Have you caught this in the news, yet? Interesting discovery by one of America’s largest mega-churches. Apparently, just doing church isn’t enough. This post is continued from Mega-church Repents of Programs.
These are all still Floyd McClung’s words (unless he notes otherwise):
I used the wrong
language in my recent letter about Willow Creek. I described what they are
learning as “repentance.”
I apologize for that. The word “repentance” was not
the right word to use about the study they did called “Reveal.”
Below is a blog
posting from Greg Hawkins clarifying what exactly did happen at Willow Creek in
regard to what they are learning about spiritual formation and participation in
programs and cell groups.
I want to express my respect and appreciation
for Bill Hybels, Willow Creek and the huge contribution they have made to the
body of Christ.
If you have not read the story of Willow Creek, I urge you to
add Rediscovering Church by Bill and Lynn Hybels to your reading list. It
is very inspiring and instructive.
The Truth About REVEAL – October
26, 2007
I’m thrilled to see
the high level of interest and energy behind the blogosphere comments about
REVEAL. But I’ve read enough postings to think that it might be helpful to
provide a few facts on three issues that keep coming up. Trust me. I’m not into
“spin control” here. I just want to fill in some gaps.
1. It’s Not About
Willow
REVEAL’s findings
are based on thirty churches besides Willow. In all thirty churches, we’ve found
the six segments of REVEAL’s spiritual continuum, including the Stalled and
Dissatisfied segments. And these churches aren’t all Willow clones. We’ve
surveyed traditional Bible churches, mainline denominations, African-American
churches and churches representing a wide range of geographies and sizes. Right
now we’re fielding the survey to 500 additional churches, including 100
international churches. So, while REVEAL was born out of a Willow research
project in 2004, the findings are not exclusive to Willow
Creek.
2. Willow
Repents?
The Leadership
Journal blog started with this question, and the answer is NO. Repenting, in my
mind, deals with confessing sin. There is absolutely no sin involved in this
deal. Just good, old fashion learning. What you are seeing is a set of leaders
coming to grips with some new facts and deciding to do something about it. This
is nothing new for us here at Willow. We are passionately committed to learning.
Redeeming this broken world through the love and power of Jesus Christ is just
too important for us not to be in a constant state of learning. We’ve always
been a church in motion and REVEAL is just another example of Willow trying to
be open to God’s design for this local church.
3. Is Willow Re-thinking its
Seeker Focus?
Simple answer –
NO. Hybels would say that Willow is not just seeker-focused. We are
seeker-obsessed. The power of REVEAL’s insights for our seeker strategy is the
evangelistic strength uncovered in the more mature segments. If we can serve
them better, the evangelistic potential is enormous, based on our findings.
