WILLOWCREEK ADMITS" We Got it wrong with our Programs!!

[Thad]

A multi-year qualitative study of Willow Creek reveals that their program-driven philosophy of ministry is not leading to spiritual growth, and Bill Hybels responds:


"We made a mistake."


Bill Hybels:

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’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

[SoCaliUPC]

What is Willowcreek???

[Thad]

October 18, 2007
Willow Creek Repents?
Why the most influential church in America now says "We made a mistake."
Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that says: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry—church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage—has impacted every evangelical church in the country.

So what happens when leaders of Willow Creek stand up and say, “We made a mistake”?

Not long ago Willow released its findings from a multiple year qualitative study of its ministry. Basically, they wanted to know what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not. The results were published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek. Hybels called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.”

If you’d like to get a synopsis of the research you can watch a video with Greg Hawkins here. And Bill Hybels’ reactions, recorded at last summer’s Leadership Summit, can be seen here. Both videos are worth watching in their entirety, but below are few highlights.


In the Hawkins’ video he says, “Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples of Christ.” This has been Willow’s philosophy of ministry in a nutshell. The church creates programs/activities. People participate in these activities. The outcome is spiritual maturity. In a moment of stinging honesty Hawkins says, “I know it might sound crazy but that’s how we do it in churches. We measure levels of participation.”

Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

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’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

Having spent thirty years creating and promoting a multi-million dollar organization driven by programs and measuring participation, and convincing other church leaders to do the same, you can see why Hybels called this research “the wake up call” of his adult life.

Hybels confesses:


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 responsibility 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.

In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.

Does this mark the end of Willow’s thirty years of influence over the American church? Not 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. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.

Posted by UrL on October 18, 2007

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the comments on this post should be interesting to read...

what i find most revealing is:

"spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate

[Thad]

I'D Love to hear what SISTER NEWMAN has to say about this article !!!!


can someone let her know or does she no longer post ???

[Newman]

Originally Posted by Thad

I'D Love to hear what SISTER NEWMAN has to say about this article !!!!


can someone let her know or does she no longer post ???

I have limited time to post. However, I will take the time to respond to this thread since the point of view I have may not otherwise get expressed.

I had opportunity to attend a Willow Creek Leadership Summit 3-4 years ago. I would encourage any minister who understands that one can eat and leave the bones on the plate to attend and look at some issues in a new light.

The couple of days I spent there were awe-inspiring. In fact, I absolutely felt the presence of God and felt the Holy Ghost stir in me. (Which of course will be met with skeptism by some). I understand that.

The two hour presentation that I saw by Bill Hybels was eye opening. He was one of the most humble men I ever heard speak. It is no wonder that many ministers of first generation Willow Creek churches park at the back of the parking lot and drive modest cars even though the church budget could accomodate so much more.

But I digress...

Am I surprised that Bill Hybels would get up in front of thousands of churches he has been influential in and say "We made a mistake"?

NO! A thousand times no. Because Bill Hybels isn't looking to be right, he is looking to expand the church's reach and influence as he understands it.

And for the record, I would suggest that he is only talking about the inability to reach some groups of people because the Willow Creek church in my area has gone from 40 people to about 8-10 churches in the past 15 years.

The first church running around 6000 people the last I heard. They have funded missions to Africa, South America, India and inner cities of our nation.

Are there alot of spectators at these churches? No doubt. But there also is a core group that is on fire, and multiplying and touching other people's lives in the name of Christ.

Did Bill Hybels fail? Only if one thinks McDonalds is unsuccessful because all of their advertizing isn't effective.

And let me head the criticism off at the pass. Does Bill Hybels preach Acts 2:38 as we do? Not that I am aware of, but he sure seems to be influential in putting others on the path to seeking God which is a great path to be on.

In fact, every example in Acts that I can think of that found out about baptizm and the Holy Ghost were already people worshipping or seeking God.

...[F]or he that cometh to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

[Thad]

Originally Posted by Newman

I have limited time to post. However, I will take the time to respond to this thread since the point of view I have may not otherwise get expressed.

I had opportunity to attend a Willow Creek Leadership Summit 3-4 years ago. I would encourage any minister who understands that one can eat and leave the bones on the plate to attend and look at some issues in a new light.

The couple of days I spent there were awe-inspiring. In fact, I absolutely felt the presence of God and felt the Holy Ghost stir in me. (Which of course will be met with skeptism by some). I understand that.

The two hour presentation that I saw by Bill Hybels was eye opening. He was one of the most humble men I ever heard speak. It is no wonder that many ministers of first generation Willow Creek churches park at the back of the parking lot and drive modest cars even though the church budget could accomodate so much more.

But I digress...

Am I surprised that Bill Hybels would get up in front of thousands of churches he has been influential in and say "We made a mistake"?

NO! A thousand times no. Because Bill Hybels isn't looking to be right, he is looking to expand the church's reach and influence as he understands it.

