Willow Creek is a mega-church. No one can argue that they have influenced nearly every evangelical church in America with their business approach to ministry. To some, it’s probably a shock to hear Bill Hybels declare that their programs-based style of ministry was a mistake. To others, the declaration is no surprise – we’ve known that it’s been a long time coming.
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
This is true! Instead of bringing up parrots, churches ought to be teaching their members how to think for themselves and choose God themselves – not because there’s a really cool function happening down at the corner church.
What a relief that this mega-church is finally beginning to see that.
