the church and say, “Why are we doing
what we’re doing?” Growing churches have a clear-cut identity. They’re precise in their
purpose. They have an understanding of the reason they exist. They know exactly what God has
called them to do.

However, if you ask the typical church, “What is the purpose of your church?” you’ll get a lot of
different answers, wouldn’t you, if you ask different members? Win Arn once did this. He went
out and interviewed about 10,000 member of all kinds of churches in America, nearly 1000
churches. He said, “What is the purpose of your church?” When he came back he tabulated the
results. Eighty-nine percent of the members said, “The purpose of the church is to take care of
me, my family and the other members.” Eleven percent of the typical church said, “The purpose
of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission, win the world to Christ.” They then went and
asked the pastors of those very same churches: What is the purpose of the church? And the
answers were the exact opposite. Ninety percent of the pastors said, “The purpose of the church
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is to win the world to Christ and fulfill the Great Commission.” And ten percent of the pastors
said the purpose of the church is to take care of the needs of the members.

Is it any wonder why we have conflict in our churches? If we can’t even agree why the church
exists and what is the primary purpose of the church, how do we expect to agree on anything
else?

The foundation for healthy balanced growth is a clearly defined purpose.

Let me give you five reasons why you need to define your purposes:

1. It builds morale. 1 Corinthians 1:10 says “Let there be real harmony in the church [so
there won’t be any splits in the church] Be of one mind in thought and purpose.” God wants us
united in thought and purpose. We need to be united. One of the reasons Saddleback has grown
so large is we’ve never had a church split. There’s a high morale in this church. The reason
there’s a high morale is we teach the members the purposes before they even join. You can’t
join this church without first studying the purposes of the church so you know where you’re
going. Common purpose reduces conflict. When you’re rowing the boat you don’t have time to
rock it. Having a clear purpose builds morale. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is
no vision, the people perish.” I say, “Where there is no vision, the people find another parish.”
They say, “I'm going to go where I can find someone who knows what they’re doing.”

The fact is most churches rarely think beyond next Sunday. They just kind of limp along from
week to week. Nothing discourages your congregation more than having no clear reason for
existence. Programs do not motivate, purposes do. Most pastors and church leaders try to
motivate their people through programs. Programs come and go. They’re a dime a dozen. It’s
the eternal purposes of God that motivate people over the long haul. You can motivate them for
a while with a program but eventually they’re going to get tired of that and you’ve got to do
something else. If your church is discouraged, you’ve got to reclaim your vision by helping
people rediscover why the church exists.

2. It reduces frustration. Isaiah 26:3 (Good News) “You, Lord, give perfect peace to those
who keep their purpose firm.” The church does not have time to do everything. The good news
is not everything is worth doing in the first place. Even better, God doesn’t expect you to do
everything. A purpose statement not only defines what you do, it defines what your church
doesn’t do.

At Saddleback church for nearly twenty years we only have done five things. There are
hundreds of things we do not do in this church but we have narrowed our focus and it reduces
frustration. James 1:8 says, “A double minded man can never keep a steady course.” Trying to
lead a church without a clear purpose is like trying to drive in a fog. You’re going to run into
something. A clearly defined purpose makes decision making easier. When you have a decision
to make you simply ask, “Will this activity fulfill a purpose of the church?” If it does, you do it.
If it doesn’t, it’s out the door. You don’t do it. You get everybody to agree on the purposes and
then any goal that fulfills those purposes is automatically approved. Define your roles before
you set your goals. It reduces frustration. Without a purpose you’d probably end up like Isaiah

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felt in Isaiah 49:4 “I’ve labored to no purpose. I’ve spent my strength in vain and for nothing.”
I know a lot of church leaders who feel like that.

3. It allows concentration. Philippians 3:13 says “I am bringing all my energies to bear on

this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Having a clear
purpose keeps your priorities straight. It keeps you from majoring on minors. When light is
focused, it has tremendous power. When it’s diffused, it has no power at all. You can go out
and feel the warmth of the sun but if you focus it through a magnifying glass you can burn little
blades of grass and bugs and all kinds of things. (I’ve done that as a kid.) When you focus light
really tightly, it becomes a laser. It can cut through steel, it can destroy a cancer. But light
diffused has no power at all.

If you want your life to count, you must focus it. The key to impact is focus, focus, focus. There
are thousands of things I do not do. There are lots of invitations I do not accept. There are lots
of books I do not read. There are lots of ways I do not spend my time because I am a focused
individual. The more focused your life becomes the more like a laser it becomes and you can do
incredible things.

The truth is, most churches do too much. I'm convinced that you could probably go home and
cut out about half of what you’re doing and your church would be healthier. Instead of “This
one thing I do…” it’s “These forty things I dabble in.” and we kind of diffuse our energy. Most
churches waste energy on trivial issues. It’s like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It all
looks efficient and organized but the ship is sinking. You can be efficient without being
effective. Efficient is doing things right. Lots of churches do that. Effectiveness is doing the
right things. That’s what makes a difference. The church that forgets the ultimate becomes the
slave to the immediate. You need to focus.

4. A clear purpose attracts cooperation. People want to join a church that knows where it’s
going. It’s easier to get on board when people know the destination. Have you ever boarded a
wrong plane? I have. I got on a plane one time thinking it was going to Kansas City and I think
it was going to Wichita Falls. I learned real quickly, check the ticket first because bailing out
later is very painful. People will join your church in a greater degree if they know where the
church is going in advance.

The people told Ezra, “Tell us how to proceed in setting things straight and we’ll fully
cooperate.” And Paul told the Philippians, “You have helped me in the work of the gospel.”
Why? Because the Philippian church was attracted to Paul’s vision. He knew where he was
going and they wanted to help. Proverbs 11:27 says, “If your goals are good you will be
respected.” You need to clearly identify your purposes in your membership class and it should
be a required class (we’re going to talk about this in another session). You tell people up front
exactly where you’re headed. If they want to get on board, they get on board. If they don’t,
there’s lots of other churches. It keeps people from joining your church with false assumptions
and it weeds out those with hidden agendas.