And for the record, I would suggest that he is only talking about the inability to reach some groups of people because the Willow Creek church in my area has gone from 40 people to about 8-10 churches in the past 15 years.

The first church running around 6000 people the last I heard. They have funded missions to Africa, South America, India and inner cities of our nation.

Are there alot of spectators at these churches? No doubt. But there also is a core group that is on fire, and multiplying and touching other people's lives in the name of Christ.

Did Bill Hybels fail? Only if one thinks McDonalds is unsuccessful because all of their advertizing isn't effective.

And let me head the criticism off at the pass. Does Bill Hybels preach Acts 2:38 as we do? Not that I am aware of, but he sure seems to be influential in putting others on the path to seeking God which is a great path to be on.

In fact, every example in Acts that I can think of that found out about baptizm and the Holy Ghost were already people worshipping or seeking God.

...[F]or he that cometh to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

what BH had to say has been many leader's point exactly for many years.

They will find the same across the board. Maxwell, Warren, Wagner, etc.

Good for Hybels in being honest and humble enough to admit it.

He laying a lot on the line by doing that.

[ILG]

Originally Posted by Newman

Am I surprised that Bill Hybels would get up in front of thousands of churches he has been influential in and say "We made a mistake"?

NO! A thousand times no. Because Bill Hybels isn't looking to be right, he is looking to expand the church's reach and influence as he understands it.

Are there alot of spectators at these churches? No doubt. But there also is a core group that is on fire, and multiplying and touching other people's lives in the name of Christ.

Did Bill Hybels fail? Only if one thinks McDonalds is unsuccessful because all of their advertizing isn't effective.

And let me head the criticism off at the pass. Does Bill Hybels preach Acts 2:38 as we do? Not that I am aware of, but he sure seems to be influential in putting others on the path to seeking God which is a great path to be on.

Excellent post, Newman. My family and I have been attending a Willow Creek type church for the last couple of years. Although we have not been deeply involved, I can comment from the spectator level. I can't speak to Bill Hybel's character....I only saw him on a video once. I can, however, speak about what I see in the church we are attending. I am not at all surprised to hear a Willow Creek leader say "We made a mistake." Why? Because Willow Creek churches do not emphasize a need to be constantly right. Oh, that the UPC would stand up and say "We make a mistake" sometime!! I see the Willow Creek churches to be an interesting mix. On the negative side, I see some shallowness, some pop-tart Christianity, some lack of depth. On the positive side, I see vibrant worship services, people who are real and not afraid to be human, real Bible teaching that is valid and relevant to today. In the UPC I also saw some shallowness, some pop-tart Christianity and some lack of depth while at the same time denying all of it. Which would you rather have?

[Pastor Keith]

Originally Posted by Thad

October 18, 2007
Willow Creek Repents?
Why the most influential church in America now says "We made a mistake."
Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that says: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry—church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage—has impacted every evangelical church in the country.

So what happens when leaders of Willow Creek stand up and say, “We made a mistake”?

Not long ago Willow released its findings from a multiple year qualitative study of its ministry. Basically, they wanted to know what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not. The results were published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek. Hybels called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.”

If you’d like to get a synopsis of the research you can watch a video with Greg Hawkins here. And Bill Hybels’ reactions, recorded at last summer’s Leadership Summit, can be seen here. Both videos are worth watching in their entirety, but below are few highlights.


In the Hawkins’ video he says, “Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples of Christ.” This has been Willow’s philosophy of ministry in a nutshell. The church creates programs/activities. People participate in these activities. The outcome is spiritual maturity. In a moment of stinging honesty Hawkins says, “I know it might sound crazy but that’s how we do it in churches. We measure levels of participation.”

Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

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’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

Having spent thirty years creating and promoting a multi-million dollar organization driven by programs and measuring participation, and convincing other church leaders to do the same, you can see why Hybels called this research “the wake up call” of his adult life.

Hybels confesses:


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 responsibility 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.

In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.

Does this mark the end of Willow’s thirty years of influence over the American church? Not 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. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.

Posted by UrL on October 18, 2007

Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/682




Comments
the comments on this post should be interesting to read...

what i find most revealing is:

"spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate

I have been saying this for the last 3 years on this forum and the last 2. This is so old.

Coming to a special building to attend a designed or program or church service, to watch professionals doesn't produce disciples period.

[Thad]

I thought you was for this type of thing - seriously keith.

a lot of the guys in your age group have been chasing after the rick warran type minsitries for quite some time

[Pastor Keith]

Originally Posted by Thad

I thought you was for this type of thing - seriously keith.

a lot of the guys in your age group have been chasing after the rick warran type minsitries for quite some time

I like Rick Warren, I think that he has tremendous Wisdom, but even he is now advocating community through small groups, I have to find the article about his 40 days of purpose and his desire to use the groups to foster true discipleship.

The days of producing a consumer oriented type of experience is waning, people want authentic real depth with God and with each other at the same time allowing for a process so that they know how to grow into being a disciple. I think Small groups along with equipping Celebration services are the model to use.