Two Alabama Baptist churches were among 79 congregations from 20 nations recently receiving church health awards at the Purpose-Driven Church Conference at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.
Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, and Valleydale Baptist Church, Birmingham, were honored for how they implemented the Purpose-Driven program.
Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven ministries, has inspired thousands of church members through his best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life.” The movement has caused pastors to re-examine their churches’ roles in their communities.
“I think what Rick Warren has done is identify what the purposes of the church are and put them into a workable paradigm,” said Bill Decker, executive pastor of Hunter Street. “We’ve adapted those and put them to work here at Hunter Street.”
Identifying purpose
Decker said Hunter Street has named four purposes of its church — membership, maturity, missions and magnification. Hunter Street has been highlighting one purpose a year since 2002. At the same time it addresses all four purposes each year.
For Hunter Street the Purpose-Driven Church serves as a guide for them to accomplish what they believe God wants them to do. “We’ve adapted it to fit what we believe works here in the Southeastern United States and in Hoover,” he said. “It gives us a track to run on.”
Calvin Kelly, senior pastor of Valleydale, said when Valleydale launched the Purpose-Driven Church paradigm it was “not out of dissatisfaction or discontent, but was building on the momentum we already had.”
It was in 1991, after Kelly heard Warren speak at a conference, that the approach of the church began to be tailored to be more “seeker-sensitive” and “purpose-driven,” Kelly said.
Kelly said Valleydale emphasizes connecting with people in ways that are understandable even for those people unfamiliar with church. Another part of the purpose at Valleydale is to help Christians grow spiritually, to serve and share with each other and to honor God through service and worship.
These two Alabama Baptist churches were among 18 award-winning Southern Baptist churches honored at the May 11–14 conference.
“These churches understand the importance of maintaining a balance between the five biblical purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission,” said Warren. “These congregations embrace purpose-driven characteristics to not only grow in numbers but, more importantly, to grow in health.”
Since 1999, Purpose-Driven ministries have honored four to six churches each year that have shown excellence in adapting the Purpose-Driven paradigm to their church.
With thousands of churches having participated in the 40 Days of Purpose discipleship program in recent months, the awards were expanded this year. Each church received a check for $1,000.
For more information on 40 Days of Purpose, visit the resources section of www.thealabamabaptist.org.
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