Have you discovered that God loves you and everybody else has a wonderful plan for your life?
If you are accepting members into your church without clearly defining your church’s purpose to
them in advance, you are asking for trouble. Particularly, if they are coming from another
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church. Because everybody that transfers in from other churches carry what I call cultural
baggage. They say, “At our old church we did it like this…” I started Saddleback but I still had
this in the early days. In the original fifteen people of this church, one guy had been a member
of a very well known church in the area. Nationally known church. He kept saying, “At this
church we did it like this…” Finally I looked at him and said, “If you want to go to a church like
that, it’s only thirteen miles up the road.” And he left! He had five members in his family. That
was one third of my membership. And he was a tither. I thought, “What have I done?” It was
one of the smartest decisions I ever made.

You cannot surrender the leadership of your church to whiners. Some of you that’s all you
needed to hear. Go home! You have already got your money’s worth. You just need to buck it
up, put some steel in your spine and go home! If you wait for everybody to get on board the
ship, it’s never going to get out of the harbor. You cannot please everybody. The best time to
get rid of uncooperative members is before they join. So you explain up front.

5. It assists evaluation. Having a clear purpose assists evaluation. 2 Corinthians 13:5

“Examine yourselves and see whether you’re in the faith.” Test yourselves and your purposes
become your standard by which you evaluate your progress and your growth. Are we doing
what we ought to be doing? There are only two questions in church growth and church health.
One, “What business are we in?” and two, “How’s business?” That’s it. What is the business of
the church and how’s business.

On the next page look at how to define the purposes of your church. This is covered in detail in
the book Purpose Driven Church so I don't need to go into all the details. But here are some
simple steps you need to take with your folks.

1. Lead your members in a study of the biblical passages of the church. I’ve listed a number
of verses there that you could study. You want to study Christ’s ministry on earth and you ask
why did Jesus do and what would He do if He were here today. Study the image of the church
that are in the Bible. There are about sixty different metaphors for the church in the New
Testament – the church is a bride, a body, a flock, a family, an army… each of these images and
metaphors have profound implications about how the church should be operating. You want to
study the New Testament churches.

By the way, there is no such thing as the New Testament church. The church of Jerusalem was
very different than the church at Antioch. And Antioch was very different than the church of
Corinth. There are New Testament churches. And you need to study them all. Study the
commands of Christ. What did He tell us to do?

2. As you study these you want to remind your people that our job is not to make up the
purposes of the church but to discover God’s purposes for the church. They’re not new but every
generation has to rediscover the purposes of the church. It’s not new it’s just going back and
saying, What did God intend for the church to be? As you study these verses you ask two
questions: What are we to be? and, What are we go do? Who are we and what are we?

3. You want to write out some paragraphs that say all you think needs to be said about what
you think God wants the church to do. Then you begin to edit it and shrink it and summarize it
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and edit out unnecessary words. You want to write it out because thoughts disentangle
themselves when they pass through the lips and the fingertips. If you can’t say it or you can’t put
it on a piece of paper, it’s not clear enough in your mind. Writing makes a precise man. You
write it down. Eventually you want to summarize your answers into a single sentence.

Here’s what we did. When we started Saddleback, I put butcher paper on the wall and as we
would look at the verses… like that verses that says the church should worship, so we’d write it
there. When we found other verses on worship, we’d write it all on that sheet. Then we’d find
other ones that say we’re supposed to grow spiritually, edify each other, education, disciple.
We’d write all those verses on another sheet. We began to categorize. Verses that say the
church is to evangelize and to reach out to people. Verses that talk about the church is supposed
to be a fellowship – one “one another”s. We’re to care for each other. And we’d write all those
down. We had all these lists, four or five pages. Then we began to shrink it down into
paragraphs and finally down to one sentence your goal is to get your purpose in a sentence. But
you don’t start there. Take the people through the joy of discovery. I shared how to do it in two
or three minutes. To actually do it might take five or six months. Take your time discerning,
discovering, and defining the purposes of your church with your people. The more people you
get involved the better. Don’t just make up a purpose statement and say here it is. People
support what they own. Don’t worry about taking a long time. You’re building a foundation.

One time I built a log cabin on the backside of Yosemite Mountain. It took me three years to
build it. It took me one entire summer to lay the foundation. I was so discouraged until my dad
said to me (My dad built over 100 church buildings in his lifetime all around the world) … he
said, “Son, when you’ve got the foundation laid, you’re halfway there.” So take time to lay the
foundation for future health and growth of your church.

You want to summarize your answers in a sentence. On the next page are four characteristics of
a good purpose statement.

First, it must be biblical (Scriptural). As I said, we don’t get to choose the purposes. We do
get to choose the style. For instance, one of the purposes of the church is worship. That is non-
negotiable. But the style in which you worship is very negotiable. God is worshipped, Jesus
Christ is worshipped in a thousand different styles around the world. God loves variety as long
as it’s in spirit and in truth. So there’s variety in style but the purpose is unchanging.

Two, it must be specific. It must be crystal clear and not fuzzy. Many statements are so
vague and fuzzy they have no impact. They’ll say, “The purpose of our church is to glorify
God.” Of course it is! But how are you going to measure that? At the end of this year, how are
you going to measure if you’ve glorified God more than last year? Nothing becomes dynamic
until it becomes specific. The more specific your purpose is, the more it will be accomplished.

Three, it needs to be transferable – memorable – so you can pass it on. Here’s the key: the
shorter the better. It needs to be something that people can remember. Do you know what the
purpose of Disneyland is? Three words: Provide people happiness. That’s memorable. Nike’s
purpose statement is –Just do it. The church could have a two word purpose statement – Make
disciples. The shorter your purpose statement is, the better it is. People don’t remember
sermons. I don’t even remember what I preached on last week! And people don’t remember
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long paragraphs, so a paragraph statement, people will never remember. What they remember
are slogans. You’ve got to turn your statement into a slogan.

You remember slogans, like…

Give me liberty or give me… death.

Remember the…. Alamo
Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you but ask … what you can do
for your country.”
I never heard a sermon of Martin Luther King but I do remember the phrase, “I have …
a dream.”

