40 days of purpose?

[HeDied4U]

The church I currently attend has no plans to do the 40 days, but I'm wondering about something. About 7 or 8 years ago, the church I was attending at that time did something called the 50 Day Spiritual Adventure. Is the 40 days of purpose the same thing, only re-packaged down to 40 days, or am I just totally off base here, and it's a totally different program? Just wondering

God Bless!!!

Adam

 

[All about Grace]

Totally different. The 40 Days of Purpose is a campaign based on Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life. It calls people to practice God's primary purposes for their life: Worship, Evangelism, Discipleship, Fellowship, and Ministry.

 

[Speedpass]

Diane, the pastor you're thinking about who started FAITH is Bobby Welch of FBC Daytona Beach, FL.

 

[dianetavegia]

That's correct, Jimmy. I provided a link about Bro. Welch traveling about a million miles teaching and speaking on FAITH.

Thanks!
Diane

 

[Mark Osgatharp]

Isn't it sad that the Holy Spirit failed to fill us all in on the amazing possibilities of "40 Days of Purpose."

Mark Osgatharp

 

[AbererPT]

As a follow up you should all read Jonathan Edwards' "Religious Affections".

 

[All about Grace]

Originally posted by Mark Osgatharp:
Isn't it sad that the Holy Spirit failed to fill us all in on the amazing possibilities of "40 Days of Purpose."

Yeah, God forbid we actually get our people focused on worship, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and ministry.

BTW, I think the Holy Spirit also failed to fill us in on the possibilities of the internet and forum discussions.

 

[All about Grace]

Originally posted by AbererPT:
As a follow up you should all read Jonathan Edwards' "Religious Affections".

Already read it. It actually affirms the thesis behind the 40 Days.

 

[terry williams]

Rick's church may be seeker sensitive, but 40 Days hits home with any Christian. I'm halfway through the book for my personal Bible Study, and as a youth minister, I have been blessed by it. Our church will be going through the 40 Days program beginning October 11th. Our prayer is that it will spur our congregation to move forward with what we should be doing as a church.

 

[computerjunkie]

Amen, Terry!!! We start it on September 7th, and I can hardly wait!!!

 

[Gina B]

We just finished purpose 2 at church.
I'm personally not too thrilled with the book, namely the skitting around to a zillion different versions annoys me, but my biggest problem is with his "invitation" in the very first video. "Want to seek God and your purpose in life? Congrats, you're part of the family! Welcome new Christian!"
Ok, I paraphrased that, but that's the basic idea of what he said.
Also don't like him presuming answers to questions that don't have answers.
Apart from that it seems like a great book. I gave my copy away to a newbie toward the beginning so I'm kinda just listening along instead of reading, but am still getting the idea of it. I've seen some people who are really getting into it and that's good. The pastor's given out a few lessons in relation to it that hit hard for me and I'm sure for others, so that's a good thing too.
I give it one and a half thumbs up. I'd give it less on it's own, but under the direction of a good pastor that can expand on it and correct some of the mistakes, it's excellent.

Gina

 

[Griffdog]

Amen to these success stories! God has used PDL so much in my life - and FWIW, I love the use of so many versions of the Bible so it keeps the same old verses fresh in my mind.

Josh

 

[Kiffin]

I am not familiar enough with 40 days of purpose but the complaint I do hear is the price. A missions director at an associational meeting according to a pastor friend of mind told them, "they were trying to lower the price for smaller churches." I remember when FAITH came out that a similar thing was said about FAITH by our missions director only "That it was primarly for churches that ran 100 or more."

Wait a minute! 70-75% of all SBC churches average less than a 100 on Sunday. Why design evangelistic programs for the minority of SBC churches and not design something more practical with LIFEWAY money? It seems if 7 out of 10 SBC churches run under 100 you would design it primarily for them and not for your minority mega churches. Reading some SBC material you would assume most SBC churches run 500-1,000. This at times does give the impression of a elitist attitude of many of our SBC leaders and programmers.

I also question if a evangelistic strategy that worked for Saddleback which is located in a growing South California community will work at a church in a financially depressed area with a aging population such as Northeast Louisiana? One thing I have found is what works in one area does not always work in another. Of course we all still have the best Church growth manual at our finger tips - The Book of Acts

 

[Loren B]

After reading most of the Purpose Driven Website, I believe that this is not good or bad. It is a framework upon which any ministry oriented organization may seek to reach out into it's community. By its own admission, it is not denominational or non-denominational, charismatic or non-charismatic, etc. etc. It is a tool that can be used by anyone to its betterment or to its folly. It will be as good or as bad as the people who try to use it.

 

[Molly]

Maybe I am just too basic here,but why do we need a campaign to learn how to live as a christian....or how to be as a church,doesn't the Word of God share all that with us...maybe a church just needs to be committed to teaching the Word and these things will be covered.....


We do have the book...not because we bought it...it was given to us as a gag gift(no,not really,it was given to us by some well meaning folks)...we laughed and then thought we should read this,but after the Purpose Driven Church,we see little need for his other book. It may be better and have more of a biblical emphasis......hope so.

Molly

 

[All about Grace]

Kiffin: Saddleback works with those who may not be able to "afford" the material. The campaign is simply a call for individual Christians to identify the reason they exist. I am familiar with many, many churches who have participated and have yet to find an unhappy "customer."


Molly: I hope that you reach a place in your life some day where you can appreciate what God is doing outside of your own little box. You might consider reading the book. He quotes one of your heroes -- John Piper.

BTW, I am still waiting to hear your explanation for Piper's church growth from transfers.

 

[Kiffin]

Kiffin: Saddleback works with those who may not be able to "afford" the material. The campaign is simply a call for individual Christians to identify the reason they exist. I am familiar with many, many churches who have participated and have yet to find an unhappy "customer."

Hi SBC. I am not criticizing either 40 days of Purpose, Saddleback or the FAITH program per se in that I am not familiar enough with them but I do have complaints with Lifeway which seems to cater to Mega Churches which make up only a small portion of the SBC. We have a high priced Sunday School material from Lifeway which is at it's best is Ok. It does seem that Lifeway and many of the SBC leadership design programs for the minority of Large Churches but not for the Churches under 100 which make up 70% of SBC churches and it gives the impression of an elitist attitude which seems out of touch with the typical rural SBC church which runs anywhere from 25-85 in attendance.

 

[All about Grace]

Hi SBC. I am not criticizing either 40 days of Purpose, Saddleback or the FAITH program per se in that I am not familiar enough with them but I do have complaints with Lifeway which seems to cater to Mega Churches which make up only a small portion of the SBC. We have a high priced Sunday School material from Lifeway which is at it's best is Ok. It does seem that Lifeway and many of the SBC leadership design programs for the minority of Large Churches but not for the Churches under 100 which make up 70% of SBC churches and it gives the impression of an elitist attitude which seems out of touch with the typical rural SBC church which runs anywhere from 25-85 in attendance.

I concur.

I am assuming you know 40 Days has nothing to do with Lifeway.

Not only is Lifeway's material expensive, it is inferior in content, relativity, and creativity. We use very little Lifeway material.

Hey, perhaps they are in line with most of the SBC in that the words "cutting edge" mean very little to them.