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In the arena of public health alone, Saddleback has compiled 1100 teaching modules to be uploaded on their website. The site uses a wiki-style format so that anyone with internet access can contribute to the process of collecting “Best Practices.” Eventually, volunteers will use the site to share information about particular villages, allowing them to monitor the plan’s progress. Constanz wants the website modules to become a global collaborative process, because “other cultures have a lot to contribute to this.” Some modules are less than a page long, explaining, for example, why toilets must be kept away from water sources or how to use a mosquito net. More detailed modules teach Saddleback volunteers how to construct a well or how to use participatory learning methods in an oral culture. By sifting through the hundreds of modules, Small Groups should be able to locate appropriate solutions to the problems that their partner villages identify. According to Dr. Stone, “the Small Group role is going to be to encourage them to discuss the deficiencies, [to] find out what’s wrong … not to tell them the water is dirty but to open a discussion. Why do you think this child is sick? Well do you think the water is good?” If villagers identify insufficient water supply as a problem, the Saddleback volunteers might consult the appropriate module and help the Rwandans build a well. “We want to get dirty with them and do the job,” Dr. Stone told P.H. “We want everything to be generated from within the country.” Eventually, they hope that Small Groups will equip Rwandan “trainers” who can carry the message to more distant churches, thus expanding the modules’ impact.

Although they generally avoid espousing particular policies and prefer to defer to locals’ wishes, the Saddleback team is united in their support for abstinence-only education as a means to address the problem of HIV/AIDS. According to Keegan, “condoms are just a temporary issue.” Dr. Stone doubts that condoms prevent the transmission of HIV, stressing that proper condom use is nearly impossible. “People are making a very good living … making condoms and selling them around,” he told P.H., but “has the epidemic stopped?” Instead, Dr. Stone wants to teach Rwandans “to be responsible and to keep on partner and enjoy life together.” The Saddleback team acknowledges that it will not be easy to convince Rwandans to change their habits, but by relying on “the love of God,” Keegan hopes that Saddleback members can teach Rwandan men to respect their women. Remarkably, Keegan told P.H. that she would only teach a woman to use a condom if her husband already had AIDS.

Like Warren, Constanz freely acknowledges that the plan “can get out of control in terms of growth.” In the first year alone, Saddleback sent 100 Small Groups to 47 countries to investigate possible target destinations. For now, they remain focused on Rwanda, viewing it as “a lab where you learn what works and what doesn’t.” Already, would-be volunteers from other Purpose-Driven churches write to Saddleback on a daily basis, and the staff encourages them to find their own ways to convert Warren’s ideas into action. Whether while writing books, collecting Best Practices, or posting sermons on Pastors.com, Warren stresses that his ideas are meant to serve as inspiration, not doctrine. “Everything you’re getting today, you can take it, you can change it, you can put your name on it, and it’s yours,” he says; “just don’t sell it.” If he can pull it off, Warren’s plan will be the greatest public health program in history. Without forgetting the “true heroes out in the bush,” Warren has assumed a place at the head of a column of well-meaning, powerful, inspired evangelical leaders. If anyone can assemble a misfit army of millions of volunteers, Rick Warren can. What can actually be accomplished by a Small Group on a two week visit is another matter. Speaking to the New Times, President Kagame affirmed his faith in the plan, declaring, “There is no room for failure any more.” Let’s hope God is on his side.

Further Reading:

1) Helen Epstein, “God and the Fight Against AIDS,” New York Review of Books, 28 April 2005.
2) Timothy C. Morgan, “Purpose-driven in Rwanda,” Christianity Today, 23 Sept. 2005.
3) Grace Mugabe, “Kagame is unique – Warren,” New Times (Kigali, Rwanda), 22 Jan., 2006.
4) Samantha Power, “Bystanders to Genocide,” Atlantic Monthly, Sept. 2001. David Van Biema, “Warren of Rwanda,” TIME, 15 Aug. 2005.
5) Alan Wolfe, “A Purpose-Driven Nation?” Wall Street Journal, 26 Aug, 2005.

Christine Matthias is a Publisher of P.H. She is a junior History major at Yale University.