In the Bible, there are many purpose statements that are actually slogans. Many Bible leaders,
their purpose can be stated in a slogan. Moses’ purpose statement was, “Let my people go.”
Joshua’s purpose statement was, “Possess the land.” Nehemiah’s purpose statement was
“Rebuild the wall.” David’s purpose statement was, “Unite the kingdom.” Solomon’s purpose
statement was, “Build the Temple.” Those are very memorable ideas that people can grasp onto.

Every president, right or wrong, is remembered by a slogan or phrase – for good or for bad. For
instance,

Roosevelt: We have nothing to fear but … fear itself.

Truman: The buck … stops here.
Nixon: I am not a crook.
Bush: Read my lips.
Clinton: I didn’t inhale or What is the meaning of is is?

We have dozens of slogans at Saddleback. I sit around just making them up, what is the most
succinct, catchy way to say this in two, three, four words. I spend time doing that so people can
grasp it. If they can’t remember it, they can’t do it.

Four, it needs to be measurable. It must be practical enough to evaluate and you have to
know if you can achieve it.

Let me give you an example from our church. Before I give it to you, I want to say that I want
you to feel free to use any of our stuff. Any materials, ideas, concepts, resources that we have
here at Saddleback church. I use not only all the brains I’ve got but all the brains I can borrow. I
hope you will too. I give you permission to use any of this material that you can use in your
church. If you come up with a good idea, send it to me. I'm not proud. By the way, do you
know why God doesn’t use proud people? They’re un-teachable. God gives grace to the
humble. And grace is the power to learn and change. When you get proud, you become un-
teachable. When you’re un-teachable, you’re dead in the water. Stay humble or you’ll stumble!
Be open. I learned a long time I don’t have to think up everything personally for it to work. I
learned that God has not called me to be original; He’s just called me to be effective. I heard
about a guy who said he was going to be original or nothing and he was both. If my bullet fits
your gun, shoot it! If you steal from one person that’s called plagiarism. If you still steal from
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five people, that’s called research. If you steal from ten or more people that’s called sheer
creativity. I'm a very creative person. Use whatever you can get. Creativity, by the way, is just
the art of concealing your source. Creativity is forgetting where you got it. Here’s how you use
my material. The first time you use it, you say, “Rick Warren says…” The second time you use
it, you say, “It’s been said…” The third time you use it, you say, “I’ve always thought…”

We mail my taped sermons to 42 countries around the world. They go everywhere. Twenty
years of my messages are on the Internet. They’re for you to use and assist you in your research
and sermon prep, outlines. If you want to use them go right ahead. Nobody is brilliant every
week. I'm not, you’re not, nobody is. We all need to help each other out. If you get a good
outline, send it to me. I need one for this Sunday! We’re all on the same team.

I had this guy in Canada call me, “I need to confess. I’ve been preaching your sermons – getting
your tapes, then preaching your sermons.” I said, “Buddy! That’s the point! If you’re not going
to use the material, why in the world are you paying for that stuff?”

You help me and I’ll help you and when we get to heaven we’ll all rejoice over the people that
have been saved. Sprugeon once said, “The man who never reads will never be read. The man
who never quotes will never been quoted. He will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains
proves that he has no brains of his own.” You can use anything we’ve got here at Saddleback.

Here’s the two qualifiers. One, don’t sell it. If I give it to you then you don’t sell it to somebody
else. Two, you don’t put it on the Internet. If you put it on the Internet, then all of a sudden it’s
going to everybody else too. This is for your church, for your location. One of the reasons why
I’ve said I'm never going on TV or radio is I want to build up local churches not compete with
them. If I go on television or the radio and preach my sermons, then people in other churches
will say, “How come my pastor doesn’t preach like Warren does?” On the other hand if I say,
here are tapes and transcripts that you can get, that you can use to supplement your own teaching
and preaching in your church, then that builds the local church and makes stronger believers.

Here’s the Purpose Driven Church slogan in a sentence. I said, “God, give it to me in one
sentence what the church is all about. It is this: “A Great Commitment to the Great
Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a Great Church.” The five purposes of the
church are given in these two statements of Jesus in Matthew 22 and Matthew 28.

Matthew 22 He says “Love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.”
One day a guy comes to Jesus and says, “What’s the most important command?” And Jesus
says, “All the law and the prophets are summarized in this sentence. I'm going to give you Cliff
notes on the Bible. Here it is. The whole Old Testament in two sentences, Love God with all
your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” and then later He says to His disciples “Go and
make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and
teaching them to do everything I’ve commanded you. “ The great commandment and the great
commission.

On page 8, we believe that these two verses give us the five instructions or purposes for the
church.

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First, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” The Bible word for that is Worship.
Anytime you’re expressing love to God you are worshipping with all your heart. It doesn’t
matter if you’re in a group or by yourself. When you love God with all your heart, you’re
worshipping.

Two, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The word for that is Ministry. Any time you’re
expressing love to somebody else in the name of Jesus, even a cup of old water given in His
name, that’s called ministry. So we get the principles of worship and ministry from the Great
Commandment.

Then in the Great Commission He says,

“Go and make disciples.” That is Evangelism. We go out and reach people for Christ.

“Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is the symbol of
one of the purposes of the church. It is a symbol that says, you’re one of us. We’ve incorporated
you into the Fellowship. You’re part of the family. You’ve joined the army. It’s the signature
of the covenant. It says you’re one of us. It’s a symbol not only of new life and salvation. It’s
also the symbol of fellowship. Fellowship or incorporation. You’re part of the body of Christ.
You’re not just believing, you’re belonging.

“Teaching them to do everything I command you.” That’s Discipleship.

You are already doing all five of these purposes in your church. I have no doubt about that.
You’re already doing everyone of them. What we’re going to offer you this week is a process
and a strategy and a structure for balancing all five so that they get equal emphasis in your
church and produces health.

I'm not going to take time to do this, but if you study the New Testament you’ll discover that
Jesus’ ministry modeled all five of these purposes in John 17, that the first church fulfilled all
five of these purposes in Acts 2 and that Paul explained these five purposes in Ephesians 4.

