Just herd some pretty interesting news about Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. (You can get the scoop here.) This church has been one of the most publicly scorn “forward thinking” churches in the past 50 years. And wether or not you agree with how they “do church”, it is hard to ignore the fact that God is working in the lives of people in and through this place. Personally what impresses me most about Willow is not the size or how many lights they have, or any of that stuff. Every time I have been there or been around willow people one thing has struck me, their unwavering heart for God.
So, I applaud their tremendous courage to do what God is calling them to do. If more churches were like willow in this one area, I think we would see a very different church in America. Hold tightly only to the right things, all else is up for grabs.
What do you think?
derrak
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April 28, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Tim
i have very openly complained about the church (or should i say the state of the christian church) in the past. during one of my rants, someone simply asked me what the solution was. they told me to stop complaining and offer a solution. they asked me what i thought church should be, and that one got me thinking for quite some time.
i stopped complaining about the church and tried to think about what it should be. i struggled and struggled to come up with something that was above all the issues that i had with churches, and i couldn’t come up with anything. i thought about different service times and different music and more media and on and on. but what i realized was that all those have been done and are being done and the church is still floundering. if i saw a church incorporating the ideas i thought up, i would still take issue with it. as much as i tried, i could not come up with anything. so i shut-up and stopped complaining.
then one day, i was thinking about the ministry my wife and i do called First Glance. we have around 70 different christian people from all ages that volunteer there with a common goal of “connecting students to Christ and the Church through real, loving, non-threatening avenues”. that’s when i realized that First Glance is a good example of the way a church should be!
sure, we do not look anything like a church in form, but in function we meet many of Christ’s commands. everyone involved is actively interacting with non-believers. we have meetings before we let the students in where we pray, learn, and encourage each other. we have large meetings periodically where leaders from all the different ministries of First Glance get together to fellowship. everyone gives sacrificially of their time and resources. we have different levels of maturity among our leaders and even student leaders now. and all leaders are continually learning alongside each other, growing in maturity.
one of the greatest positives to the First Glance style of church is that we learn by actively experiencing God while serving our non-Christian audience. we do not have the typical sit, watch, and listen teaching that churches are famous for. we do some of that but very little.
through First Glance we also have an opportunity to impact other christians by providing them the opportunity to be a part and actively live out their faith. we have seen many christians grow tremendously in their faith through serving.
and there is such an energy about the whole project. i think that most christians recognize the energy and excitement. i think most think that we are all doing great things for the kingdom of God, but for some reason, at the same time, most (including me originally) do not realize that the very thing they are looking for in church is right there at First Glance and other similar ministries. it is what church was always meant to be.
recently a friend of mine encouraged me to read a book called “The Shaping of Things to Come” by Frost and Hirsch. it was the next step in my quest for the church that Christ wanted. they have taken some of my thoughts on the subject much further, researched them, and added all new ideas. it is a great read.
i don’t think that willow creek is really doing anything that new or exciting, but at the same time, there is still a place in christianity for churches like that. so while i see much more value in churches like First Glance, i do not want to see the traditional church disappear either (yet).