This will be quite a shift for the members of the church -- going from fluff to substance.
After modeling a seeker-sensitive approach to church growth for three decades, Willow Creek Community Church now plans to gear its weekend services toward mature believers seeking to grow in their faith.Evidently the church model wasn't working for them anymore so they're switching to actually feeding their sheep. They thought they could attract people who were seeking the Lord, find him at their church and then tell others about Christ, but instead they discovered this:The change comes on the heels of an ongoing four-year research effort first made public late last summer in Reveal: Where Are You?, a book coauthored by executive pastor Greg Hawkins. Hawkins said during an annual student ministries conference in April that Willow Creek would also replace its midweek services with classes on theology and the Bible.
Whether more changes are in store for the suburban Chicago megachurch isn't clear. Hawkins declined CT's interview request, and senior pastor Bill Hybels was unavailable for comment.
But the analysis in Reveal, which surveyed congregants at Willow Creek and six other churches, suggested that evangelistic impact was greater from those who self-reported as "close to Christ" or "Christ-centered" than from new church attendees. In addition, a quarter of the "close to Christ" and "Christcentered" crowd described themselves as spiritually "stalled" or "dissatisfied" with the role of the church in their spiritual growth. Even more alarming to Willow Creek: About a quarter of the "stalled" segment and 63 percent of the "dissatisfied" segment contemplated leaving the church.I'm surprised they needed a study to tell them that since it's obvious that it would be those who are "close to Christ" who want to share him with others. And why would anyone be surprised that those people would want more than fluff and Christianity 101? Hasn't this been the critism of the church over the last how many years it's been in business? This shouldn't be surprising to anyone who takes Christ's instructions to the church seriously:
ESV Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."The only way to grow the church in depth is to teach Christ's people who is and the importance of sharing that knowledge with others. That any church would need a study to tell them that is pretty sad.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
I must have been studying and didn't get a chance to see it.
Michele, have you ever considered looking at events and trying to put forth what you have learned at seminary and give us readers your own understanding of the events? Try to give us your theology, try to give us your understanding of what "god" has to say about it, try to be unique and don't just become an anti-Obama parrot.
"Michele, have you ever considered looking at events and trying to put forth what you have learned at seminary and give us readers your own understanding of the events? Try to give us your theology, try to give us your understanding of what "god" has to say about it, try to be unique and don't just become an anti-Obama parrot."
What do you think I did here?
Listen, I post what I find amusing, I can't help that the guy is such a font of posts because he's so funny. I don't get up in the morning and say, "What can I post about Obama today?" I just go with what's out there. In fact the days that I resolve to post about anything but Obama and then the guy says something stupid. In fact there are a couple things I'm not posting just because I'm tired of blogging about him.
"he's unsure Willow Creek can provide greater depth to mature believers by its moves, especially since more traditional churches wrestle with the same issue."
Willow Creek planned "to get deeper" about 10 years ago ... "They got more challenging" by bringing in teaching pastors like John Ortberg, Atwater said, only to see attendance drop.
Willow Creek would also replace its midweek services with classes on theology and the Bible.
We know that Christians don't like theology.
What I'm saying it that you are studying at Westminster Theological Seminary. I think it would be interesting to find out what you're studying and how you are taking what you are learning and using your own interpretations to explain it to us. What are you learning about ethics in modern liberal democracies? What sort of liberation theologies are you learning regarding God and Jesus? That's all I meant to say.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.