On the next page, we believe that the church exists for five reasons:

1. We exist to celebrate God’s presence. That’s worship. “O magnify the Lord with me and
let us exalt His name together.”

2. We exist to communicate God’s word. That’s evangelism. Paul says, “The most
important thing to me is that I complete my mission.” Jesus says, “You will be My witnesses,” in
communicating His word.

3. The church exists to incorporate God’s family. Ephesians 2:19 (Living Bible) “You are a
member of God’s very own family and you belong in His household with every other Christian.”

4. We exist to educate God’s people. Discipleship. We reach people and then we teach
people. We build them up to maturity.

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5. The church exists to demonstrate God’s love. That is ministry.

Circle the words that begin with “M” In Psalm 34 circle the word “magnify.” In Acts 20, circle
the word “mission.” In Ephesians 2:19 circle the word “member.” In Ephesians 4:12 circle the
word “maturity” and in the first part, circle the word “ministry”. When the church does these
things, we’ll grow.

On the next page, here is Saddleback’s purpose statement. “To bring people to Jesus and
membership in His family, develop them to Christlike maturity and equip them for their ministry
in the church and their life mission in the world in order to magnify God.”

Circle the five “M”s – membership, maturity, ministry, mission and magnify. Notice that we
have put those words to represent the purposes that we have here at Saddleback. It doesn’t
matter if you use “C” words or “E” words or “D” words or whatever. These represent the five
purposes and they’re all included in the purpose statement.

Notice three things that make an effective purpose statement. Most people don’t get this next
part. If you get this you’re going to really understand what being purpose driven is all about.
Purpose driven doesn’t mean defining a purpose, have a purpose statement, put it in a book, put
it on a shelf and forget it. You need to get these next three statements. Very crucial.

1. Purpose statement it is stated in terms of results not activities. A lot of purpose statements
say we exist to worship, to edify, to evangelize, to equip. That’s ok, but it’s even more effective
if you can state it in terms of results because then you can measure it. Notice we can measure
the number of members we have. We can measure the spiritual maturity of people. We can
measure how many people are involved in ministry. We can measure how many people are
going out on life mission. We can measure the number of people magnifying God in worship
and how they’re worshipping. They’re other measurements too that we’re going to talk to you
about in another session. It’s stated in results. Our business is developing effective lives for
God’s glory. Our product is changed lives.

2. It is stated in a way that encourages participation by every member. Every member can
bring members into the body of Christ. Every member can develop to Christlike maturity.
Every member can find their ministry. Every member can have their life mission. Every
member can magnify God. Everybody can be involved.

3. The purposes are arranged into a sequential process. Notice there is an order in our purpose
statement. They’re not just randomly saying here are five purposes. They are in order. You can
see the natural progression. We bring them into membership, we build them up to maturity, we
train them for their ministry, then we send them out into the world in their life mission, all in
order to bring glory to God which is your reasonable worship. We bring them in, we build them
up, we train them for, we send them out, we bring them in, we build them up, we train them for,
we send them out… That’s all we do in this church. It’s real simple. We invest all our time and
all our energy and all our money and all our effort and all our reputation in bringing them in and
building them up and training them for and sending them out for the glory of God. That is your
reasonable worship.

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It’s not just enough to define your purpose. You must communicate them. The second key
ingredient in being a Purpose Driven Church is to

2. COMMUNICATE YOUR PURPOSES.

This is the number one task of leadership, to continually clarify and communicate the purposes
of the church. It’s not just enough to define them. You have to build them into the lives and the
memories of your people. How do you do that? How do you communicate vision? It’s a very
important skill. Let me suggest five simple ways.

1. Slogans. Every leader understands the power of slogans, the things that people can
remember. We’ve talked about that already.

2. Symbols. All great leaders understand the power of symbols and symbolism. There are
symbols I can hold up that would make you cry. Others would make you feel patriotic. Others
would make you angry. If I held up an American flag, that would be one symbol that some of
you would respond to. If I had up the flag of your country, that would be a symbol you would
respond to. If I held up a cross, that’s one kind of symbol. If I held up a Nazi swastika that’s
another kind of symbol. If I held up a hammer and sickle of communism, that’s another symbol.
If I held a crescent moon of Islam, that’s another symbol. Symbols have tremendous power.

At Saddleback we have build this church on two symbols. Five concentric circles and a little
diamond. Everything we do is defined by the five circles and the diamond. We’re going to look
at them later. Everybody in my church can explain to you what the circles and the diamond
represent. I’ve walked into restaurants and seen people diagramming the circles or diagramming
the diamond on a napkin. That is the power of the napkin! You get it so simple that anybody
can teach it, that anybody can pass it, that from a high school-er to the greatest senior citizen in
your church, they all understand the circles and the diamond and that defines the purposes of the
church

3. Scriptures. Every purpose and every principle and every program should have a scriptural
basis. You share vision by sharing scriptures that show that vision.

4. Stories. Tell stories. As you tell stories you illustrate the purposes of the church. You
want people to evangelize? Tell stories about evangelism. You want people to worship? Tell
stories about people worshipping. You want people to join the fellowship? Tell stories about
how the fellowship helped other people. You visualize for people. Tell stories.

5. Specifics. Give specifics and say here is how our church worships. Here is how our
church evangelizes. Here is how our church fellowships. You give specifics about specific
goals and programs and ideas. Do this in order to communicate the vision.

Here on the next page are some of the ways we’ve communicated our purposes at Saddleback.
We do it in every membership class 101. We even have a quiz at the end. I do an annual
message on the purposes of the church – the State of the Church message. I usually do it the
week in January that the President gives his State of the Union message. I say, “Folks, it’s that
time again to just review why we do what we do.” It is the same message every year. I just
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change the illustrations. Here’s what we do. We need to remember. People forget so quickly
the purposes and why we do what we do. We have a monthly emphasis. You can emphasize a
different purpose each month. You can print it in your bulletins. You can write articles and
brochures on it. You can have a monthly pastor’s coffee for newcomers. Then preach it in
sermons. Very important! Most pastors don’t understand the power of the pulpit. The larger
your church gets, the more the pulpit becomes the rudder of the church. Where else are you
going to get an hour of undivided attention every week. You need to use it and you need to
preach on Purpose. We even have a whole entire seminar on this, on preaching on purpose. Use
it in sermons.

