So you’ve read The Purpose Driven Life

Where to now?

Tas Walker  August 05

Since 2002, over 20,000 churches of all denominations and sizes have run a seven-week campaign called 40 Days of Purpose, based on Rick Warren’s best selling book The Purpose Driven Life.

Response to The Purpose Driven Life has been dramatic. Rick Warren said, ‘All of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.’ (It’s more than 21 million now.) Rick said, ‘You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder.’

Rick stopped taking a salary from the Saddleback Church, and paid back all that the church paid him since he started it in 1980. ‘It was liberating to be able to serve God for free,’ Rick said.

40 Days of Purpose

The Purpose Driven Life is the centrepiece of a 40-day spiritual campaign that churches have conducted in the US and more than a dozen other countries. Participants read through the book in daily instalments, hear a related sermon each Sunday, meet weekly in a small group, and memorize key Bible verses.

The book addresses the question, ‘What on earth am I here for?’ Rick said, ‘I don't know anybody who doesn't want to know the meaning of life.’

In the book Rick gives a Christian answer, teaching biblical principles in a very simple style.

Following 40 Days of Purpose campaigns, churches have reported increased involvement, expanding attendance, and personal growth of members.

The next step

The material presented in 40 Days of Purpose has challenged and helped many people. It is vital to realize, and Rick Warren would agree, that The Purpose Driven Life is an introduction to the Christian faith. It does not address the constant challenges that Christians face from competing worldviews in the marketplace today. Purpose Driven clearly explains some foundational biblical doctrines but does not attempt to defend the biblical worldview against the aggressive attacks we face in our culture.

So, if you have completed 40 Days of Purpose it is important to dig deeper. I would encourage you to find answers to the challenges you encounter in your daily life, at university, through the media, in the workplace and as you talk to your neighbours.

Churches that have completed the campaign need to deal with the questions swirling through the minds of their members. Capitalize on the momentum. Provide resources and teaching that will build confidence in the Bible and cement the truths of 40 Days.

Resources to help you and your church grow

Planned for God's pleasure

Is There Really a God? (booklet)	The Purpose Driven Life teaches we were planned for God’s pleasure. ‘There’s a Grand Designer behind everything.’ In the public arena, however, scientists and scientific institutions dismiss any idea of an Intelligent Designer. They say it is the other way around—God did not create humans; humans invented the concept of god. How do we really know that God exists? See Does God exist?
The Answers Book (book)	Rick Warren draws on nearly 1000 verses from the Bible to teach a Christian worldview. He says ‘The Bible must become the authoritative standard for my life … the benchmark I use for evaluating everything.’ (Day 24, pp. 186–187). But can we trust the Bible in an age of science? The revised and expanded Creation Answers Book answers the most common questions that worry people including the following five.
Genesis: The Key to Reclaiming the Culture (DVD)	Did God really create in six days? Does it really matter? Understand why six days are foundational to The Purpose Driven Life.
Where Did Cain Get His Wife (booklet)	Who was Cain’s wife? In the sceptic’s mind, there are certain questions that Christians can’t answer. No matter what you say, they think they have got you.
What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? (booklet)	How do dinosaurs fit into the Bible?
Where Did the Races Come From? (booklet)	Where did all the different ‘races’ come from if God planned just one man and one woman from the beginning?
Does Carbon Dating Disprove the Bible? (booklet)	What about carbon dating? Doesn’t that prove we can’t accept the Bible as written?
Grand Canyon: Monument to the Flood (DVD)	Some of the stories in the Bible seem incredible to the skeptical. How could Noah fit all the animals on the Ark? And where did all the water come from? Are we supposed to believe the Bible even if it does not seem logical? See I have the Bible—what more do I need?
The Answers Book Study Guide(book)	As well as being available free on the web, The Answers Book is available has a study guide.

Formed for God’s family

One Blood (book)	‘It was God who chose to give us different personalities, backgrounds, races, and preferences, so we should value and enjoy those differences.’ (Day 21, p. 161). Racist ideas can sometimes stop Christians seeing themselves and others as equal in God’s sight. But the Bible says we are all one blood, and that makes a difference in the way we see other people.
The Battle for the Beginning (book)	We must protect the unity of our church (Day 21, p. 160), but how do we deal with different ideas and opinions? Must we accept all ideas as equally valid? See What is the basis for our unity?

Created to become like Christ

Answers with Ken Ham (12 part DVD series)	‘Spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth.’ (Day 24, p. 185) One of the most helpful resources is Answers with Ken Ham, a twelve-part video series that exposes one of the most dangerous lies deceiving our culture today. Answers is excellent for individual study and for groups. See testimonial about the effect of this series in one church. Each half-hour session comes with a downloadable study guide including discussion questions.
Creation Magazine	‘The Bible must always have the first and last word in my life.’ (Day 24, p. 187). What about the holy books of the other religions? See Holy Books. Also A young Earth—it’s not the issue!
Refuting Compromise (book)	But isn’t the Bible poetical and metaphorical? See Should Genesis Be Taken Literally? And see Jesus Christ on the infallibility of Scripture. Perhaps the most perilous tests we face as Christians come, not from outside the church, but from within. See Crisis in the Colleges and Christian School Compromise.

Shaped for serving God

Walking Through Shadows (book)

‘Your life is not the result of random chance, fate or luck. There is a master plan.’ (Day 25, p.195) But how can a world full of death and suffering be part of God’s good purpose for our lives? My friends claim that either God doesn’t really love us, or He is not all-powerful. ‘Your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt.’ (Day 31, p. 246) See also Death & Suffering Q&A.

The Lie: Evolution (book)

The Purpose Driven Life says ‘Your life is not the result of random chance, fate or luck. There is a master plan.’ (Day 25, p. 195). However, prominent Oxford professor Richard Dawkins says ‘we live in a universe which has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference’. This view permeates academia today. One of the most serious obstacles to The Purpose Driven Life is the claim that we were created by evolution, not God. See Anthropology and Apeman Q&A.

Made for a mission

Why Won't They Listen? (book)

‘God wants to speak to the world through you.’ (Day 37, p. 289). Do you find it difficult to interest people in your message? You need to understand what makes the message relevant today. Understand the power of creation evangelism. See Why Won’t They Listen? This book is available with a free study guide.

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