Growth at what Cost

Mega-church Willow Creek Discovers Seeker-Friendly Church Model Fails toMake Disciples

Chicago-based Willow Creek Community Church, deemed to be the largest church in America at one time, undertook a three-year landmark research project to determine if their methodology of appealing to the unchurched via a contemporary seeker-friendly model of church ministry was effective.
Their results? Startling. Long-held assumptions crumbled. Their findings revealed that their strategy was successful at putting people in pews, but failed miserably at making disciples of Jesus Christ.

To put it in the words of one leader, "their discipleship was ten miles wide, but one inch deep."

'Senior pastor Bill Hybels, in an amazing admission, said:
"Some of the stuff we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn't helping people that much. Other things that we didn't put that much money into and didn't put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for." -Pastor Bill Hybels, Willow Creek Community Church

It's a wake up call to the mega-church, seeker sensitive churches of America and around the world.

In Masiha Church as we seek to grow
May we be seeker sensible, not seeker sensitive - may we be radical disciples of Jesus