"I Know…Let’s Blame Willow Creek…" tagged: , , , ,

"I Know…Let’s Blame Willow Creek…"

Posted by in Baptist Life

A pair of recent Baptist Press articles on an ad hoc gathering of 15 Southern Baptist vocational evangelists betrays a mindset that, in my opinion, has become all too common as of late in Southern Baptist life. To be fair, there is much in the articles, especially the one entitled Evangelists reflect on culture, integrity, that manifests a sincere, humble attempt on the part of those attending the event to honestly evaluate themselves and their ministries, and make practical suggestions for improvement.

However, BP writer Michael Chute, reporting on the Jan. 7-8 meeting in Jackson, Tennessee, in the article Evangelists lament Calvinism, SBC trends, makes the following observations:

“The evangelists also attributed a Bill Hybels-style of seeker-friendly evangelism as a contributing factor to fewer evangelism opportunities in churches.

“When the pastor preaches on Sunday morning in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and tennis shoes, do you think he’s going to bring in this fire-breathing evangelist who wears a tie and black suit and have him stand up there and tell people that they are going to hell?” Michael Gott of Keller, Texas, asked rhetorically.

“Do you think he’s going to change that whole user-friendly approach to have somebody like you or me tell people that they must recognize there’s something wrong, and what’s wrong must be changed, and the only one to change it is Jesus Christ.

“They’re going to try to woo them step by step, overextending friendship evangelism, to the point that confrontational evangelism is not part of the package.”

Gott said the Hybels concept so prevails in Southern Baptist life that it’s the trend, and there is no part for an evangelist to play in Southern Baptist life.”

Come on, guys. Are you implying that the fault of declining baptisms and lackluster commitment to evangelism in our churches can be traced back to Willow Creek? You’ve got to be kidding me. Whatever else you might have to say about him, Bill Hybels is a man whose proven passion for winning lost souls to Christ is beyond question. If anything, my guess is we would be in much worse shape evangelistically, both in the SBC, and evangelical life in general, if it were not for the visionary ministry and example of people like Bill Hybels.

I do not claim to be an expert of all things “Willow Creek.” Undoubtedly, in some aspects, they do a few things a bit differently than I might choose to do them in my own church. But, when it comes to evangelism, I personally have been greatly blessed and challenged by several things that have come out of Willow Creek.

From a missiological perspective, the whole idea that we need to shape our evangelistic methodology from the point of view of the “seeker,” in order to minimize extraneous cultural barriers that might get in the way of an honest hearing and accurate understanding of the message, is both revolutionary and self-authenticating.

The Willow Creek course on evangelism, Becoming a Contagious Christian, is one of the best practical tools I know of for equipping your congregation to use the unique gifts God has given each one in order to win the lost.

The book Seeker Small Groups, by Willow Creek evangelism director Garry Poole, is a fantastic resource for anyone truly interested in reaching lost souls for Christ. I literally could not hold back my tears of joy as I read the riveting testimonies of person after person who have used this method of evangelism, and seen totally unchurched “pagan” friends respond positively and embrace Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

A few months ago, there was a big “to do” in the blogosphere related to the recent Reveal study sponsored by Willow Creek that indicated their ministry methodology was not doing as good of a job as they hoped at bringing believers to maturity in Christ. Although there were a few exceptions, a good many of the articles written sounded like a pack of hyenas licking their chops to expose the flaws of everything “seeker-sensitive” and “Willow Creek” and hang them out to dry.

My main purpose in writing this post is not to promote or defend Willow Creek. No one is perfect. And we all have our areas of weakness in which we have room for improvement. But I would love to see a similar study done on the churches of those who wrote gloatingly about the Willow Creek study. Would they (or we) stack up any better than Willow Creek at bringing believers to maturity? At least, they are concerned and attempting to do something about it.

But, as I said, this post is not primarily about Willow Creek. Others (here, here, and here) have already posted their responses to related comments in the same article about Calvinism and John Piper. Rather than delving into matters that have already been covered by others, I will limit myself here to say that I see this, in good part, as just one more example of a larger trend: the demonization of all those who are not exactly like us, and who don’t do things exactly like we have always done them.

There is no telling just how many blogposts have been written, articles published, sermons preached, and conversations held decrying the “nefarious” ministry approaches and methodologies of…

  • Rick Warren and all things Purpose-Driven…
  • The Emerging Church, Brian McLaren…
  • Acts 29 network, Mark Driscoll…
  • Charismatics, TBN, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen…
  • The Camel method, Contemporary worship styles, Multiculturalism…
  • Etc., etc., etc.

Undoubtedly, some of these individuals, and the ministries and movements they represent, are more problematic than others. Please do not mistake what I am saying here as a carte blanche endorsement of everyone and everything in this list. There is definitely a time and a place to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). The point I am making is the following:

When faced with our own shortcomings, and languishing results in our efforts to fulfill the Great Commission, the default reaction, in far too many cases, has been to look for somewhere else to lay the blame.

The Bible clearly teaches us we should be “all things to all men so that by all possible means [we] might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). In an attempt to be faithful to the teaching of this passage, some have no doubt gotten a bit more “out there” than others. While not minimizing the need to use sound biblical discernment, however, I sincerely question whether our fixation on the supposed defects of others really belies something else: our own sense of inadequacy and frustration for diminishing ministry results, and corresponding jealousy over their comparative success.

Instead of throwing stones at others, I think we are much better off looking first at the “beam in our own eye.” In the evangelists’ meeting, it looks like some of both were done. My hope is that all of us, in our comments and attitudes, will be slower to criticize others, and quicker to search our own hearts and evaluate our own methods by the light of Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.