Willow Creek Church: Seeker-Sensitive No More?
For many of you, this may be old news since the story actually came out about a month ago, but somehow I missed it up until last week. It turns out something extraordinary happened recently: Willow Creek Church, pioneers of the "seeker-sensitive" movement, has declared they made a mistake. What mistake, you ask? The seeker-sensitive movement. When all is said and done, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but writer and radio host, Bob Burney, published an article for Baptist Press recently discussing the shocking revelation:
That's huge. I mean it's huge that they admit it. Seriously, to their credit, having spent literally millions on this stuff, to admit they were wrong is a big deal.
Many, including myself, have known for years it was a mistake to focus on "felt needs" and have said so many times. Though it should have been a no-brainer, the number of people being reached was hard to argue against. That doesn't mean we agreed, it just meant few people listen when it seems to be so effective. Numbers don't lie? Burney sums up the truth of the issue:
I don't mean to be discordant but I have to tell you, when I read this I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Finally, the seeker-sensitive movement has been revealed for what it is...a sham. It is a well-meaning sham, but a sham, nonetheless. It was a matter of feeding people what they wanted rather than what they needed, leading people to bounce around to find a church that made them feel good rather than making them disciples. Sadly, here is the reality...a reality that I hope this mass of "seeker-sensitive" shopping malls can admit to and remedy:
Then the reality of what this all means sets in: there always seems to be the desire to improve on the model set out in Scripture. Rather than really doing life together (which often gets very messy and uncomfortable), dedicating ourselves to the Word of God with all the difficulty that discipleship demands, giving up our own desires, taking up our cross and following Christ wherever He leads and finding joy in the journey, certainly there must be something better; there must be some other way that leads to massive church growth (never mind that doing it the Scripture way led to 3,000 converts in a single day--when was the last time you saw that happen?). Nah, looks like it's back to the old drawing board for the seeker-sensitive, church growth professionals...which is where the new and very real danger lies:
Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study's findings are in a new book titled "Reveal: Where Are You?," co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings "ground breaking," "earth shaking" and "mind blowing." And no wonder: It seems that the "experts" were wrong.
The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:
"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."
That's huge. I mean it's huge that they admit it. Seriously, to their credit, having spent literally millions on this stuff, to admit they were wrong is a big deal.
Many, including myself, have known for years it was a mistake to focus on "felt needs" and have said so many times. Though it should have been a no-brainer, the number of people being reached was hard to argue against. That doesn't mean we agreed, it just meant few people listen when it seems to be so effective. Numbers don't lie? Burney sums up the truth of the issue:
If you simply want a crowd, the "seeker-sensitive" model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it's a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states: "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 services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."
I don't mean to be discordant but I have to tell you, when I read this I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Finally, the seeker-sensitive movement has been revealed for what it is...a sham. It is a well-meaning sham, but a sham, nonetheless. It was a matter of feeding people what they wanted rather than what they needed, leading people to bounce around to find a church that made them feel good rather than making them disciples. Sadly, here is the reality...a reality that I hope this mass of "seeker-sensitive" shopping malls can admit to and remedy:
The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a "mistake." The extent of this error defies measurement.
Then the reality of what this all means sets in: there always seems to be the desire to improve on the model set out in Scripture. Rather than really doing life together (which often gets very messy and uncomfortable), dedicating ourselves to the Word of God with all the difficulty that discipleship demands, giving up our own desires, taking up our cross and following Christ wherever He leads and finding joy in the journey, certainly there must be something better; there must be some other way that leads to massive church growth (never mind that doing it the Scripture way led to 3,000 converts in a single day--when was the last time you saw that happen?). Nah, looks like it's back to the old drawing board for the seeker-sensitive, church growth professionals...which is where the new and very real danger lies:Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg 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."That is a warning I hope we all take to heart. As people of The Word, we have to ask ourselves how we can really expect to improve on a perfect model? New ways of applying the unchanging biblical principles are fine...we need to be able to communicate with 21st Century culture, but we must not abandon the heart of the Gospel and basics of authentic discipleship in the process.
Isn't that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw away their old assumptions and "take out a clean sheet of paper" and, presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry. Should this be encouraging? Please note that "rooted in Scripture" still follows "rethink," "new insights" and "informed research." Someone, it appears, still might not get it. Unless there is a return to simple biblical (and relevant) principles, a new faulty scheme will replace the existing one and another generation will follow along as the latest piper plays.
