Willow Creek Community Church

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Willow Creek Community Church is a large American interdenominational church located in the suburb of South Barrington, Illinois, near Chicago, Illinois. It was founded on October 12, 1975 by Bill Hybels, who is currently the Senior Pastor. The church has three weekend services with approximately 17,000-20,000 attendees.

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[edit] History

Willow Creek Community Church started when Bill Hybels and Dave Holmbo[[1]] were inspired by the success of the South Park Church’s youth ministry, of which they were both leaders (Dave had invited BIll to work with him a few years earlier), and aspired to start a church that used relevant biblical teaching, music, and drama. On October 12, 1975, the church met for the first time, renting Willow Creek Theater in Palatine, Illinois. In 1977, the church purchased 90 acres in South Barrington to build its own building. The first service was held in the new building in February of 1981. Since then, the building has been doubled in size and the property expanded to 155 acres. There are now nearly 100 ministries that are designed to serve a variety of needs for different age and people groups.[1]

[edit] Beliefs

Willow Creek Community Church states that its mission is to, “Turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ”. The church bases its belief on the Bible, asserting it to be inspired by God, infallible, and the final authority on matters which it covers. Based on its understanding of the Bible, the church then draws the following conclusions:

  • There is one God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — each possessing all the attributes of Deity.
  • Humans were created by God to have fellowship with him, but due to their rejection of God, they need His saving grace, which must be received personally by repentance and faith, in order to end the separation from Him.
  • Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth and then voluntarily paid for the sin of humans with His death on the cross. This offers salvation for those who trust in Jesus. He rose from the dead and is the mediator between us and God. Christ will return to earth to consummate history.
  • The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ and equips believers for personal growth and service to the church.
  • The church's role is to glorify God and serve those in need.
  • At the end, everyone will experience bodily resurrection and the judgment. Those forgiven through Christ will enjoy eternal fellowship with God.

[edit] Church organization

Willow Creek Community Church's leadership is divided into four sections:

  • Teaching Pastors
  • Board of Elders
  • Board of Directors
  • Leadership Team

Willow Creek has several “regional congregations” around the Chicagoland area:

  • McHenry County
  • North Shore
  • DuPage County
  • Downtown Chicago

The slogan for Willow Creek and their regional congregations is “One Church. Multiple Locations”. The regional congregations each have their own worship team, student ministry, children’s program, and campus pastoral team. The main message is videocast from the South Barrington campus for the weekly services.

In addition to the Chicagoland congregations, beginning October 1, 2006, the church has held one Sunday service before matinee performances at the Auditorium Theatre just south of the Chicago Loop. The church will also use its downtown presence to develop its ministries for the homeless and prostitutes.[2]

[edit] Willow Creek Association

In 1992, the Willow Creek Association was created as a way to link together churches for the purpose of, “Reaching increasing numbers of lost people". The WCA develops training and leadership conferences and resources for its member churches. The Willow Creek Association is often confused with Willow Creek Community Church, or mistaken for a denomination, however it is a distinctly separate organization which has close affiliations with Willow Creek Community Church. There are more than 11,000 member churches, which come from 90 denominations, and 45 different countries. There is an annual membership fee of $249 which gives the member church access to discounts on Willow Creek Resources and conferences, as well as a magazine, an audio journal, several web-based ministry tools, and a variety of Select Service Providers. Select Service Providers are ministries and organizations that provide products and services to member churches for a discounted price. Examples include:

  • InterVarsity Press
  • Johnson/Anderson Printing
  • Pura Vida Coffee
  • Resource Services Inc
  • Zondervan

To be a member of WCA or attend WCA conferences it is a requirement that the member church, ministry, or leader hold to a, “historic, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity.”

Willow Creek Association Leadership Summit.
Enlarge
Willow Creek Association Leadership Summit.

Since 1996, Willow Creek Association has held an annual Leadership Summit. Speakers at the Leadership Summit included President Bill Clinton[3], Karen Hughes, who is the Special Advisor to President George W. Bush, Lady Vols' women's college Basketball coach Pat Summitt, Dallas, Texas pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes, University of Southern California president Steven Sample, Yahoo!'s Tim Sanders, business author and leadership consultant Marcus Buckingham, and Rick Warren, pastor and author of The Purpose Driven Life. The 2005 Leadership Summit had over 53,000 attendees in over 100 locations across North America.[4] The 2006 Leadership Summit featured Bill Hybels interviewing U2 frontman Bono.

[edit] Criticisms of Willow Creek and the megachurch movement

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See also: Megachurch

Some have criticized Willow Creek for the focus on seeker-sensitivity and emphasis on church growth.[citation needed] Those who criticize this aspect of Willow Creek and other megachurches assert that this puts more focus on catering to a person’s possibly self-centered wants rather than their true need for Jesus Christ. Others criticize the church saying that it focuses on extravagant, entertainment-based services and neglects biblically-sound expository preaching and exegetical teaching.

[edit] Criticisms of Willow Creek's Christmas Service Policy

In December 2005, Willow Creek garnered attention by not holding services on Christmas Day, since it fell on a Sunday, that year - this followed their long held tradition not holding a Christmas service on Christmas day. Instead, the church, as in years past, held eight "Christmas" services at their South Barrington campus from Tuesday the 20th through Saturday the 24th despite the centuries-old Christian tradition of marking the Nativity of Christ on December 25th. (With the services held at the Regional campuses, Willow Creek held seventeen "Christmas" services before Christmas.)

Critics not familar with Willow Creek's Christmas service tradition interpreted this as an indication of the megachurches' emphasis towards cultural elements of religion rather than worship.[citation needed] Some have inferred that closing the church on Christmas Day assigns gift-giving and other secular Christmas traditions more importance than traditions of community worship. Furthermore, for the majority of Christians world-wide, the 12-day season of Christmas does not begin until sundown on December 24th and is preceded by the season of Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.

Proponents of this change have stated that this allows people to go to a service earlier in the week and then spend time with family on Christmas Day. It also has been noted that it takes hundreds of Willow Creek staff and even more volunteers to run the services that are normally scheduled for Christmas Day, and this allows for them to not have to come in to voluntarily serve on Christmas, and instead spend time with family.

It should be noted that the Church itself did not consider themselves part of this specific argument because there was no change in their policy.

[edit] See also

[edit] References and external links

  1. ^ History - Willow Creek Community Church.
  2. ^ Brachear, Manya A.. "Suburban megachurch readies expansion to Chicago", Chicago Tribune, 2006-07-31. Retrieved on 2006-07-31.
  3. ^ Cutrer, Corrie. "Clinton Visit Provokes Church Members", Christianity Today, 2000-08-25.
  4. ^ Leadership conference overview.
  • Telephone conversation between Cally Parkinson of Willow Creek Community Church's Communications department, telephone (224) 512-1004 and avnative, September 14, 2004.

[edit] Willow Creek websites

[edit] Perspectives and analysis

[edit] External links To Critiques

[edit] Books about Willow Creek Community Church

  • Hybels, Bill and Lynne. Rediscovering Church: The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997. ISBN 0-310-21927-2
  • Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. ISBN 0-310-24823-X
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