A few days ago I visited my favorite websites (monergism.com) and saw a link to an article entitled “Willow Creek Repents?”, by the editors of Leadership Journal. Of course I went immediately to the article, very curious as to what was happening at Willow Creek. As most of you probably already know, Willow Creek Community Church is pastored by Bill Hybels and has been one of the most influential churches in America for the last three decades. They more or less spawned the modern “seeker-driven” movement. Their ministries have been generated in response to the question, “What are the un-churched looking for in a church?” Thus the church has created programs in accordance with people‚Äôs preferences. The idea is that as people get plugged into these programs, they grow spiritually.
Now Bill Hybels says, “We made a mistake.”
This confession came in response to a multiple-year qualitative study of Willow Creek‚Äôs ministries, the findings of which have just been published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek. Speaking at the Leadership Summit, Hybels summarized the findings this way: “Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn‚Äôt helping people that much. Other things that we didn‚Äôt put that much money into and didn‚Äôt put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.” Hybels called this “the wake up call of his life” and went on to say:
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibilities to become ‘self-feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Do you hear what Hybels is saying? He‚Äôs making the point that “spiritual growth doesn‚Äôt happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships.” (Leadership)
Where does Willow go from here? According to Hawkins, “Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture.”
Of course time will tell what becomes of all this. But I am encouraged by this response. Hybels is to be commended for responding to these findings with such humility and authenticity. It is my hope that this really will be a fresh start and new direction for Willow Creek, that as they train their congregation to study the Bible and live what they learn, they will grow both deep and wide for God’s glory.
So great to see Bill Hybels come out and admit (repent) as he did. However, what will be more interesting to me than what Willow Creek church does is what the churches that affiliate themselves with Willow Creek do.
As much as I would love to see them give up what may have brought them crowds but with little to no eternal value, as Hybels said, I think they may choose the popularity over what’s really important. Sad, but also possibly part of what the Bible talks about concerning the great falling away.
Yes, I admit that I’m a bit skeptical, too. Even in Hybel’s response, I could see some residual indications of his market-place approach to ministry. He talked about what the people were really crying out for, etc. Again, while it’s good that they’re doing that, we are to give them what they need whether they’re crying out for it or not. We do it because God’s Word says they need it, even if they don’t realize it or want it! Also, his executive pastor talked about their making changes based on “research” and ones that are rooted in Scripture. Again, I wouldn’t put too much stock in research; I’d just go with Scripture. It is the only reliable source for determining the direction of one’s ministry.
Having said all that, I did want this posting to be as positive as possible, given Hybel’s humble admission of doing ministry the wrong way. I am encouraged by his confession, and I can only hope and pray that this will lead to a true reformation at Willow Creek, and that other “seeker-sensitive” churches will follow suit.
This is another example of the importantance of the Spiritual Disciplines.