I found it very interesting and challenging...
the concept of the Willow Creek study is that we (churches) are still paying attention to the wrong things... with regard to 'growth' we still look at the numbers...
a couple years ago, WC determined that they were gonna stop that practice and try very hard to help individuals grow spiritually... along the way, they developed four 'tags' for people as they journey along the path...
1)Christ Seekers 2)Growing toward Christ 3)Closeness to Christ 4)Christ-centered
number 1, of course, is sort of the least mature sort... while number 4 is the most spiritually mature...
the idea is that everyone who attends church fits somewhere on this continuum...
The study endeavors to discover two primary things:
- where does each 'attender' fit
- which ministries tend to meet the needs of which type(s) of attender
additionally, the study purports to learn what the needs are for each type of attender...
So far, their research has revealed that the 'seeker' and those 'growing toward Christ' were - generally speaking - in NEED of being ministered to... while those who are 'close to Christ' and those who are 'Christ-centered' are in NEED of opportunities to minister to others...
Essentially, however, most churches have paid a LOT of attention to the first two groups with our ministries.... and scant little attention to those further along on the 'maturity continuum'... in other words, we are providing service to a large number of seekers and growers while many more mature Christians are unfed.
I believe this to be a worthwhile exercise... so I challenge all of us to try to understand these concepts as they relate to our congregations...
and please let me know your thoughts!
God Bless!
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