Rick Warren Interview – "After the Aloha Shirts"

After the Aloha Shirts an interview with Rick Warren by Timothy C. Morgan of Christianity Today.

This is old to those of you who see everything on the internet the moment it hits.  But I just finally got around to reading this (twice) and really appreciated it.  

Part of me wants Rick Warren to go further and another part of me is thrilled that he’s gone this far.  Many pay attention to him and for those who are reluctant to new ideas and changes, he is among their very much needed leaders.  

Here are a couple exerts, hope you read the rest:

“The “p” in PEACE 2.0, “Promoting reconciliation,” has replaced “Planting churches.” Why did you make this change?

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.

What’s the new role for professionals under PEACE 2.0?

The role of professionals is to train amateurs. When a dentist says, “I’d like to go to Latin America and pull teeth,” that’s great. That’s addition. I’d like him to go to Latin America and train people how to pull teeth. It’s not just addition—it becomes multiplication. In the Great Commission, Jesus says, “And teach them to do all things I’ve commanded you.” He doesn’t say, “Do it for them.” He says, “Teach them to do.” PEACE is all about teaching them to do.

There are three key words in 2.0: Scalable. Sustainable. Reproducible. We never sacrifice sustainability or reproducibility or scalability for speed. The faster way to do it is always to do it yourself.

Is the career missionary obsolete?

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.

There are more than 1 billion Roman Catholics and Orthodox believers. Where do they fit in?

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.”