Willow Creek and the Seeker Sensitive Church
Cbsmith
TO: Board of Elders:
I was surprised by the high regard for and the personal affinity with popular
Promise Keeper writer and speaker Bill Hybels. The study contained several of
his books. One was recommended reading during our spring season of prayer. I
am concerned that many are not fully aware of what is involved in his "seeker
sensitive" approach to ministry, the implications for those churches (perhaps
our own) who mimic this approach to evangelism and worship, and how he has and
currently is successfully marketing this approach to literally thousands of
churches here and internationally. While I am sure that Hybels is sincere in
his efforts, his church, like most "seeker-sensitive" churches, compromise the
gospel in an effort to accommodate the unchurched. The following is a
potpourri of information concerning Bill Hybels’ ministry specifically and
"seeker-sensitive" churches in general:
· An article by Susan Olasky "Femme fatale, The Feminist Seduction of the
Evangelical Church" (World, March 29, 97, pp. 12-15) features this man and his
church. She uses Willow Creek as a classic example of growing trend toward
egalitarianism (the denial of distinctions between men and women in church and
home). A copy of this magazine should be available in the church library. As
she describes Willow Creek, certain questionable attributes emerge:
· Willow Creek has had women elders since its founding in 1978.
· The church mandates that the staff share the convictions of the church and
conducts training sessions to achieve this.
· It teaches the full equality of men and women in opportunity for ministry.
· It mimics the Roman Church by requiring adherence "to the statement of
beliefs and practices of the (Willow Creek) church."
· It requires that members "affirm with integrity … that they can joyfully sit
under the teaching of women teachers… that they can joyfully submit to the
leadership of women in various leadership positions…"
Susan Olasky aptly concludes her Willow Creek example with a comment by
complementarian Wayne Grudem: "The way an egalitarian view triumphs is by a
suppression of information and discussion."
· Few men deserve the title of "Defender of the Faith" more than John
MacArthur. Here he describes the often inevitable compromise of the
"seeker-sensitive" church: "We hear this all the time: ‘If we are going to
win the world we have to win their favor. The church has got to become a
beloved agency. They’ve got to like us. So we don’t want to fight for truth,
we don’t want to be too doctrinal, we don’t want to offend anybody because
image and influence is the key to evangelization!’…The man who once took his
stand for truth and preached it is asked to take a seat. He’s a problem. We
don’t fight for truth, we don’t boldly proclaim truth, we are afraid we may
offend an unbeliever…. The image of the church and it’s non-threatening
structure is the key to evangelization. This kind of movement believes that
the church will offend unbelievers if it preaches sin, or hell, or repentance,
or the cross, and it will lose its prestige. So the new trend is for the new
church to build an image of love and care and being very nice, make everybody
comfortable, and make everybody happy, and entertain the unbeliever and make
sure they are never offended and make sure that they are very very comfortable,
and the bottom line is if they like us, they will like Jesus. Influence and
image is much more important than Scripture!" (John MacArthur, "Discernment:
Spiritual Survival for a Church in Crisis," audiotape, 1991)
· The Plains Baptist Challenger (1/96, p. 5) bluntly but accurately states
their problem with the methodology Hybels used to establish Willow Creek
(conducting surveys to determine what non-believers want from a church): "Take
a poll of lost people, find out what they want in religion, then make an all
out effort in the church to provide what they want. Real Bible believers do not
follow the polls to find out what sinners want, they go to the Bible to find
out what sinners need. They get their message from the Bible, not from George
Barna [or from George Gallup]" In Hybels' book entitled "Honest To God," he
states he grew "God's church, God's way." Actually he grew Willow Creek man's
way, giving people without spiritual discernment what they wanted.
· Hybels’ priority for the church is "evangelism." At Willow Creek, the Sunday
morning service (in addition to a Saturday evening "seeker service") is
programmed for non-believers. Believer services are scheduled on another day
or evening. I’m trying to remember (I mislaid the white NCBC brochure
distributed earlier this summer), didn’t we state that the purpose of the our
church is "evangelism?" Acts 2:42 indicates that our time together must
include more than "evangelism: "And they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."
John McArthur concurs: "I don’t believe that the church gathers for any other
reason than to be edified. We come together to worship God as believers and…
we scatter to evangelize."
· Three times a year, the church (Willow Creek) sponsors a conference at which
500 church leaders gather to see how it is done. And in 1992, the Willow Creek
Association (WCA) was formed. WCA began as an international network of 96
like-minded churches; as of 3/95, there were approximately 850 member churches
from more than 50 denominations. This organization provides special
conferences, resources, and consultation to its constituents seeking "user
friendly," "seeker sensitive" approaches to church growth. (Hybels also formed
Willow Creek Resources, a joint-publishing venture between the new association
and Zondervan Publishing House, to publish books, audios, and videos produced
by staffers from within Willow Creek Community Church and the rest of the WCA.)
(Bill Hybels, General Teachings/Activities, Biblical Discernment Ministries
3/96)
· Something seems to be wrong when Peter Jennings has greater spiritual
discernment than many evangelical leaders: In his ABC News prime-time
television special titled "In the Name of God," he asked whether churches
seeking "to attract sellout crowds are in danger of selling out the gospel."
He also asked if the changes that he had documented were "compromising the
essence of Christianity."
· Theologian David Wells, author of "No Place for Truth" and "God in the
Wasteland," comments: "I honestly believe [Hybels] doesn't think he's
compromising the gospel by using cultural devices, but he seems blinded to the
fact that culture is not neutral. The problem is that culture is laden with
values that inevitably go against the thrust of the gospel message. " (7/18/94
Christianity Today , "Selling Out the House of God?").
Humbly and respectfully submitted.