It is a spiritual growth emphasis for the local church.
’40 Days of Purpose’ is a powerful life-changing journey for local churches. It is a spiritual growth emphasis that encourages every member of the congregation to participate in deepening their relationship with God through worship, small group studies and through daily personal readings. Over 1200 churches in the UK have completed and benefitted from 40 Days of Purpose.
Key Elements
- Worship – Six special worship services leading to a Celebration Sunday at the close of the journey.
- Small Groups – Small Groups with study material designed to take the Sunday message deeper by studying specific scripture passages.
- Personal Study – Each member with 40 days of personal devotional readings in the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, California. This is the real heart of the journey. The goal is to encourage everyone to think about God’s purposes for their lives on a daily basis.
Week 1 – Why on Earth am I here? 
Nick started the campaign with the first worship service. This was an introduction to purpose. Nick spoke about where we find our purpose and looked at where the world in general finds it’s purpose. Philippa Hanna, a Christian Singer/Songwriter joined us for our service this morning.
You can access the resources from week 1 by clicking on the icons in the header for this week. Please beware that the audio files and powerpoint presentations are on the large side so you may have to exercise patience!
Back to TopWeek 2 – Planned for God’s pleasure.
This week the focus has been on worship. Our first purpose in life is to worship God. Worship is our response to God, and it is giving something back to God. Nick spoke about focusing our attention on God, expressing our affection to God and using our abilities for God.
Have a look at the weeks resources or listen again to the talk by clicking on the icons above.
Week 3 – You were formed for God’s family.
This week the focus has been on fellowship – we were formed for God’s family. Our second purpose is to be part of the fellowship of God’s family. We are to love this family and enter into it. Nick spoke about what it trully means to be part of the family of God. The talk is available for download. The resources will follow shortly!
Week 4 – Created to become like Christ
This week Malc spoke at the 11.15 service about becoming more like Christ – Discipleship. He spoke about the tools that God uses to make us more like Christ, the Bible, his Holy Spirit and other people. He went on to speak about three unexpected tools – trouble, temptation and trespasses. Listen to the talk to find out more about how God uses these things to make us more like Christ. The accompanying resources are available for this talk although the powerpoint slideshow displayed was the show used at the early service.
Week 5 – You Were Shaped For Serving God
This week Nick spoke about Ministry – serving God. Rick Warren states “You were put on earth to make a contribution. You weren’t created just to consume resources – to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life” and Nick spoke along these lines. He speaks about the things that stop us from being servants and challenged us to become available. The audio for the talk is available to download.
Week 6 – Evangelism
In the final talk of the session Nick spoke about evangelism and told us that we are made for a mission. He reminded us that this mission is to those who are very close to us as well as to the world at large. The audio for the talk is available for download.
Week 7 – A celebration
At the end of the 40 days Nick recaps all we have discussed during this time. We also heard testimonies about what people within the church had learnt. Philippa Hanna joined us again!
