The money quote from Hybels:
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.
4 comments:
At least they've honestly recognized the systemic problems in their ministry and appear to want to do something about it.
I for one pray that they decide to pay close attention to the scriptures as they "reinvent" the way they do ministry.
Absolutely. I can't help but admire their willingness to be honest and say all this publicly. I also can't help but remember that around 1998 Danny Akin published a critique of Willow Creek in which he warned of this and several weaknesses and his criticisms were not well received by Hybels.
Finally, I have to wonder if anyone's ministry would stand up under this same rigorous intensive study. Might the conclusion be that hardly anyone is succeeding in producing "self-feeders," regardless of their methodology. I can say that is my goal, but I can't say with certainty that I am succeeding on a wide scale.
Dr. York,
Great find and presentation. I agree with your assessment of ministry standing up the the rigorous intensive self study of Willow Creek. I am presently trying to get our church to examine ourselves. It is not easy. I remember placing the baptismal trends before them in a graph and the negative responses I received from that.
But, my hat is off to Brother Hybels as he leads Willow Creek in this process. It will be interesting to see how they correct this situation. Could be a "Unchurched Harry is attending church but is still Unchurched", book in the future. :>)
Blessings,
Tim
Great find. I am blown away by this. I agree and have thought for years that this would occur but I also humbly admit that I cannot say for sure that I am doing much better though that is the desire of my heart. It really gave me a wake up call.
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