Willow World

Okay, back to the story at hand. As my seminary education was wrapping up, I was also trying to get the Weekday Church off the ground, but starting a lunchtime church in San Francisco’s financial district was not proving to be easy. So when Pastor John decided to inspire the troops by taking a few key leaders to a conference, I jumped at the chance.

The seeker-sensitive church movement may have started in Southern California, but its crowning glory was Willow Creek Community Church in the suburbs of Chicago. Led by an energetic pastor named Bill Hybels, Willow Creek started out in a rented movie theater, grew to a weekly attendance of over 15,000, and built a beautiful 90-acre campus in the town of South Barrington.

Eventually, Willow Creek began hosting conferences to share the secrets of their success, which brought our little band of BayMarin/Mt. Tam/Weekday Church leaders to Chicago. When we arrived at the church, it reminded me of an upscale office park, with carefully-manicured landscape and modern buildings. The vast parking lot was staffed by numerous attendants in orange vests, and as we entering the main building with 4,000 other conference attendees felt like walking into a basketball game or rock concert.

Once inside, I was even more impressed by Willow Creek’s spacious auditorium, jumbo video screens, and massive worship band, and floor-to-ceiling windows that showed off a beautiful panorama that included a tree-lined lake.

Despite (or perhaps because of) all the grandeur, Bill Hybels and the other conference speakers were quick to point out that they had never set out to build a megachurch, but rather a “biblically functioning community.” And the church’s skyrocketing growth followed as a natural consequence. This was not exactly a catchy phrase (“Visit Willow Creek: We function biblically!”), but it was good to know that our churches didn’t need a beautiful campus, parking attendants, or charismatic speakers to grow. We just had to straighten out a few functions here and there.

We also heard a lot about “spiritual gifts.” Willow Creekers emphasized that all believers are endowed by God with one or more special abilities that equip them to assume an indispensable role in the church. These abilities are listed in the New Testament and include teaching, leadership, encouragement, and evangelism.

Willow Creek had even developed a special questionnaire that could be used to identify one’s spiritual gifts. This instrument contained yes/no questions like “I regularly try to persuade others to my point of view” and “I have spoken in a language that is unfamiliar to me.” I had to answer “no” to both of those, as pushiness and speaking in tongues are not my spiritual gifts. And I felt sure that anyone who could speak in tongues would be able to figure out their gift without resorting to a questionnaire.

Still, the exercise was enlightening, as I learned that I had been endowed with “shepherding” and the rather vague gift of “helps.” Neither of these sounded particularly helpful to a potential church planter, but there was always the biblical functioning stuff.