To help you out, I’ve listen nine different possible sermon outlines on the purposes of the church.
Looking at the purposes from nine different angles. The purpose, the task, the objective, the
target, life component, basic human need. Did you know that the five purposes of the church
meet the five deepest needs of human beings? God has so designed the church that you can only
get at the church what you cannot get anywhere else. For instance, evangelism gives us a
purpose to live for. Worship gives us power to live on. Fellowship gives us people to live with.
Discipleship gives us principles to live by. And service gives us profession to live out. There
are five emotional benefits. I'm going to use this in a sermon series this fall where I'm going to,
each week, do one of those purposes. A sermon series on how the church meet your deepest
needs.

Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself because nobody gets it the first time. Say it over and over in
fresh ways. Practice what I call creative redundancy. Say it over and over.

It’s not just enough to communicate your purposes…

3. YOU MUST APPLY THEM

The third thing you must do in order to become a Purpose Driven Church is apply the purposes
of your church to every area of your life and your organization. It’s not enough to just define
them and communicate them you must apply them and organize your entire church around the
five purposes. This is what it means to be purpose driven. Organize everything, every
congregation, every cell, every life and every program in your church around the purposes.

The key to application is balance. The more balanced you are the more healthy your church will
be. Balance does not happen by accident. It requires a system and it requires a structure. If you
don’t have those two your best intentions are not going to be good enough. That’s what this
seminar is about.

Unless you set up an intentional plan to balance the five purposes of the church – give equal
emphasis to worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry – if you don’t do that, your
church will tend to overemphasize the purpose that the pastor is most passionate about. I could
give you not thousands, but tens of thousands of examples of this principle. If you don’t have a
structure and strategy that forces equal balance, then you’re going to take on the purpose that the
pastor is most passionate about.

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For instance, an example that most churches tend to only focus on one purpose. If I, as a pastor,
have gifts in the area of evangelism and I don’t have a strategy and structure, I’ll tend to neglect
the other purposes and we’ll produce what I call a Soul Winning church. Lots of people come to
Christ and get saved but maybe nobody grows to maturity. Or maybe there’s no real ministry
going on or worship going on. But they’re really winning a lot of people to Christ. They’re
coming in the front door and going right out the back door.

Or let’s say I have gifts in the area of worship. I may develop what we call an Experiencing God
church where we have great worship services and God comes down and the Holy Spirit is felt
and there’s a wonderful sense of Christ’s presence and great celebration. But maybe there’s no
ministry going on in the community or maybe nobody’s coming to Christ.

On the other hand if I have gifts in the area of pastoral care then I tend to become a chaplain to
my people. Everybody loves me and I love them and all the needs of the people are met and the
members are cared for and loved. And we’ve produced what I call the Family Reunion church.
Everybody loves everybody and there’s great koinonia. They’re so close they get what I call
koinonitis. It’s so close nobody else can break in. They have this great little bless-me group but
there’s no evangelism, no ministry, no discipleship.

Or if I have gifts in the area of teaching – and a lot of pastors have this – then I will tend to build
what I call a Classroom church. All the emphasis is on what meeting am I going to go to next,
the next Bible study. We’ll walk around with Bibles and notebooks, we set and take notes, close
them up. The next week we come back, take notes, close them up. It’s a great classroom church
but nobody’s coming to Christ. Or no real worship is happening where the presence of God is
coming down. Or maybe there’s no ministry in the community. There’s poor people and there’s
homeless and people with different kinds of problems in society that we’re totally ignoring.

On the other hand I may have gifts in the area of ministry and my heart cares for the people that
Jesus died for. We go out and start 2000 ministries in the community. We’re caring for the
people in prison and we’re caring for the homeless and we’re caring for the down and out.
We’ve got recovery programs. We’ve got great ministry, but maybe there’s no teaching or
maybe there’s little evangelism.

These are all important! What I'm saying is this, I need a structure that keeps me from killing the
church as pastor. It will tend to take on my strategy.

You need to have a balanced strategy. How do you do that? The next page, here’s how you
balance the purposes in your church.

When God made you, He designed you, He gave you a structure for balance called two legs.
Aren’t you glad God didn’t give you just one leg? It would be kind of difficult. So God gave
you two legs, two arms, two ears, two eyes. Why? There’s a balancing system in your body.
You need a balancing system in your church. How do you do that?

One way is begin thinking of your church as five different target groups. Five different levels of
commitment, five different kinds of people who respond to the five different purposes. Once I

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explain these five levels of commitment, you’re going to say, “These people are already in our
church.” They’re already there, you just haven’t thought of them in these terms.

For instance, is everybody in your church at the same level of spiritual commitment? Of
course not. Some are highly committed and do all the work and ministry. Some are kind of
casually committed. Some are not committed at all. Some are way out on the fringe. Different
levels of maturity, different levels of commitment. And it varies from very little to very mature.

In this seminar we’re going to do a session on each of these levels of commitment which
correspond to each of the five purposes. Let me define each one.

First, at the center of your church are the people we call the Core. The core are the people
who do all the ministry in your church – the elders, the deacons, the Sunday School teachers, the
choir members, the ushers, the greeters, the people who do the ministry. The Core who do the
work in your church is the smallest group of all. They’re the most committed, give the most,
serve the most, pray the most. We call them the Core. They’re committed to ministry.

At Saddleback, to get in the Core you have to take a class called CLASS 301, Discovering My
Ministry. You have to have an interview, be placed, commissioned, and we move you into a
specific ministry and give you a nametag that says your ministry.

Right now we have in our church 3838 people in our Core. These are the people that do the
ministry. What this means is, when you build a church on a Core like that, if I were to drop dead
right now, Saddleback would keep growing. It’s not built on me. I have been gone from the
church, on vacation and taking care of my wife who’s recovering from major surgery for the last
five weeks. While I was gone, we had over 150 people join the church and baptized, I think,
about 80. While I was gone the last five weeks! Why? Because I have built this church on the
Core, not on myself.

