Post Script Re: Mega Church Changes

Apparently there’s more to the saga of the changes going on at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, better known as the “poster child” of “seeker-sensitive” ministries.

In the previous post we gave a nod to the church and its Pastor, Bill Hybels, for having the chutzpah to map out changes in their program-driven worship practices that are based on the results of a self-conducted survey of its members and six other similar congregations. As mentioned in the last post, these findings have been widely reported in a book released last year by Greg Hawkins, Willow Creek’s executive pastor.

Among the proposed modifications are the adding of theology and Bible classes during midweek services and the re-structuring of weekend services to focus on serious Christians who want to mature in the Christian life (in contrast to past uses of rock music and multimedia to attract “seekers”).

How are they preparing to put into practice these and other fresh insights? Here’s the plan, 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 (bold mine) and rooted in Scripture”.

It is reported that on the wall outside of Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that reads: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” These questions are consistent with the “business/corporate” approach to ministry that the church has followed but that now has become suspect.

It might be good to pause for a moment and ask: if the “new” approach to worship praxis at WC is going to be influenced by more research on what people think they want, many, like myself, will be prone to ask, “What has been learned?”

A basic course on the historical Church would reveal that the Church, local or catholic, is not “consumer-driven”. Instead, many, myself included, believe it is the living organism through which we worship God and by which He speaks to us, guides us, and teaches us to live according to His revelation.

My hope and prayer is that lessons have been learned, and that the changes will be a step toward developing Christian maturity. I must admit to some concern, however, that this wonderful congregation might be commencing to sing just another verse of the same song.