Labels: Christian, Christianity, Church, David C. Price, Seeker-Sensitive
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 11/20/2007 05:45:00 AM
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4 Comments:
If you read the article written by Bill Hybels or Greg Hawkins and or watch the videos what you will discover is neither one of them are saying this is the end of the Seeker Sensitive service and in fact both claim to continue to be Seeker Obsessed. What the book Reveal and the messages from the leaders of Willowcreek are saying is once a person like myself goes from being a seeker to getting baptized the church has not done enough to bring us to the point of being "Fully Devoted Followers and Self Feeders". I say us because I have attended Willow for 20 years. During that time I have taken full advantage of most programs, followed the concepts of attending church twice weekly, tithing, daily bible study, serving, small groups and being a good evangelist and for some reason have not ever felt like I was as spiritually mature as I desired. This may be a result of many things, but the facts are I have never felt like a Fully Devoted Follower or a self feeder. While attending Willow I have gone from having a GED to a Masters degree so I assume Im not unteachable, but something is not right and its not the Seeker sensitive part of the church. I have complained to my mentors for years that I wasnt getting enough substance, that the messages were too light for me and many of them seemed like reruns. The big question is what do I do now? Do I hope that this time the church will get it right? Do I go to another church and start over? I feel lost and confused and dont know what to do, but I can clearly say Im glad the church had the seeker sensitive service to get me into church, Im just sad that all these years later Im still not where I should be and now not sure who to trust.
Thanks for writing. I have no doubt that many people have been and will continue to be reached through "seeker-sensitive" ministries. A primary problem, though, as has been pointed out is the consumer mentality that tends to let people, like Burger King, "have it their way."
They feed them what they want to hear. That's a problem. If, as you say, WC is going to continue the same approach, I'd begin looking for a New Testament church that is big on discipleship. Bigger is not necessarily better.
As a pastor, I am often concerned with the same issue. Part of me would like for 200 or more people to walk in the door. Then I ask, "What would I do with them if they did?" I could certainly not disciple them all adequately. So I would end up herding them in and preaching at them and their depth would be about half and inch.
For the good WC does in reaching people, I'm not sure that the lack of training they do is awfully helpful. Getting people to walk an aisle isn't the challenge...it's growing them in Christ after they do.
Thanks, again.
I have grown up in the church and have seen most churches that say they are more about discipleship and being "biblical" are not reaching out to their communities. By biblical they mean their narrow interpretation that fits neatly into how they like to do church. When we say seeker sensitive what does that mean? In my experience it boils down to the style of music, how much art, video, and drama a church uses. It begins discussions on their lighting or that there is haze in the room and therefore a show. What I hear Willow saying is that they need to lean harder on their believers (which most of the New Testament was written to) more than change how they help irreligious people get in the door. Large numbers do not necessarily mean shallow teaching nor does small numbers mean a church is spiritually healthy. If a church is truly presenting the gospel shouldn't there be growth? I would say that we certainly have changed drastically in our culture over the past thirty years and it makes sense to review what we are doing and making sure it is relevant to the lives of those we serve. By saying they are going to a clean sheet and staring over doesn't mean they are ignoring things like baptism, scriptural teaching, serving, etc. It simply means they are looking at how they spend their money and where they invest. They aren't content to do things how they've always done them but are not changing for the sake of change either. The problem I have with a lot of these critics of willow is that they are misquoting what was said. When many criticize Willow or other large churches it is because they do not operate traditionally. I have yet to see in scripture where it tells us which style of music is ok or whether or not to use videos in our services. I suppose I just tire of a bunch of religious people ,who simply want to keep their church the way it was twenty years ago, putting down leaders for doing what their community needs.
Don't know who you are (you obviously didn't read the rules on posting), but you're argument is fine right up until the end where you totally discredit it: the point has absolutely nothing to do with style. It's not traditional or contemporary. It's about focus. The focus has been on getting people in the door and converting them (which new Believers is great), but the weakness has been on discipleship...real discipleship. Growing them into mature believers. Further, it has absolutely nothing to do with size. Big or small can be healthy (or unhealthy). Simply going after converts at the expense of depth is not healthy. I applaud what Willow is doing now...I'm just sad there are so many churches who have modeled themselves after them for years and have buildings full of under-nourished, emaciated baby Christians.
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