We’re going to teach you how to build the Core. That’s the group who are active in ministry.

The next group out in your church are people who are a little bit less committed but they are
committed. We call them the Committed. They are committed simply to their own personal
growth. You have people in your church who love the Lord, they’re committed to growing, they
may be tithing, they may be in a small group, but they’re not serving in ministry. They’re godly
but they’re not involved in ministry. We call those people the Committed. They’re not in the
Core yet until they start serving.

These people specifically at Saddleback have taken a class, CLASS 201 Growing to Spiritual
Maturity and they’ve committed to the habits of tithing, being in a small group and having a
daily quiet time. They’ve signed a covenant. Just like the people in the Core have signed a
covenant for ministry.

We have right now in the Committed, 6040 who have committed to a small group, tithing and
having a daily quiet time.

These are the people who are growing in your church but they’re not in ministry.
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The next group out is a little bit bigger group. We call this group the Congregation. They’re
simply committed to the fellowship of the church. These are people who have joined your
church but they’re neither mature nor in ministry. They’re not attenders, they’ve joined.
They’re members, they’re part of the congregation. But they haven’t got into ministry and they
certainly haven’t matured yet. In your membership you have young Christians, carnal
Christians, older Christians, all kinds.

At Saddleback you have to take a class called CLASS 101 Discovering Your Membership and
you have to sign a membership covenant. We have right now 10,005 adult members at
Saddleback church. We have no non-resident members. We have no inactive members. If you
don’t come to this church, we take your name off. We remove hundreds of names every year.
I'm not interested in a big membership role. I'm interested in an accurate membership role. A
church that has 5000 members and 200 people coming says one thing: membership means
nothing. So you may as well throw those names out anyway. You should always have more in
attendance than you have members. If you’re not, it means nobody’s bringing a non Christian.

The next group out is the people who show up on Sunday morning. We call that group the
Crowd for obvious reasons here at Saddleback. These are people who are just attenders. They
haven’t joined the church. Many of them aren’t even Christians yet. The Crowd is made up of
believers and unbelievers, members and non members. But on a typical weekend those who are
simply committed to coming to worship we have about 14,000. We now have five services on
the weekend – two on Saturday and three on Sunday to hold those 14,000 people.

Then on the outer circle we have the Community and that’s everybody within driving distance
of your church that can be reached for Jesus Christ. As long as there’s on person who doesn’t
know Christ, you have to keep reaching out.

At Saddleback we’ve defined this a little bit more. We call this our occasional attenders. I you
come to Saddleback four times in one year, you’re not a regular attender but you come four times
– maybe Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day and… Fourth of July. You’re one of those lily and
poinsettia people. You come four times a year and if you fill out a registration card or give an
offering so we know you’ve come four times, we put your name on our computer role as a
community member or occasional attender. We have right now 46,700 names.

That’s a city. I grew up in a town with less than 500 people so the church I pastor is about a
million times bigger than the town I grew up in. I could be a mayor!

The numbers are a little overwhelming obviously. But notice the ratio. And here’s the goal.
You always want to move people from the outside to the inside. You want to first get people in
the community to start coming to the crowd. Get people who come four times a year to come
every week. Then you want to get people in the crowd to accept Christ and move into the
Congregation – be baptized and join the church. Then once they’ve become a member of the
church, you want them to start growing, you want to move them into the Committed and grow to
spiritual maturity. And once they’re in the Committed and growing, you want to move them into
the Core, for ministry. Get them involved in ministry. Once they’re in the Core, you want to
move them back out in the Community in ministry.
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We have been doing this for twenty years. And that’s how this church has grown, from the
outside in. We move them in, ever increasing levels of commitment. Turning up the heat just a
little bit.

Jesus started where people were but He never left them there. So your goal is to move people to
the center then back out.

On the next page, let me quickly give you ten ways to be purpose driven.

1. Assimilate new members on purpose. You use these circles of commitment as your
assimilation strategy. You move them from the community to the crowd to the congregation to
the committed to the core. As you do that, they’re picking up on the individual purpose. You do
evangelism in the community, Worship in the Crowd, Fellowship in the Congregation,
Discipleship with the Committed, and Ministry with the Core. You grow the church from the
outside in, not the inside out.

What I’ve just said is the exact opposite of what ninety percent of the books on church planting
teach you. Most books on church planting say, go out and get a little core and start with a core.
Get those people really discipled. Spend two years taking them through intensive discipleship
training. Once they’re really highly committed and trained and knowledgeable and sold out, then
they’re going to go out and reach the world. It never works. Never. If it does, it’s very slow.
Why? Because the longer you’re a Christian the more you become afraid of unbelievers. And
the fewer unbelieving contacts you have. The greatest evangelist in the church is the guy who
just got saved yesterday. Why? Because all his friends are still nonbelievers. You’re aren’t.
He’s got lots of contacts. He’s not afraid to talk to them because 24-hours ago he was one of
them. Once you’ve sit in seminary for three years you start getting a little phobia of what the
world’s like. And you’re afraid of them so you don’t spend much time with them.

It’s easier to turn a Community into a Core than it is to turn a Core into a Community. You start
in the Community and you start gathering a Crowd. And as you gather the Crowd you move
them into Membership. And as the Membership grows you move them into Maturity and then
into Ministry.

You can do that in a six-month basis. If you’re going to plant a church, just try to get a crowd.
Don’t try to get a Core, try to get a Crowd. Your goal is to move people to the center and then
back out.

At Saddleback we did this. The first year basically all we did was try to attract a Crowd and
introduce them to Christ. The second year we began focusing on turning attenders into
Members. We’d done it a little the first year but the second we began turning attenders into
members. The third year we turned up the heat and began challenging them to begin to grow
deeper in maturity. The fourth year we began moving them from maturity into ministry.

