American Council of Christian Churches
64th Annual Convention, October 25-27, 2005
Southwest Community Baptist Church, Parma, Ohio
Resolution on Rick Warren
One of the prominent leaders in contemporary evangelicalism is Rick Warren, pastor of the 82,000-member Southern Baptist Church, Saddleback Church of Lake Forest, California. He has influenced thousands of pastors and church leaders worldwide through his Purpose Driven ministry with many churches are using his program, 40 Days of Purpose, as well as using his books, The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life.
While very popular in Christian circles, Rick Warren handles the Word of God deceitfully (II Corinthians 4:2). In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Warren claims to use “nearly a thousand quotations from Scripture,” (Appendix 3, p. 325). However, he repeatedly takes verses out of context as proof texts misapplying the Word of God to fit his own ideas and beliefs. There is very little if any exegetical study of the verses quoted. One example is found on pp. 152 and 154 of chapter 20 entitled, “Restoring Broken Relationships,” where Warren uses II Corinthians 5:18 to prove his point that “God has given us the ministry of restoring relationships…whenever there is a rift, a hurt, or a conflict.” His deceitful handling of God’s Word has produced faulty doctrine and practice in his ministry and misleads God’s people.
Rick Warren, through his “Purpose Driven ministry,” also actively promotes the ecumenical movement. He openly declared, “I am an evangelical. I’m not a member of the religious right and I’m not a fundamentalist.” He told the Baptist Press the Southern Baptist Convention vote in 2004 to withdraw from the apostate Baptist World Alliance was a mistake (Calvary Contender, Sept-Oct. 2005). Warren has stated: “The strategy of Jesus is the antidote to both extremes (liberalism and fundamentalism): infiltration!” (The Purpose Driven Church, p. 236). He is calling for and working toward “a new reformation.” He told members of an elite press on The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, May 23,2005: “The first Reformation actually split Christianity into dozens and then hundreds of different segments. I think this one is actually going to bring them together…And I am working toward a second reformation of the church which could create a Third Great Awakening in our country or world.”
The American Council of Christian Churches, meeting in its 64th Annual convention in Parma, Ohio, October 25-27, 2005 issues a warning to all true believers to beware of Rick Warren’s promotion of ecumenism through his Purpose Driven Ministries and against his misapplication of the Word of God to prove his own principles and opinions.
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Rick Warren
Rick Warren BULLETIN INSERT
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