• Order the DVD of this Sunday Forum.
  
• Watch this Sunday Forum online any time you like.
  
• Listen to or download this Sunday Forum in MP3 format.
  
• Watch or listen to Dr. Warren’s sermon at the 11:15 am service following this Sunday Forum.
  

Rick Warren, author of A Purpose-Driven Life and the founding pastor of California’s Saddleback Church, addresses the need for change in the church in this session of the Sunday Forum.

As a young man, this fourth-generation preacher moved to California to plant a church in 1979. He and his wife had no money, no acquaintances in the area, and nowhere to live, but they did possess a faith that led them to start a congregation. Now, about 22,000 people worship at Saddleback Church every Sunday. More important, they meet weekly in small home-based groups throughout the region. Ministries reach out to address every conceivable need in the community.

Warren says that he recently told a group of business leaders, “The future of the world is not secularism. It’s religious pluralism… The world is becoming more religious, not less. Christianity is growing around the world at a rapid pace through conversion, and Islam is growing at a rapid [rate] due to births…We’re going to have to minister in a context where we…learn how to get along.”

To that end, Warren is trying to increase civility in the world, and he is calling Christians to act on their own teachings. “I think we need a second Reformation in the church about how we behave,” he asserts. “The first Reformation was about creeds. I think the second Reformation needs to be about deeds…If Christians of all stripes…would just practice what we know Jesus taught, the world would be an incredibly different place.”

He calls this second Reformation a “mobilization.” Saddleback is developing a “peace plan” and worldwide mission to promote reconciliation through service. The church is still learning how to succeed. “We’ve learned a thousand ways that don’t work,” Warren confesses, “but we did learn two or three dozen ways that do work.” During 2008, the church intends to make its methods available to any church.

Warren recommends departing from the established public-private model, espousing instead a “public, profit, and parish” approach to solving the world’s most difficult problems. “The church is the most widely distributed organization in the world,” he points out. “The church was global 200 years before anybody started talking about globalization.”

Churches exist in places lacking medical facilities or even a post office. Warren points out that local people place their highest trust in the church because local clergy minister to people in times of greatest need. He asserts that there are 2.3 billion Christians in the world, and that this population dwarfs those of any other religion and of secularists. The size, distribution, and teachings of the church give Christians a unique opportunity to relieve suffering across the globe.

• Read more about Rick Warren, his work, and his response to religious questions.

• Visit the website of The Purpose-Driven Church, order the book, and learn more about the movement.
• Visit the website of Saddleback Church.
• Visit Pastors.com, Rick Warren’s online site for sermons and pastoral teaching aids.
• Read Time magazine’s photo essay on Rick Warren as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2005.
• Watch a 2006 interview with Rick Warren on “The Charlie Rose Show.”
• Read the transcript of a 2007 ABC “Nightline” interview with Rick Warren and watch video excerpts.
• Listen to a December 2007 interview with Rick and Kay Warren on public radio’s “Speaking of Faith.“
• Read a Newsweek interview with Rick Warren discussing the 2008 presidential campaign.
• Read a New Yorker magazine profile of Rick Warren from 2005.
• Watch a 2006 profile of Rick and Kay Warren on PBS’ “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.”
• Read a 2005 article about Rick Warren as “America’s Pastor” in The Nation.
• Read a 2005 U.S. News & World Report on Rick Warren.