You say, “That’s a long time!” Take the long look! It takes a long time to build a healthy
church. It takes six hours for God to make a mushroom but sixty years to make an oak tree.
What do you want to be a mushroom or an oak tree?
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Granted, it was slow for me because I started with no believers. And I was developing this
whole strategy/philosophy as we were going. Now that it’s written, if I were going out today
we’d start doing everything. We know where to go and we’d do it a whole lot faster.

Solid churches are not built quickly. I can teach you how to grow a strong church but I cannot
teach you how to do it quickly. It takes time.

2. Program around your purposes. Design or choose a program to fulfill each of your
purposes for each of your target groups. It doesn’t matter what the programs are. The program
changes. The purposes stay the same. We have many programs for each group. You’re going to
go to workshops that detail those.

Our program for the community is what we call our bridge events. Coming up on Labor Day
we’re going to have a big event called Summer’s End. We throw a party for the entire
community. We have fair rides. Last year we had seventeen bands on eight stages spread out
over 120 acres. We sold little wristbands to get in for three dollars a piece. People would buy a
batch of 25 of them in the church then give them to all their neighbors. We said we’re going to
have the fair to end all fairs. We stopped counting last year at 30,000 attendees. We had to rent
75 buses, have all the parking off campus and bussed everybody on. This entire 120 acres was
turned into a fair. Thirty thousand people here on one day!

I didn’t get up at the end of the day and preach to them. But we did when they got on that bus.
We gave them an eight-page newsletter that told the plan of salvation and my fall series among
other things.

Bridge events. Easter. This last Easter we did nine Easter services for 27,000 people. Over
1000 people gave their lives to Christ. The last three years over 1000 people came to Christ each
of the three Easters. Why? Because our people bring friends to bridge events.

Then for the Crowd we have our worship which is our Seeker Service every week. The key
program for our Congregation is small groups where we do fellowship. For the Committed we
have mid week worship service for discipleship. For our Core we have SALT o Saddleback
Advanced Leadership Training which is training in ministry.

3. Educate your people on purpose. Build your Christian education ministry around your
purposes. You’re going to see this diagram a lot during this conference – the diamond represents
what we do at Saddleback the circles represent who we do it with. Two ways of saying the exact
same thing. We’ve developed a series of classes that educate people on our purposes.

First you go to First Base and you learn about Membership. You take the Membership class and
you sign a covenant. Once you’ve done that you’re eligible to go on to Second Base, the class
on Maturity, CLASS 201 and you sign a maturity covenant. Then once you finish that you can
go on to CLASS 301, Discovering My Ministry. And once you finish that class, you go on to
home plate, Discovering My Life Mission, CLASS 401. We move them all around the bases.
Each class is four hours long, each class is taught on a single day. In fact, we teach them usually
the second Sunday afternoon of each month going from 3:00 to 7:00 or 7:30. We have a meal
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with them. For instance, I was teaching CLASS 101 down in one of the tents. Pastor Tom was
teaching CLASS 201 in this room. CLASS 301 was being taught at the same time. From 3:00 to
7:30. Once you finished one class, you sign the covenant and you’re able to go to the next class.
We move people around the bases, teaching them intentionally the purposes of the church.

This tool will be one of the single greatest tools for growth you can imagine. The classes that
I’ve written are available for you to use. You can buy one set of them, then you can rewrite it,
put your name on it. I give you permission to change anything in it. Private label it, as long as
you don’t sell it, as long as you just use it in your own church. These classes are being used in
about 8000 other churches right now. We’re hearing incredible stories of growth. This last week
there were about 500 people on this campus taking 101, 201, 301 Sunday afternoon. We teach it
once a month, slowly moving people around the bases.

You get to first base and join the church. Most churches do a good job getting people to first
base. They get them to join. Fewer churches do a good job getting them to second base,
growing them to spiritual maturity. Almost no churches get people to third base, getting people
involved in ministry in the core. Even fewer get them around to home plate where they’re
sending them out in mission all around the world. I happen to believe that you judge a church
not on its seating capacity but on its sending capacity. You don’t judge an army by how many
people set in the mess hall and eat but how many are on the front line. You don’t get credit for
runners left on base. You’ve got to move them around the bases. We want to produce grand
slam disciples. Student notebooks and tapes and teaching transcripts are all available through
“pastors.com” on the Internet or Encouraging Word.

If I were starting a church today, I would introduce these classes once a quarter, just to get them
started. Or maybe one a month if you’re really up and going. Offer 101 this month. Next month
offer 101 and 201. And on and on. You don’t get credit for runners left on base.

4. Form small groups on purpose. We’re going to spend an entire session on this. You
place the Purpose Driven Church diamond in the heart of every group. You want to drill it down
so that the diamond is in every church, every congregation in your church, it’s in every cell and
it’s in every heart. The goal is to produce a purpose driven life. Every cell group has to
emphasize all five purposes or it’s imbalanced. You find a group member to champion each of
the five purposes. We’ll come back to this in session 6.

5. Add staff on purpose. When I was first starting, obviously I didn’t do this. Now I have
a full time pastor at each base with a team of staff and a team of volunteers. A Pastor of
Membership and Maturity and Ministry and Membership and Magnification. Any church can be
purpose driven regardless of size. You just start with volunteers and grow them into paid
positions.

If I were starting a church today and I only had, say, ten people here’s what I’d do. I’d find
somebody who had a real heart for caring about people. Pastoral care. I’d say, “Would you be
my first Base coach? Would you be my Director of Membership? Your job is to help me teach
CLASS 101 to bring members into our church and then to care for those members once they
join? You’re my First Base Director.”

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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
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I’d find somebody who had a real heart for helping Christians grow and say, “Would you be my
Second Base Coach? You’re the Director of Maturity and your job is to help me plan all the
Bible studies and retreats and conferences and teach CLASS 201, move people into small
groups. You’re here to help me raise the level of maturity.” A volunteer.

Then I’d find somebody who really liked to recruit people and find their niche. I’d say, “Would
you be my Third Base Coach. You be my Director of Ministry. Your job is to help teach
CLASS 301 and meet with people and help everybody find a job. You’re like the job placement
organization at church so that everybody has a ministry.”

