Considering Willow Creek’s Revamp

Somehow I missed this episode of “Flip that Church”.  I’ve got a post on what the Reveal survey revealed and that Willow Creek admitted they’d misjudged things.  I missed the follow-up, what they were doing differently.  It really sounds like a complete change of ministry philosophy.  Sounds like they discovered the “traditional church” had the right ideas.  Hmmmm.

Today, Greg Hawkins, executive pastor at Willow, recapped the study and then shared some changes that the church is now making in response to the research. He said they’re making the biggest changes to the church in over 30 years. For three decades Willow has been focused on making the church appealing to seekers. But the research shows that it’s the mature believers that drive everything in the church—including evangelism.

Hawkins says, “We used to think you can’t upset a seeker. But while focusing on that we’ve really upset the Christ-centered people.” He spoke about the high levels of dissatisfaction mature believer have with churches. Drawing from the 200 churches and the 57,000 people that have taken the survey, he said that most people are leaving the church because they’re not being challenged enough.

Because it’s the mature Christians who drive evangelism in the church Hawkins says, “Our strategy to reach seekers is now about focusing on the mature believers. This is a huge shift for Willow.”

Mature believers matter?  How very interesting.  This is a weakness of the “church plant craze.”  I am pro-church plant; don’t get me wrong.  But some planters completely dis’ established churches.  They want to reach the unchurched, which is awesome, but they often begin to too few mature Christians in the core group.  As a result they are like the parents on octuplets, over-burdened and wishing they could bail.

So what really is changing?

One major implementation of this shift will occur in June when Willow ends their mid-week worship services that had been geared toward believers. Instead the church will morph these mid-week events into classes for people at different stages of growth. There will be theological and bible classes full of “hard-hitting stuff.” Hawkins said most people are very enthusiastic about the change.

On the seeker end of the spectrum, Willow is also changing how they produce their weekend services. For years the value people appreciated most about the seeker-oriented weekend services was anonymity. This is what all their research showed. People didn’t want to be identified, approached, confronted, or asked to do anything. But those days are over.

“Anonymity is not the driving value for seeker services anymore,” says Hawkins. “We’ve taken anonymity and shot it in the head. It’s dead. Gone.” In the past Willow believed that seekers didn’t want large doses of the Bible or deep worship music. They didn’t want to be challenged. Now their seeker-sensitive services are loaded with worship music, prayer, Scripture readings, and more challenging teaching from the Bible

The seeker-sensitive service is now a worship service.  Wednesday night is focused on discipleship.  This is essentially what churches have been doing for years.  Are they offering refunds to everyone who took their seminars on developing a seeker-sensitive church?  Afterall, they discovered it didn’t do what they claimed it would do.  I’m being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I’m glad they had the guts to make these changes instead of just burying their heads in the sand and pretending that ineffective programs were effective.  Too many churches to that, and die.

In the larger REVEAL survey taken by 200 churches, people were asked what they want most from their church. Three of the top four responses were:
1. Help me understand the Bible in greater depth
2. Help me develop a closer personal relationship with Christ
3. Challenge me to grow and take the next step in my faith

Hawkins said that sometimes Willow gets accused of managing the church based on market research; of simply giving people what they want. “Look at what they want!” he said while pointing to the screen. “They want the Bible, they want to be close to Christ, they want to be challenged. Yes, I will give them what they want!”

Sometimes it is good to give the people what they want.  That is when they want the right things.  In this case, the survey revealed they want the very things they should want: grasping the Word, practicing the means of grace, growing in love & service.  I’m glad Willow Creek is listening.

What remains to be seen is if the programs meet the desired ends.  They may, or may not.  Churches need to evaluate to see if their programs are accomplishing the intended purposes.  If not, find something that does.  If they do, continue them (and continue to evaluate them).

This strikes me as an ironic turn of affairs in light of the grief some are giving the “institutional church” these days.  These people are expect to discover these things in the “institutional church” rather than heading elsewhere.  These are the very things that faithful churches have been investing in for years.  People should leave unfaithful churches (as many left Willow Creek) and join or plant faithful churches (which Willow Creek is becoming).  Perhaps Willow Creek will not only be a place where someone finds Christ (or, is found by Him) but also a place where many grow in Christ.