Saddleback Church is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exp ...

multi-site

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant ...

, affiliated with the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wo ...

, located in

Lake Forest, California Lake Forest is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 85,858 at the 2020 census. Lake Forest incorporated as a city on December 20, 1991. Prior to incorporation, the community had been known as El Toro. Following a vote in 20 ...

. It is the largest church in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, and one of the largest in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

. The church has several campuses in California and around the world. Weekly

church attendance Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday); the Westminster Confession of Faith is held by the Reformed ...

was 23,494 people in 2020. The senior pastor is Andy Wood.

History

In 1979,

Rick Warren Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American Southern Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake For ...

recently graduated in theology, settled with his wife

Kay The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own ...

in the

Saddleback Valley Saddleback Valley refers to the flat and foothill areas west-southwest of the Saddleback double peak of the Santa Ana Mountains and east-northeast of the hilly Crystal Cove State Park in southern Orange County, California. The region primarily ...

area of

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...

. He began to probe the people in his neighborhood to find out what prevented them from coming to church. The answers that emerged were boredom, distance from everyday life, lack of welcome for visitors, insistence on money and inadequate programs for children. It is with these concerns that the church began in 1980, with a Bible study group, with six people, the pastor Rick Warren and his wife, in their condo. The first worship service took place in the gymnasium of a high school on Easter Day in 1980. In 1995, it opened its main building in Lake Forest, with a 3,500-seat auditorium. In 2003, Saddleback Church, Kay and Rick Warren founded the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, a

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

development program for churches. In November and December 2006, Saddleback Church played host to the second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. The summit featured 60 speakers, including Senators

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

and

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom from 2018 to 2021. Brownba ...

. In 2018, the church said it had baptized 50,000 people since its founding. Driveway to Saddleback Church, Rancho Capistrano

On August 16, 2008, Rick Warren arranged a meeting between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback called the Civil Forum on the Presidency. The format of the forum was structured such that Warren first asked Obama a series of questions; he then asked McCain very similar ones subsequently. It was broadcast live on national news networks and streamed online. Tickets were distributed to the public through a raffle with seats listing as high as $1,000 and the event was sold out. According to a church census released in 2020, it claimed a weekly attendance of 23,494 people and 15

campuses A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like ...

in different cities. Lifeway research
Largest Churches List
outreachmagazine.com, US, retrieved January 16, 2021 In 2022, Andy Wood became senior pastor of the church. In 2021, the church was audited for compliance by the

, after ordaining three women pastors that year and thus acting contrary to the Convention's

confession of faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The e ...

which believes that the pastoral ministry is reserved for men. In 2023, the church has 19 campuses on four continents including an online campus with over 500 staff altogether. Since the church’s inception, it has sent 14,867 people to do missionary work to 195 countries throughout the world.

Beliefs

The church has a

and is a member of the

Programs

The church offers various programs, such as '' The Purpose Driven Church'' (PDC) curriculum and ''

Celebrate Recovery Celebrate Recovery is an American Christian twelve-step program designed to facilitate recovery from a wide variety of troubling behavior patterns. The global headquarters is in Lake Forest, California, United States. History The organizat ...

'', an addiction recovery support group program. Kate Shellnutt
How Celebrate Recovery Helped Evangelicals Open Up About Addiction
christianitytoday.com, US, August 12, 2016

References and notes

External links

Official website
{{Portal bar, Evangelical Christianity} Baptist churches in California Churches in Orange County, California Southern Baptist Convention churches Evangelical megachurches in the United States Megachurches in California Lake Forest, California Christian organizations established in 1980 1980 establishments in California Baptist multisite churches

History

Beliefs

Programs

See also

References and notes

External links