“Deeds of Mercy”: Rick Warren’s Perspective

October 14, 2008 – 4:59 pm

Rick Warren and D. A. Carson offer differing perspectives on appropriate “deeds of mercy” in connection to sharing the gospel and planting churches.

Below are a few of his statements in an interview with Christianity Today Wednesday, October 1 2008:

• When asked why “Promoting reconciliation” replaced “Planting churches” as the “p” in his new PEACE 2.0 agenda, he responded

Two years ago, I did this 46,000-mile trip in 45 days. We literally went around the world. [What] I saw in every single country were conflict and broken relationships. In the Philippines it was between the two major evangelical networks. In Seoul it was between the charismatics and the Presbyterians. In the Middle East it was between Arab and Jew. In Rwanda it was between Hutu and Tutsi. Everywhere I went there were broken relationships. Everywhere we went, we had to be bridge builders, moderators, and peacemakers. Get right with God and get right with each other.

When I looked at the PEACE Plan, church planting was the only [point] that had a prescribed method. We are still doing church planting, but now we put it under partnerships with the local church. We don’t expect government and business, the other two legs of the stool, to do church planting. But there are biblical principles of reconciliation that apply to everybody. If you listen before you speak, you are going to have better relationships, whether you are a believer or not.

• To the question “Is the career missionary obsolete?” he answered

We need far more missionaries than we have right now. What we need is in addition to that. We need an amateur movement out of love. We have to remember that in the first 300 years of the church, it was pretty much all amateurs. Paul and Barnabas were sent out by a church. It was local churches sending out their people to go around the world. My prayer is that we will work hand in hand. The expertise of missionaries can be used and multiplied.

• When asked where the more than 1 billion Roman Catholics and Orthodox believers fit into this PEACE 2.0 Plan, Warren explained that

We need to mobilize a billion Catholics and Orthodox [believers]. I’m not really that interested in interfaith dialogue. I am interested in interfaith projects. Let’s do something together. You are probably not going to change your doctrinal distinctives, and I’m probably not going to change my doctrinal distinctives. We have different beliefs. But the fact is, we do serve the same Lord. Let’s work on the things we can agree on.

• Referring to a comment made at Saddleback’s PEACE summit in May about a “new wineskins” model for Christian leaders, Warren proposes that

PEACE is also a network in which local churches can now work with each other instead of being in denominational silos. It allows collaboration in global missions that we could never have done before.