Then I’d find somebody with a heart for evangelism and I’d say, “Would you be my Home Plate
Coach? Your job is to teach the 401 CLASS Discovering My Life Mission. Help us do
evangelism, help plan evangelism events and make sure there’s a priority for evangelism as one
of the purposes of the church.”

Then I’d find somebody who had a real heart for worship. I’d say, “Would you be my volunteer
worship leader? You stand out there in the middle of the diamond on the pitcher’s mound and
you help me plan worship services to help me bring people into the presence of God.”

Even if I only had ten people in my church, I’d have five of them or half of them already
involved in leadership. Everybody in your church has a passion for a particular purpose. That is
intentional. It is your job to find out which purpose they feel most passionate about and move
them into a ministry related to that passion. Everybody has a natural bent for one of the five
purposes. And God has brought the right people in your church at the right time for what you
need right now. You just need to start placing them.

Then as the church grows you move those volunteers to quarter time staff. Then to part time,
half time staff. Eventually maybe you’re able to put one of them onto full time, then two, then
three. Then eventually the church gets so big maybe all five and have a champion for each
purpose serving full time in each of the purposes and that forces balance in the structure in the
system.

6. Structure by purpose. Organize your staff and lay leaders into purpose based teams with
a clearly defined task and target. At Saddleback we have what we call the Missions Team. Their
target is to evangelize the Community. We have the Magnification Team. These are made up of
staff and volunteer individuals, lay leaders. The Magnification Team is to exalt Christ in the
Crowd. We have the Membership Team to encourage the Congregation, pastoral care and
making sure everybody’s in the fellowship. The Maturity Team’s goal is to educate the
Committed. The Ministry’s Team is to equip the Core. And the Life Development Team, which
we now just call All Stars Team or Student Team is from children through college and that is to
fulfill the purposes with children and youth. Then we have an Administration Team which
supports all the other teams.

7. Preach on purpose. You need to balance your annual preaching plan with at least one
series related to each of the five purposes. We have a two-day preaching seminar you can get the
tapes on. At a minimum you ought to get the Communicating to Changed Lives series. Here’s
some examples of preaching on the purposes so that you have balance.
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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
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8. Budget on purpose. Categorize every line item in your budget by the purposes it relates
to. One of the quickest ways to tell what’s important at your church is to look at its budget.
Because regardless of what you tell me is important, regardless of what you say is priority, show
me the way you spend your time and you spend your money and I’ll show you what’s important
in your life. Let me see your calendar and let me see your budget and I’ll tell you what drives
your church. I don’t even have to visit it. You need to categorize every item in your budget by
the purpose it relates to. That way you can make sure it’s balanced.

`9. Calendar on purpose. I suggest a plan for this in the book. The idea is you give two
months a year to each purpose. That takes up ten months of the year. That gives you two
months free to do whatever you want. For instance you can haven January and June as Maturity
month and have month long spiritual emphasis and Bible conference and memorizing a Bible
verse each week together, emphasize maturity. Then February and July as Ministry months and
have a ministry fair and highlight lay ministries and you preach a series on lay ministries. You
could do March and August as Membership months and emphasize getting involved in the
fellowship and plan a series of fellowship events. You get the idea.

10. Evaluate on purpose. To stay effective in a changing world you need to continually
evaluate what you’re doing. You continually ask, Are we on track? Later on we’re going to
share with you a tool we use called the Saddleback Snapshot which gives us a pictorial visual
picture of how we're balancing the purposes.

There are a couple others not on the outline you can write these in.

You can build on purpose and you can pray on purpose. We’re now building on purpose.
We have a building for worship. You have a building for fellowship. You have a building for
education. We’re right now building a Ministry Center to house all of our 150 plus ministries of
the church. You can even pray on purpose and pray the purposes.

The priorities of a purpose driven church:

1. God’s purposes. In a Purpose Driven Church God’s purposes take priority over everything
else.

2.. People. We tell people when they join Saddleback people are important but they’re not
the most important thing in this church. The most important thing in this church are the purposes
of God. People are there to fulfill the purposes. If people are the most important thing in your
church, you don’t have a church. You’ve got a social club. People are there to fulfill the eternal
purposes of God.

3. Programs. Programs are good but no program is meant to last forever. Programs are
simply tools to help people fulfill the purposes.

4. Property. You’d figure that from a church that went thirteen years without a building.
Saddleback was fifteen years old before we moved into this building here. Thirteen years old
before we moved onto the property. This church was running over 10,000 in attendance before
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ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH
Purpose Driven Church Conference

we built our first building. We used 79 different buildings in the first 15 years of the church.
We’d outgrow a building, we’d move somewhere else. We said, this is a church that if you
figure out where we are this week you get to come. We did that because we want really
intelligent people in our church. So we kept changing. If you could figure it out, you were smart
enough to be here.

Why did we do that? Land costs a lot but it was something else. I wanted to prove to the world
you don’t have to have a building to grow. Don’t ever use a building as a lack of excuse for
growing. Go to double services, triple services, quadruple services. Five services like we’re
doing right now. It’s good stewardship for one thing. People would say to me those first fifteen
years, “When are you going to build a church?” I said, “What do you think I’ve been doing for
fifteen years?” The church is people not a steeple. Build your people before you build your
steeple. Property is simply a tool to have programs to help people fulfill the priorities.

As we end this session, I’d like to pray for you. I’d like to ask you to join me in committing our
lives to God’s eternal purposes for His church. This will produce health. This will produce
balance. This will produce growth. In the sessions ahead we’re going to go into the details for
each of these five purposes and each of these five circles of commitment.

Prayer:

Jesus Christ, Your purposes for our church are not new. They’re as old as the New
Testament. But each Generation has to recommit to them. Forgive us for letting lesser thing
like tradition or finances or personalities control and drive the church. My prayer is that the
Holy Spirit will raise up thousands of Purpose Driven Churches of all different sizes and all
different denominations for the challenges of the 21st century and that You will use the
leaders here today at this conference and those who will listen by video tape as the models
for thousands and thousands of other churches that we may bring glory to You and fulfill
Your eternal purpose. For we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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