If you do a blog search on Google blogs and input the words Reveal and Willow Creek you will see hundreds of blogs and comments about the book Reveal by Pastors at Willow Creek Church.
The results and uproar regarding this book are healthy and unhealthy.
Healthy is the reexamination of Church Paradigms. The recognition of shortcomings of seeker friendly churches. The transparency of and honesty with which the leadership of Willow Creek have approached this issue. I particularly appreciate Bill Hybels.
Unhealthy is the idea of trying to tweak Church to make it work in today's world. Unhealthy is the triumphalism attitude by many that says we always knew that seeker friendly thing was a hoax. Unhealthy is ignoring the real truth.
That truth is this. Most of the church in America is filled with very immature Christians. The mature solid Christians are leaving the church in droves. They are bored, frustrated, irritated and stifled. The church is running them off. One of the Reveal study results is that 25% of attendees at Willow Creek are "Self Feeders". They don't want to hear another sermon, they don't want another teaching, they don't want another program, they want to make an impact on and in the kingdom of God.
The ones who drop out of church are the biggest givers, hardest workers, most generous and best soul winners. They just are tired of not being used in their church. They are kept under the thumb of tradition and hierarchy.
1/4 of the attendees at Willow Creek are on the way out the door. That will leave the immature and impotent. This is true in nearly all churches.
I don't take joy in that but the reality is that is happening everywhere. I don't want to be a part of a church. I want to be part of something that has the impact to change the culture of death around me. I want to be involved in changing the world I confront every day by making a difference. I mentioned a few days ago that money is no longer supporting churches. I know the story of Lou Engle. He is a friend of Todd Beery's. 8 years ago a multimillionaire widow who wanted to make a difference came to him and funded much of his ministry. He has made a difference. She did NOT give her money to the church. She had given up on Church a long time ago. She wanted to make a difference with her money and no longer believed the Church mattered.
I have had a vision of a CHURCH that makes a difference in my area. I may have missed the point. Maybe God's intent is to starve out the Church and recreate it for those who want to be world changers. It may be that what we will have are maturing houses and then sending centers of the mature as the come of age and start eating real meat.
Too many churches prosper by keeping people infantile spiritually. Protecting their people from thing that might "frighten" them.
That in particular means spirituals. Charismata. It's too scary to most pastors to think their people might get so tapped into God that they might be challenged.
I wish Pastor Hybels well in his efforts to restore his church to the first things first. I hope he doesn't get trapped in the same old paradigm.
It may be that in 10 years what we think of as Church will be history. I guess I hope it will be so. I'm an older man. I love the Church. But my paradigm is old school.
God is saying, I'm about to do a new thing, and if he calls it new, it will be new to YOU. So if you see anything that looks like it did before, it may not be GOD.
I fear that much of the church of Jesus on the earth is taking the REVEAL study as license to go BACK to what used to be. I don't believe that is true. Going BACK isn't going to work. God wants out to fulfill his promise from Joel 2 and Acts 2. Restoration, Holy Ghost life.
If that means the Church as we know it in tradition has to wither up and die, so be it. We must have God and people grown up in him. The church is over unless.......... and I don't know if there even is an unless.
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