xdisciplex said:
From what I have heard it seems to be heavily criticized. Does anybody know why?
Is he one of those seeker-friendly christians who thinks that a church should do everything to attract the people? Or what's his problem?
You have got some great advise. If you have questions about it, read it. Its an easy read.
Warren is the pastor of a seeker-friendly church (Saddleback Community Church), but please understand that even that label can mean many different things. To sum Warren up as "a church should do everything to attract the people" is a gross generalization. Defining a church by how it seeks to engage the lost is kind of like defining a marriage by describing how the couple met.
Warren's philosophy behind Saddleback is not found in Purpose Driven Life. Its found in an older book he wrote called, "Purpose Driven Church." And yes, they are two different books. His idea is quite simple, and its not his idea...its Biblical, that a church exists for 5 purposes: Worship, Evangelism, Fellowship, Discipleship, and Ministry/Missions.
Both PDC and PDL are heavily criticized. If you were to judge by this board, you'd think that anything Warren does is heavily criticized. Why? Who knows? Some people are so prideful of their own traditions that they criticize anything different. Some are jealous or lazy and hate to see things that are successful. Personally I find that a lot of Christians do so little for evangelism, see so few come to know Christ, that they assume that is just the way it is and anyone who is evangelizing and is seeing results must be "watered down."
Others have theological differences with Warren. You can look at Saddleback's website and see their statement of faith. It is really not much different than that of any other Baptist church. Warren has been eager to work with people of varied faiths, backgrounds, and politics...of course, so was Jesus, but this can bring criticism too.
You have already heard the best advice: Read for yourself. PDL is readily available. You will probably find it to be very basic. That's all its intended for. I think of it as a large version of a tract. Its designed to introduce people to Christ. There are some things I don't care for about it, but for what it is, it works. However, there is no need to take anyone else's word for it. Just read it. See what you think. If you have further questions about Warren's church model then read Purpose Driven Church. If you want to know what he believes, check out his website. First hand information is always best.
