LayGuy

It was somewhat of a surprise for me to read the following from Bill Hybels:

“We made a mistake.”

Hybels is the Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church - the 5th “top Church” in the US. Many of you have read his books. In a nutshell. Hybels Pastors one of the largest and influential churches in the US.

In a recent article in Christianity Today’s “Out of Ur” blog, is an article outlining the results of a “multi year qualitative study” into “what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not.”

Being a “program driven” and “seeker sensitive” church, Willow Creek has spent millions of dollars setting up all kinds of programs designed to increase participation and therefore making the participants better disciples of Jesus.

What the research actually showed is that all these programs did not lead people into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Having spent 30 years building this church model and advocating it to others, Hybels has called this report the “wake up call” of his life.

“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 service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.” - Bill Hybels

To get a feel of what Willow Creek has learnt from this study, I recommend you check out the video’s mentioned in the above article. Greg Hawkins is the Executive Pastor and his video can be seen here. Bill Hybels is here.

Every church leader should look into what they have to say. You may come from different denominations and/or have different views. But this research is good and you will glean wisdom from it if you’re humble enough.

The Bible talks about building on the foundation Christ has begun. He is the Cornerstone and everything will be built around Him. Man has been building for 2000 years and some of the best and worst of humanity has been witnessed as people build upon the great Foundation.

But there is a sobering passage of scripture for all leaders..

“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” 1 Cor 3:12-15

Anything you and I do “for the Kingdom” will be tested by fire. Probably most of what we do will be burnt up due to the pathetic nature of our “works.” Things we do thinking that we are doing a great job will probably mean nothing - mere straw in a raging fire.

It’s great to see Hybels re-evaluating his efforts at Willow Creek. Maybe without him even knowing it, his building materials are changing into something more fireproof. In doing so, he will be more effective then he already is and God will receive more glory.

Tags: Bill Hybels, Willow Creek, Seeker Sensitive