Our church has patterned our ministries after both Willow Creek and Saddleback Churches over the past 15 years. I have seen both sides of this... lots of emphasis on developing folks to becoming fully devoted followers of Christ, every member a minister, everybody matters to God, etc. And then, I have seen a proprietorship type of control that strongly emphasized and depended on 1-3 leaders having total control of the church with a strong disregard of input from the local congregation, deacons, advisers, etc. We are presently at a time that is requiring us to reinvestigate our priorities, leadership principles, shortcomings in the past, etc. The problem with the latter is that if/when the lead pastor decides to leave for a new field of service, it leaves the congregation unprepared to pick up the reins of responsibility so that a new leadership and direction might be successfully realized. I am interested in hearing more of the pros and cons of this article. THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT.

A very brave report indeed from this writer; I believe the nay-sayers have either never been Pastors or they've invested far too much on the "Seeker-sensitive church"seminars and books sold around the globe. (plus it was hard enough convincing the Elders board to let the program run).
We've ministered in SE Asia much of our lives where the national churches just drink up everything that comes out of our beloved America. As a missionary I just would like to say thanks Brother Bob for writing this. Maybe add the need for humbling prayer and repentance with it, cause our machinery can operate with or without His highest intentions.
Pastor D. Nedd
worldrevival.magnify.net

I found this article interesting, but it is a bit slanted against seeker churches. It comes across as if the writer has an agenda to promote, rather than a balanced review to report. I look forward to reading Willow Creek's actual report so I may make my own judgment about what they say.
Let's remember that Willow Creek's major contribution to churches is a renewed emphasis on evangelism. It should come as no surprise that the spiritual formation side of making disciples is weaker. Throughout Christian history churches have tended to focus either on evangelism or formation, and maintaining good balance between the two has always been difficult.
Willow Creek has done a fine job of seeking to fully develop followers of Jesus Christ. I applaud their willingness to evaluate the facts and explore ways to improve their ministry. If all churches would have the courage to do the same, perhaps a large number might be growing instead of plateaued and declining.

I think that the author of the article is right on. I have been in the ministry for only seven years, but I have said this since day one. We need to worry about numbers, but the numbers that we need to worry about is the number of disciples that we are making. There is more to being a Christian than coming to church. It is a transformation that takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is encouraging to see that they realized and admit that they were wrong.

I was shocked by "A Shocking Confession from Willow Creek". It smells of sensationalistic journalism, another criticism of a church trying to do church the way followers did it in the beginning. Countless churches and denominations struggle with the discipleship of their congregation. Every pastor or church leader could say they could have done a better job developing the new Christian or follower. Willow's mission has been successfully accomplished for over thirty years. Saying they could have done a better job seems more an act of courage and enlightment than a "confession". I was extremely dissappointed by the take of this author, and that Crosswalk actually published it.

This article was enlightening. It shows being "hip" or "relevant to today's lifestyle" keeps us from experiencing God on an intimate level! Having participated unknowingly in a "user-friendly" church plant for three years, we encountered similar opposition from the pastor who refused to submit even to Biblical authority. We were judged as legalistic because we urged him to use the Bible as the model for the church. The danger is that the lack of discipleship causes members who are already weak in their faith to boldly continue in their pre-salvation lifestyles. They proudly post pictures of their Saturday night bar-room antics on their myspace pages, before leading worship on Sunday! "What, then, shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? Certainly not! How can we who died to sin continue to live in it?" (Romans 6:1-2) One article several weeks ago stated "user-friendly" churches appeared to be embarrassed at the narrow paths true Christians must walk, but it is Christ's way!

We recently left a church that was so "seeker friendly", it forgot about everyone else in the church family. In fact, the Senior Pastor, stood in the pulpit one Sunday morning and told the congregation that he was so sure this was the way to go, that if the rest of us didn't think so, to just leave! So, about half of the congregation did. Of course this was the 1/2 that were discipled in previous years under different leadership and were maturing Christians who took their Bibles and tithes and went elswhere.

You can't put scripture on the big screen and expect people to take it with them. You must have a Bible in your hands in order to study it in and out of the worship center and to reference it when you're talking to people about Jesus.

You can't dilute alter calls. People need to make a public profession of faith. If they can't do that, there will be no committment and that's what Willow Creek found out.

After reading this article i was deeply concerned for the
Willow Creek Church. When did we change scripture to fit our way of doing God's work.
I have found something missing in some of the conferences that i have attended with Willow Creek. However one of the most amazing conferences i have ever attended was put on by the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The Holy Spirit was very much in evidence at the conference and the conference had an unique blend of praise, worship,and most important heartfelt prayers. Prayer is one of the kingdom keys that unlock heavenly places. Sweet communion with God.
It would do most of American pastors good if they would spend time alone, not searching for scriptures to feed the flock, but with God and listening for his voice.
Pathway to Prayer by Samuel Chadwick would be great reading for all pastors.

I once visited a so called seeker friendly church where the service lasted less than an hour and an "altar-call" was given by the too-hip-to-be-real pastor. He said something like. 'Maybe you've thought about asking Jesus into your life....if so, just kind of look up and catch my eye as I look around."

Naturally with so little at stake - the number of folks making a "commitment" were quite good. Of course I'm not so sure if that qualifies as making a commitment at all.

The question needs to be posed like this: Who in here has made a mess of their lives and is ready to publicly admit this and surrender it (in front of all these people) to Christ? Note I used the word "surrender" not "accept". Jesus is Lord whether I or anyone accept it or not. The question is do we bow our hearts and lives in surrender to Him as Lord? Not something I see in seeker friendly churces.

For the past 7-8 years I have attended a Willow started sister chirch. I have taken part in and listened to the staff promote small groups. And sadly many have "ears to hear" but do not, and "eyes to see" and do not. But, people can walk in & out of chirch, just as many did back in the 50’s
Pointing the finger and saying "I told you so" continues the denominationalism and the “we do it better than you” attitude that pervades many chirchs. It's as if the status quo was really something that could be maintained. Truth is the minute we imitate something we put our own spin on it. And after years of protestant Calvinism and trying to get the "fundamentals" we got the 1950's hypocrisy & double standard. Can someone tell me what a "New Testament Chirch" is (and don't quote Acts 2 there are 26 more chapters in that letter and 26 more letters)?
Many heard Jesus words and went away and followed no more. But I guess there were those who went home and thought about it and came back.
I look forward to the Willow report.

The spelling errors indicate I don't live in a place where these are items of open discussion.

We should not be quick to generalize about seeker sensitive churches. Some seeker sensitive churches are driven by doctrine and emphasize personal growth and bible study. The key is to do things reflectively and be unwilling to compromise on matters of substance while not being too attached to cultural traditions (style of music, seating, attire). There are many seeker sensitive churches that place priorities on scriptural teachings. When someone seeks forgiveness, builds relationships and witnesses for Christ while growing in knowledge in the faith, this is a positive thing. These are occurring at many seeker sensitive churches.

As a kid Spock the alien was smarter than the psychologist. As a member of an Evangelical church did a lot of the research and traveling to look at models like Willow...Some sounded good others like a retail environment.
I am So glad that the eyes of leadership are open to both sidesnow. The negative effects of Marketing the Gospel continue to damage the American Evangelical churches, it is now encumbent on current and future leaders to Teach and Live the Life of Christ's Disciple. It was tru first century ist is true 21st Century the walk of faith is Exactly That!,a Walk of Faith. Blame not the ill informed,but issue the call of Christ to all who will hear.
Teach, Baptize, Make Disciples. Thousands have been touched. Now it is time to make those into disciples