I've been receiving numerous emails from people asking me what my take is on the recent news of "Bill Hybels repenting" of his seeker sensitive methodology. The talk of repentance by the founder of the Willow Creek church comes from a recent conference in which he was quoted as saying: "spiritual growth doesn't happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage". Of course, that's true, and that's why so many of us have been chanting "give us Bibles not Hybels!" for years. But the question now is - what are we to make of these latest Willow words? Are we really seeing a change of mind from the Prince of Plexiglas Pulpits? Or is this just another left turn leading even further away from biblical Christianity?
I wish I could give a more positive assessment to the remarks by Bill Hybels but I'm more apt to agree with Phil Johnson's reaction:
...It's just a slick announcement about Willow Creek's latest program. So am I the only one who finds it both ironic and disturbing that when the framers of ministry philosophy at Willow Creek finally are faced with the desiccated fruits of their program-driven approach to ministry, their instant response is to announce a new program? Really, I would love to sound more positive and affirming about Hybels' "wake up call." But critics of Willow Creek have been pointing out for years that the seeker-sensitive ministry philosophy severely stunts Christian growth. Even worse, Willow Creek's methodology seems to multiply the number of almost-converts who dabble in spiritual matters until they are no longer amused, and then fall away without ever coming to authentic faith in Christ.Hybels has blown off all those criticisms for years. He only reluctantly and partially accepts them now because he can't very well wave aside his own staff's opinion-poll data.
You can see what you think by listening to Bill Hybels in this video, which unfortunately sounds closer to a stand-up comedy routine than the remorse of a wearer of sack cloth and ashes.
If you've read Old Truth for a while, you know that I attended a church that modeled itself after Bill Hybels' approach. We live about 90 minutes away, and my former church regularly received training and materials from Willow Creek. It is from years of my own observations from within that church system that I can agree with the assessment of Hybels himself, as he pointed to the problem diagrammed on the white board in the video. It's the same dilemma that my former pastor used to seem haunted by at times; it's the problem of whether they are addressing the "fully devoted followers of Christ", or whether they are even seeing such devotion as the fruit of their system.
Therein lies the achilles heel of the whole Seeker Sensitive system. Hybels didn't come right out and admit it in terms like these, but the lesson is clear: These churches are great at attracting crowds, but after unchurched Harry has been going there for a year, then what? That next step is where the problems are so apparent, that even the biased Willow Creek staff was able to identify them.
The problem for Hybels' system is that only the Holy Spirit can make true believers. Yet it's clear when we hear Hybels say things like this that he thinks man can create belief: "If they'll sustain that kind of all out effort, they're going to break through all the barriers keeping them from belief". He may be finding out now though, that there are some barriers that can NOT easily be overcome, even by innovative church systems, and a particularly hard nut to crack is how to turn seekers into the kind of believers that are so fully devoted that they are willing to suffer and endure persecution and trials for the sake of Christ. Even when a church like Willow Creek does play a part in creating a true believer, the convert ends up recognizing that the very church that was used by God to save them, now has very little to offer them. Many end up leaving, and their place in the pew (fold down theater chair) is filled by a new seeker.
In the video, Bill Hybels speaks of one fix to the problems that he sees in his church system, as being the need to teach advanced believers to "feed themselves" and not look so much to the church to feed them. No doubt believers should do that, but is it really wrong to expect meaty teaching from our churches? According to the recent tirade of megachurch pastor Steven Furtick, the answer to that is 'Yes'. And yet the disciples in the Acts 2 church devoted themselves to "the Apostle's teaching". When we read biblical letters to churches such as the book of Romans, it gives us an idea of what was considered to be "the Apostle's teaching"; many today would call Romans "too heady" even though it was written to church goers (not theologians). We know enough about Willow Creek to realize that this kind of meat is not on the menu there, despite Hybels' claims to the contrary in the video.
We often hear that "small groups" are the answer to advanced bible training and discipleship, but that has proven to be false for the most part. Another post here on Old Truth demonstrated how these small groups tend to be a "pooling of ignorance" with an emphasis on "sharing your feelings". Fellowship and "prayer and share" have value, but the question still remains - where is the meaty bible teaching, especially in an environment where anyone's opinion is supposed to be as valid as everyone else's?
So then, what does Bill Hybels admission of the flaws in his system really mean? All I can do is guess at this point. We know that Rick Warren is thought of by many as having improved upon Hybels' ideas; Warren overshadowed Bill Hybels to some degree. Now perhaps we are seeing Warren being overshadowed by the bolder next generation seeker churches like Newspring, Granger, Ed Young Jr., and LifeChurch.tv. Maybe the Emerging Church movement is set to overshadow all of them. We don't know at this point, but suffice it to say, Hybels' methodology is getting old now.
