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Communicating the purpose of your churchby Rick Warren

Pastor, God has established your church for a purpose. Too often, though, we fail tocommunicate that purpose to the people who would be most interested in hearing aboutit the church itself.

The most powerful way to communicate the purposes of your church is to personalizethem. The purposes of the church can be stated as Gods five goals for every believer.These goals express what God wants each of us to do

with our lives while on Earth. Help your peopleunderstand personally that:

God wants me to be a MEMBER of his family.This is the purpose offellowship. The Bible is very clearthat following Christ is not just a matter of believing. Italso includes belonging. The Christian life is not a soloact. God has given us the church as a spiritual family for

our own benefit. Ephesians 2:19 (LB) says, ... You are

members of God's very own family ... and you belong inGod's household with every other Christian."

God wants me to be a MODEL of his character.This is the goal ofdiscipleship. God wants every believer to grow up to become likeChrist in character. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul gives us several specific areas where we areto model the character of Christ: ... set an example for the believers in speech, in life, inlove, in faith, and in purity. Notice that maturity is not measured by ones learning butby ones lifestyle.

God wants me to be a MINISTER of his grace.

A third responsibility of every Christian is service. Godexpects us to use the gifts, talents, and opportunities hegives us to benefit others. 1 Peter 4:10 says, Each oneshould use whatever gift he has received to serve others,faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

God intends for every believer to have a ministry. AtSaddleback, we are very up-front about this expectation

when witnessing to unbelievers. We dont bait andswitch. I tell unbelievers, When you give your life to

Christ you are signing up to minister in his name for therest of your life."

God wants me to be a MESSENGER of his love.This is the churchs purpose ofevangelism. Once we havebeen born again, we become messengers of the Good

News to others. Its part of the job description for every believer. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20says, "For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men's

sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given usto tell others. We are Christ's ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you: we beg you,

as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you bereconciled to God. (LB)

We each have a mission on Earth and part of it includes telling others about Christ. Paul

said, "Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord

If you are a pastor, useyour pulpit on purpose!Where else do you geteveryones undivided

attention on aweekly basis.

Rick Warren, fromThe Purpose Driven Church

Purpose Driven Church

Conference, May 16-19

To learn more about building a churcharound Gods eternal purposes, dontmiss the 2006 Purpose Driven ChurchConference, May 16-19, on theSaddleback Church campus. At theconference, Rick Warren will teach youhow to attract a crowd, reach out toyour community, build up your churchmembers, and mobilize yourcongregation for ministry. After youdiscover these core lessons of thePurpose Driven paradigm, youll alsohave the opportunity to attend specialone or two-day seminars on Preaching

for Life Change, Purpose Driven SmallGroups, creating an HIV ministry in yourchurch, and more.

http://www.pastors.com/pcom/books/http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/PurposeDrivenChurch/PDC_Overview.htmhttp://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/PurposeDrivenChurch/PDC_Overview.htmhttp://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/PurposeDrivenChurch/PDC_Overview.htmhttp://www.pastors.com/pcom/books/http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/PurposeDrivenChurch/PDC_Overview.htmhttp://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/PurposeDrivenChurch/PDC_Overview.htm

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Jesus the work of telling others the Good News about God's mighty kindness and love."(Acts 20:24 LB)

God wants me to be a MAGNIFIER of his name.Psalm 34:3 says, "O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together."(NASB) We are called to worship God. There is an inborn urge to worship in every humanbeing. If we dont worship God, we will find a replacement.

He may worship his job, his family, money, a sport, or even himself. Thats why the veryfirst commandment says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

While fulfilling the five purposes of the church are a responsibility of every Christian, theyalso provide spiritual, emotional, and relational benefits. The church provides people withthings they cannot find anywhere else in the world: Worship helps me focus on God;fellowship helps me face lifes problems; discipleship helps me fortify my faith; ministryhelps me find my talents; evangelism helps me fulfill my mission.

Dont assume that a single sermon on the churchs purpose will permanently set thedirection of your church, or that by printing your purposes in the bulletin everyone has

learned them, or even read them! One widely known law of advertising is that a messagemust be communicated seven times before it really sinks in.

At Saddleback, we use as many different channels as we can think of to keep ourpurposes before our church family. Once a year, usually in January, I preach an annual

State of the Church message. It is always a review of our five purposes. I say, Its thattime again, folks!

Many pastors do not understand the power of the pulpit. Like a rudder on a ship it willdetermine the direction of a church either intentionally or unintentionally. If you are a

pastor, use your pulpit on purpose! Where else do you get everyones undivided attentionon a weekly basis? Whenever you speak, always look for the opportunity to say

something like, And thats why the church exists ...In addition to preaching and teaching, weve used brochures, banners, articles,newsletters, bulletins, videos, and cassettes, and weve even written songs tocommunicate our purposes. At the entrance to our worship center, our purposes andcorresponding verses are etched into the glass foyer for all to read as they enter. We

believe that if we keep saying the same thing in different ways one of those ways willcapture the attention of every member. Often, after presenting the purposes in a new

way, someone will say, I just got it for the first time!

Unless it is reinforced, the vision of any church fades with time. You must restate yourpurpose on a regular basis. Utilize as many different media as you can. Teach it over and

over and fan the fire of purpose in your people!

Until next week,