Book review
Who's driving the Purpose Driven Church?
A Documentary on the Teachings of Rick Warren

Full description of book:
James Sundquist, Who's Driving the Purpose Driven Church? A Documentary on the Teachings of Rick Warren (Bethany, OK, USA: Bible Belt Publishing, 2004). ISBN: 0974476455

Review and critique:

This book by James Sundquist is an expose of the Purpose Driven Movement, primarily in its misuse of Scripture and psychology. In terms of its refutation of the use of secular psychology in the life of Christians and the church, it is very good. Also, it excellently exposes the unscriptural psychology in Warren's SHAPE program. In terms of showing the misuse of Scripture, Sundquist does a reasonably good job on that too.

The major problem, however, with this book is how Sundquist sometimes seem to be picking a mountain out of a molehill, and in the argumentative techniques he employ also. This does not happen often and does not significantly impact the overall thrust of the book, but they are still an eyesore and a black mark on an otherwise good book. For example, in p. 45, Sundquist compares the NCV version of 2 Peter 3:9 to the KJV version of 2 Peter 3:9, in which the NCV mentions that '[God] wants all people to change their hearts and lives' whereas the KJV does use the word repentance. Sundquist then contrasts the two concepts and imply that Warren's use of the NCV is wrong since it does not mention repentance. Now, definitely, the NCV is not a good translation, but to somehow say that it is wrong because it does not mention the term 'repentance', you must show why this is the case, since for all purposes, most people think that changing their hearts and lives is similar to repentance. Sundquist does not do that, and thus this point will appear to people that he is nick-picking on Warren. Such forms of argumentations are systemic throughout the other parts of the book which do not directly deal with Scriptural misusage and on psychology, and thus they hamper the effectiveness of such a book. Somehow, Sundquist seems to be thinking that his readers are easily able to connect the dots from the information and argumentation that he gives. Another example of such flawed reasoning is the chapter in which Sundquist shows Warren endorsing false teachers. The argumentation is not tight in showing why these teachers are false in the first place, and why the practices they promote are still wrong even if these practices are 'Christianized'.

For one example of which Sundquist has it wrong, Sundquist quotes Warren who quotes Matt Redman in saying that 'Matt Redman, a worship leader in England, tells how his pastor taught his church the real meaning of worship. To show that worship is more than music, he banned all singing in their services for a period of time while they learned to worship in other ways.' (quoted by Sundquist, as quoted by Warren, on p. 100). Now, I think I know what Warren is alluding to, since I do know at least a bit of the contemporary Christian music scene. After doing some research to confirm what I think happened, I found out that I was correct — in that Warren misquotes Matt Redman. Matt Redman actually said that his pastor banned the playing of instruments during worship to teach his congregation how to worship without them; to go back to what worship is truly about. Out of this experience, Matt Redman penned the lyrics for the song 'The heart of worship'¹. Therefore, Warren has misquoted Matt Redman and Sundquist has just gone along in criticizing what he think Redman is saying. This does not bode well for the way Sundquist does his own research, as this goes to show that Sundquist did not check the actual sources he is criticizing.

From this example also, we can thus see the main problem through the way in which Sundquist critiques the Purpose Driven Movement as shown in the Purpose Driven Life (PDL). Sundquist seems to be trying to create a knockdown argument against the Purpose Driven Life, and thus some of his points are precisely building a mountain out of a molehill and being nick-picking. In the example above, so what if Warren is saying that Redman banned all singing to teach them that worship is more than music? Unless by that, it means that worship is moving towards the contemplative spirituality direction (which it is not), it is indeed TRUE that worship is more than mere music.

Since such is the case, Sundquist' book while good is recommended to be read with discernment. It has lots of information about the purpose driven paradigm, but this is mared but his sometimes flawed arguments.

References:

[1] The story behind the 'Heart of Worship' song (http://www.mattredman.com/?page=reflections&id=26&offset=)