For Bill Hybels to remain on top as a leader in modern evangelicalism, an innovative change is needed. Maybe it will be some postmodern blending of the seeker paradigm with the Emerging Church. Perhaps we will see new cooperation between Hybels and some like Brian McLaren or others in the mystical side of Emergent. If I were a betting man however, I would bet the farm that what we will NOT see, is a Hybels return to the ageless bible-based Christianity of the Reformers, Puritans, and Victorian age Christians in which doctrine and truth were highly valued. I hope and pray that I'm wrong.
...It's just a slick announcement about Willow Creek's latest program. So am I the only one who finds it both ironic and disturbing that when the framers of ministry philosophy at Willow Creek finally are faced with the desiccated fruits of their program-driven approach to ministry, their instant response is to announce a new program? Really, I would love to sound more positive and affirming about Hybels' "wake up call." But critics of Willow Creek have been pointing out for years that the seeker-sensitive ministry philosophy severely stunts Christian growth. Even worse, Willow Creek's methodology seems to multiply the number of almost-converts who dabble in spiritual matters until they are no longer amused, and then fall away without ever coming to authentic faith in Christ.Hybels has blown off all those criticisms for years. He only reluctantly and partially accepts them now because he can't very well wave aside his own staff's opinion-poll data.
You can see what you think by listening to Bill Hybels in this video, which unfortunately sounds closer to a stand-up comedy routine than the remorse of a wearer of sack cloth and ashes.
If you've read Old Truth for a while, you know that I attended a church that modeled itself after Bill Hybels' approach. We live about 90 minutes away, and my former church regularly received training and materials from Willow Creek. It is from years of my own observations from within that church system that I can agree with the assessment of Hybels himself, as he pointed to the problem diagrammed on the white board in the video. It's the same dilemma that my former pastor used to seem haunted by at times; it's the problem of whether they are addressing the "fully devoted followers of Christ", or whether they are even seeing such devotion as the fruit of their system.
Therein lies the achilles heel of the whole Seeker Sensitive system. Hybels didn't come right out and admit it in terms like these, but the lesson is clear: These churches are great at attracting crowds, but after unchurched Harry has been going there for a year, then what? That next step is where the problems are so apparent, that even the biased Willow Creek staff was able to identify them.
The problem for Hybels' system is that only the Holy Spirit can make true believers. Yet it's clear when we hear Hybels say things like this that he thinks man can create belief: "If they'll sustain that kind of all out effort, they're going to break through all the barriers keeping them from belief". He may be finding out now though, that there are some barriers that can NOT easily be overcome, even by innovative church systems, and a particularly hard nut to crack is how to turn seekers into the kind of believers that are so fully devoted that they are willing to suffer and endure persecution and trials for the sake of Christ. Even when a church like Willow Creek does play a part in creating a true believer, the convert ends up recognizing that the very church that was used by God to save them, now has very little to offer them. Many end up leaving, and their place in the pew (fold down theater chair) is filled by a new seeker.
In the video, Bill Hybels speaks of one fix to the problems that he sees in his church system, as being the need to teach advanced believers to "feed themselves" and not look so much to the church to feed them. No doubt believers should do that, but is it really wrong to expect meaty teaching from our churches? According to the recent tirade of megachurch pastor Steven Furtick, the answer to that is 'Yes'. And yet the disciples in the Acts 2 church devoted themselves to "the Apostle's teaching". When we read biblical letters to churches such as the book of Romans, it gives us an idea of what was considered to be "the Apostle's teaching"; many today would call Romans "too heady" even though it was written to church goers (not theologians). We know enough about Willow Creek to realize that this kind of meat is not on the menu there, despite Hybels' claims to the contrary in the video.
We often hear that "small groups" are the answer to advanced bible training and discipleship, but that has proven to be false for the most part. Another post here on Old Truth demonstrated how these small groups tend to be a "pooling of ignorance" with an emphasis on "sharing your feelings". Fellowship and "prayer and share" have value, but the question still remains - where is the meaty bible teaching, especially in an environment where anyone's opinion is supposed to be as valid as everyone else's?
So then, what does Bill Hybels admission of the flaws in his system really mean? All I can do is guess at this point. We know that Rick Warren is thought of by many as having improved upon Hybels' ideas; Warren overshadowed Bill Hybels to some degree. Now perhaps we are seeing Warren being overshadowed by the bolder next generation seeker churches like Newspring, Granger, Ed Young Jr., and LifeChurch.tv. Maybe the Emerging Church movement is set to overshadow all of them. We don't know at this point, but suffice it to say, Hybels' methodology is getting old now.
For Bill Hybels to remain on top as a leader in modern evangelicalism, an innovative change is needed. Maybe it will be some postmodern blending of the seeker paradigm with the Emerging Church. Perhaps we will see new cooperation between Hybels and some like Brian McLaren or others in the mystical side of Emergent. If I were a betting man however, I would bet the farm that what we will NOT see, is a Hybels return to the ageless bible-based Christianity of the Reformers, Puritans, and Victorian age Christians in which doctrine and truth were highly valued. I hope and pray that I'm wrong.
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