Back in September I attended Saddleback Church of San Clemente’s Endless Summerfest event. During the circus-like spectacle I spent time taking pictures and interviewing members of the church who were helping with the event.
The most interesting interview that I had was with one of their head ushers. I will refer to him as “Jim” in this blog entry to protect his privacy.
I began the interview with Jim by asking him about the Sunday services at Saddleback and what he considered to be their greatest strength.
Jim was all too eager to inform me that Saddleback’s Sunday services are designed to appeal to a WIDE audience. When I asked him what makes them so appealing to a WIDE audience he said, “The messages focus on more positive topics and don’t make people feel like the are being preached at.”
I followed up that question by asking him if that meant that Sunday sermons we’re ‘less doctrinal’? He proudly confessed that was the case.
I then began to discuss the importance of discipleship and Biblical literacy with him. Having been a Christian for over 30 years, Jim shared with me how he had been discipled at a small church in Northern California. Jim demonstrated a mature level of understanding of the Bible. In fact, Jim was one of the VERY few Saddleback members who scored well on the Biblical literacy survey that I have been conducting.
After talking with Jim for well over 30 minutes, I felt it was time to ask Jim a very tough question.
I told Jim to “pretend that I was an un-believer who decided to attend Saddleback Church this past Sunday. Pretend that after the service I decided to become a Christian. Then pretend that because of my busy and hectic South Orange County lifestyle I am only able to attend Sunday services and cannot get plugged into a small group.” With all this in mind I sprung the question on him, “How long would it take me to become a Biblically literate disciple of Jesus Christ?”
Jim’s face turned dark and serious. This question hit home with him. He turned to me and answered in a very somber tone, “IT WOULD TAKE MANY YEARS. Sunday services are just not designed for discipleship.”
Jim then opened up to me in a very candid way. He shared his own personal frustration at the difficulty and effort that he and other lay ministers go through to convince people who attend Saddleback to get plugged into a small group study or to sign up for the 101 class. He also shared with me his personal concern regarding the fact that Rick Warren is constantly preaching from “The Message” paraphrase and how misleading that appears.
I could hardly believe the confession that I was hearing. My interview with Jim was eye opening for the both of us.
Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Rick Warren believes that it is a sign of maturity and un-selfishness to be willing to ‘give up’ the benefits of a small church in order to achieve the PURPOSE of ‘ministering to more people’.
I think he has lost sight of the fact that Jesus gave the church its purpose. The purpose that Jesus outlined for the church is to make disciples. Jesus also makes it clear that all nations are to be the focus of the church’s discipling ministry.
Based on my interviews with active members of Saddleback church, especially “Jim”, I have to wonder if Rick Warren is more committed to His vision of having a 20,000 member church rather than to Jesus’ vision to disciple the nations.
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