January Plumbline

The big news in the American church this December was that Willow Creek Community Church said “We made a mistake!” Willow Creek is a mega church that has attracted tens of thousands using marketing based approaches: Figure out what people are looking for and give it to them.

Worship has been made more presentational and less participational, because new-comers are not always ready to participate. Tickets are required for their 12 Christmas Services – you can view a seat map of the Auditorium (seekers don’t know what a sanctuary is), view available seats and obtain e-tickets online (they are free).

Willow Creek bashing has been a popular sport among main-line church leaders. Surely, there was something there that needed to be criticized, but just as surely, some of the disparagement was just jealousy. I’m jealous. Willow Creek has an average worship attendance of 17,500; ours is 260. And they have 4 spin-off sister churches! In some regards what Willow Creek has been doing, has been working! Not too many others have figured out how to get seekers, not only in the door, but to a statement of faith in Jesus Christ!

Now, they say, “we made a mistake!” That’s pretty extraordinary! From their position of mega-success, they have the courage to say “we made a mistake!” This statement comes from a multi-year study at Willow Creek that shows that heavy involvement in the church programs and activities of Willow Creek did not necessarily translate into spiritual growth and maturity. To some extent, that isn’t surprising – their focus has long been on getting new folk in the door. Fostering spiritual growth among those they already had took a back seat.

I’m wondering how we would do on the same test. Does involvement in the church programs and activities at Orangewood Presbyterian Church yield spiritual growth and maturity? As I get to know new members, I meet people at all levels of spiritual development. Some are long-time committed disciples of Jesus who engage in daily devotion and are working for God’s justice in some concrete area of the world. Others are here for the music, or because they want their kids to experience “religion.” None of these are bad reasons. We’re glad to have all of them. The question is, do we move them forward in their faith? Do our worship, our education, our mission experiences deepen our member’s walk with God?

I think the answer is a qualified “yes.” Not from a multi-year study, but from my own personal dealings with members I would say, some are progressing, some aren’t. From my own personal experience with my own faith journey, there are times in my life when I am progressing and times when I am not (Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I even backslide!). Would there be a way to assess spiritual growth in a more research based fashion? Are we that courageous?

As fun as it is to bash Willow Creek, I think I must uneasily admit that now there are two things we must learn from them.
1. How to attract unchurched people to Christ.
2. How to examine what we do and admit where we are wrong.
After all, we are supposed to be the church reformed and always being reformed!

Ephesians 4:15
Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.