Willow Creek Repents

Given the fact that we are exploring the Morgenthaller's claims in Worship Evangelism, I was struck by the news out of Willow Creek that they are reevaluating how they do ministry to seekers. In a response to this article, Greg Hawkins points out that the issues they have discovered are not limited to Willow Creek nor has Willow Creek given up its evangelistic focus on the unchurched. Instead they are simply (actually not so simply) reevaluating what needs to be done to truly move people into a committed relationship with Jesus Christ.

Un-Christian?

The Barna Group has a new study out that delves into the attitudes of "outsiders" (those who not define themselves as Christians) and Christians between the ages of 16-29. None of the results were too surprising to me and they echo the themes in "They Like Jesus but Not the Church" (and I will post the article I wrote for my personal blog later), but one of the most surprising things they discovered was that even Christian youth and young adults agree with the "outsiders" that the biggest problem with Christians is that we act un-Christian!

I hope you will take a few moments to read through the article and then help us think through what it means as a Christian church to reach out to people who do not trust us even when they are open to our message.