New Light
TimeWatch Editorial
March 30, 2016
Just today I was taking a look at an editorial written by Andy Nash in the Adventist Review December 18, 1997. The Editorial was entitled: “On-Willow Creek.” In January of this year I had quoted from that article in the TimeWatch Ministries Editorial dated January 13, 2016. The actual quote that I used was this:
“Adventists, both pastors and laypeople, consistently make up one of the largest groups at Willow Creek's half-dozen annual seminars-including church leadership conferences in May and October and a leadership summit in August.” Andy Nash, “ On-Willow Creek,” The Adventist Review, December 18, 1997
It was a partial quote, used to explain why there has been a definite shift away from the fundamental pillars of Adventism to a more watered down, “seeker sensitive” approach to ministry. What I did not at that time explore was the motivation of the article itself by Mr. Nash. Immediately following the above quote he says the following.
“The three latest Adventist churches to divide or depart—Oregon's Sunnyside, Maryland's Damascus, and Colorado's Christ Advent Fellowship—were clearly influenced by Willow Creek's ministry hallmarks (small groups, spiritual gifts discovery, friendship evangelism, contemporary worship), if not its congregational status.” Andy Nash, “On-Willow Creek,” The Adventist Review, December 18, 1997
Now those two quotes were taken from paragraphs three and four of the article. One would imagine that his driving opinion would be that perhaps the fraternization with this institution was filled with more of the negative than the positive. That however was not the case. Three paragraphs later, he says the following:
“Yet I'm grateful for Willow Creek. It was there that my former academy church, Forest Lake, got intentional about worship; that Adventist friends and relatives recognized their natural abilities—from drama to maintenance—as natural ministries; that hundreds of Adventists, young and old, became passionate about reaching the lost. Adventists should give Willow Creek a fair shake. As a people often prejudged, we should avoid prejudging others. Some of the strongest, most biting comments about Willow Creek come from those who have never visited. To these people I say: Voice your opinion, but make sure it's educated. If God is, in fact, using Willow Creek, deeming it "not of God" is dangerous (see Acts 5:38, 39).” Andy Nash, “On-Willow Creek,” The Adventist Review, December 18, 1997
In this man’s mind therefore, willow Creek has been sent to be the savior of the Remnant Church. Mr. Nash says that he is disappointed at the way some of our churches have been influenced to give up our distinctive beliefs. He says he is saddened by the way some have taken the word “Adventist” out of printed materials and from the pulpit. He says he wishes that those who have separated themselves from the world body of Adventists had not done so.
Perhaps if Mr. Nash had spent a little more time studying the story of Balaam’s counsel to Balaak; had he spent a little time investigating the Salamanca Vision of the prophet, he would have arrived at an entirely different conclusion. Fortunately for Willow Creek, Bill Hybels the founder of that movement is far wiser than Mr. Nash is. Mr. Hybels constantly evaluated the methods he had put in place. He was not satisfied with just an increase in numbers in the seats. He evaluated the quality of the spiritual education that was taking place each day and in the year 2007 Bill Hybels was honest enough to give the results of that evaluation.
“Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study's findings are in a new book titled "Reveal: Where Are You?" co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings "ground breaking," "earth shaking" and "mind blowing." And no wonder: It seems that the "experts" were wrong.
The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:
"Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop 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." by Bob Burney, posted Tuesday, November 06, 2007, A shocking confession from Willow Creek Community Church leaders
I have been looking, but have not seen any response to this from Mr. Nash or for that matter any other of the “seeker sensitive” pastors who have been trained in these methods. Review and Herald has published the report, but apparently, these men no longer even respond to new light, except of course it comes from without.
Cameron A. Bowen
