Willow Creek Study Says Church Programs Don’t Work

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Chuck Warnock

The ground has just shifted under the evangelical world.  Willow Creek, that combination mega-church and mini-denomination, has just discovered that church programs don’t work.  Here’s their conclusion –

…increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities [church programs] does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ.

It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more. 

[thanks to Out of Ur.  Watch the entire 13-minute segment with Greg Hawkins here, and Bill Hybels comments here.] 

Here’s the backstory:  Greg Hawkins, exec pastor at Willow Creek, surveyed Willow Creek members to determine the effectiveness of WC’s programs — small groups, worship, service groups, etc.   Participants had four choices to describe their spiritual lives:

  1. Exploring — not yet Christians, but interested.
  2. Growing — new Christians and growing in faith.
  3. Close to Christ.
  4. Centered in Christ.

The survey results produced what Bill Hybels calls “the wake up call of my adult life” –

Survey Says:  After a person left Stages 1 & 2, church programs did not help them love God or love people more.  And, to make matters worse, people in Stages 3 & 4 said they wanted to “be fed.”  Some even left Willow Creek altogether. 

Conclusion:  Church programs are helpful initially for new and growing Christians, but as people mature in their faith church programs are inadequate and ineffective.  (Watch the videos and look at Willow Creek’s new REVEAL website for their next move.) 

My Take:  People are looking for God.  After a seeker learns the basics of the Christian faith and makes a commitment to Christ, they want to experience God, not just learn about God. 

The survey indicated that people continued to grow, not through programs, but through the practice of spiritual disciplines — Bible reading, prayer, and other expressions of personal commitment.

Small churches have a real opportunity here.  We don’t have or need the “millions” that WC says they have spent on programs.  We don’t see people who come to our church as “customers.”  For those of us in small churches, newcomers have names and faces.  They’re our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and relatives.  They know we have found a community of faith we love.  They come looking for the same thing.  And in that atmosphere, where real people have real experiences, we all encounter God together. 

That’s our strength.  Hopefully we don’t need a survey to remind us. 

Filed under: Congregation, Journey, Missional Church | Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

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10 Responses to “Willow Creek Study Says Church Programs Don’t Work”

  1. jasondeuman, on October 24th, 2007 at 4:32 pm Said:

    good conclusion on this article.

  2. wickle, on October 24th, 2007 at 7:11 pm Said:

    Ummm … wow, it’s too bad that the Gospels and epistles don’t have anything to say about faith and works. Maybe they could have saved all of those millions.

  3. Interesting times « Fides Quaerens Intellectum, Credo Ut Intellegam, on October 26th, 2007 at 6:22 am Said:

    [...] Peter’s blog referred to a post on Chuck Warnock’s blog “Confessions Of A Small Church Pastor” about something “shocking” (with all [...]

  4. Willow Creek Reveal Frenzy « Billy Chia, on October 26th, 2007 at 6:06 pm Said:

    [...] Willow Creek Study Says Church Programs Don’t Work « Confessions of A Small-Church Pastor [...]

  5. 6 Shifts in the Church and How Your Church Can Benefit « Confessions of A Small-Church Pastor, on November 6th, 2007 at 8:06 am Said:

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  6. matthewiwall, on November 11th, 2007 at 11:07 am Said:

    Hey Chuck, this is amazing stuff. I would love to see the rest of this survey. Where can I find it?

  7. Chuck Warnock, on November 12th, 2007 at 11:43 am Said:

    Hi, Matthew, thanks for your comment. If you go to the link for Reveal in my post, it will take you to http://www.Revealnow.com site where you can see the direction WC is going. I think you have to buy the book to see all the survey results. You might email Willow Creek and ask that question. Thanks. — Chuck

  8. Willow Creek’s Dilemma « Confessions of A Small-Church Pastor, on December 5th, 2007 at 11:06 am Said:

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  9. anglobaptist, on December 15th, 2007 at 10:24 pm Said:

    I read the Alban Institute article…and was completely impressed. Thanks for this little review. I, too, pastor a small Baptist church and see the same strengths. My fear is that the congregation has drunk a little too much of the Willow kool-ade. Keep us in your prayers.

  10. anglobaptist, on December 20th, 2007 at 8:25 pm Said:

    Chuck,

    I’ve been thinking of this a lot lately. Many churches struggle with the dynamic of creating/nurturing disciples. Even St. Paul wrestled with this. I am beginning to think that there has to be a constant awareness of the various stages people are in…and that Christian maturity is not a four-step process with clear marks of moving between steps. It is gradual, circuitous transformation.

    Willow and all of us could learn from Christian “practices” and step away from programs. Programs may bring some people in, but no church has succeeded in making Christians with programs. We can make one mean social club, though! Yahoo! ;-)

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