It appears that it has discovered that having a nice, professional entertaining service is not of itself conducive to growth of discipleship.
There is a really fine line between culturally sensitive and so "nice" that you lose sight of the central message of the gospel.
This isn't just about evangelical churches either. In Australia Pentecostal churches, led by Hillsong, have moved furthest along the track of worship as entertainment.
I'm a fan of contemporary worship styles- there is nothing particularly sacred about music written before 1900 as opposed to music written after 2000- and I'm all for arts in worship. Anything that gets the message into people's hearts.
The problem is that all of this has to be supported by focused discipleship such as cell groups where we work at helping people to grow in their faith.
Here is the introduction to the article from Christianity Today, with a link to the full article:
Willow Creek's 'Huge Shift'
Influential mega-church moves away from seeker-sensitive services.
Matt Branaugh | posted 5/15/2008 08:30AM
After modelling a seeker-sensitive approach to church growth for three decades, Willow Creek Community Church now plans to gear its weekend services toward mature believers seeking to grow in their faith.
The change comes on the heels of an ongoing four-year research effort first made public late last summer in Reveal: Where Are You?, a book coauthored by executive pastor Greg Hawkins. Hawkins said during an annual student ministries conference in April that Willow Creek would also replace its midweek services with classes on theology and the Bible.
Whether more changes are in store for the suburban Chicago mega-church isn't clear. Hawkins declined CT's interview request, and senior pastor Bill Hybels was unavailable for comment.
Since 1975, Willow Creek has avoided conventional church approaches, using its Sunday services to reach the unchurched through polished music, multimedia, and sermons referencing popular culture and other familiar themes. The church's leadership believed the approach would attract people searching for answers, bring them into a relationship with Christ, and then capitalise on their contagious fervour to evangelise others.
But the analysis in Reveal, which surveyed congregants at Willow Creek and six other churches, suggested that evangelistic impact was greater from those who self-reported as "close to Christ" or "Christ-centred" than from new church attendees. In addition, a quarter of the "close to Christ" and "Christ-centred" crowd described themselves as spiritually "stalled" or "dissatisfied" with the role of the church in their spiritual growth. Even more alarming to Willow Creek: About a quarter of the "stalled" segment and 63 percent of the "dissatisfied" segment contemplated leaving the church.
Full Article
We can praise God with all types of music! I love the old hymns, but Sonic Flood singing, "Did you feel the mountains tremble" just makes me tremble!!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite would be "He Reigns" It's the song of the redeemedRising from the African plain;It's the song of the forgivenDrowning out the Amazon rain.The song of Asian believersFilled with God's holy fire;It's every tribe, every tongue, every nation,A love-song born of a grateful choir.It's all God's children singingGlory, glory,Hallelujah! He reigns! He reigns!It's all God's children singingGlory, glory,Hallelujah! He reigns! He reigns!Let it rise above the four winds,Caught up in the heavenly sound;Let praises echo From the towers of cathedralsTo the faithful gathered underground.Of all the songs sung From the dawn of creation,Some were meant to persist;Of all the bells rung From a thousand steeples,None rings truer than this.It's all God's children singingGlory, glory,Hallelujah! He reigns! He reigns!It's all God's children singingGlory, glory,Hallelujah! He reigns! He reigns!And all the powers of darknessTremble at what they've just heard;Cause all the powers of darknessCan't drown out a single word.It's all God's children singingGlory, glory,Hallelujah! He reigns! He reigns!It's all God's children singingGlory, glory,Hallelujah! He reigns! He reigns!And if I thought it was worth the bother I would probably put a link to a file that would play automatically when this page opens- but that would be irritating!Of the old hymns O For a Thousand Tongues and Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah (but only in a big crowd of men possibly because I always imagine the Welsh miners walking home across the fields singing this at the height of the Welsh Revival). GMOTGJ used to be sung quite magnificently at rugby internationals by the Welsh fans.
ReplyDeleteI love that song too!! My son and I used to sing it in the car on our way to work.
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