Looking for a Church

Last weekend, we continued our church search by attending Willow Creek’s Chicago satellite campus. It was basically an opposite experience from the first church we attended since moving to Chicago, which was the prior week, when we went to a non-denominational congregation of less than 100 meeting in a small rented space. Since I had a leadership role in a small start-up church (Pinecrest, beginning 2001), I was quite familiar with the whole scene. What I was encouraged by, and what I saw as probably the greatest strength of this church, was that it had a preacher that believed in the Word of God. He wasn’t preaching to many people, his church had very few programs or structures in place, and his music ministry (which is typically viewed as the most important factor by visitors, especially in a young, small church) had a long way to go, but one could clearly see that he was relying on no other power than that of the Holy Spirit working through the Holy Word. He wasn’t a particularly impressive man, and I actually found his voice kind of annoying (maybe it was just the thick Chicago accent). But, because he simply preached the Word, none of that really mattered. His preaching was expository – not that biblical, Spirit-filled preaching always has to be expository, but it’s much easier to bend Scripture to fit one’s own agenda when preaching topically. But his preaching was expository, and it was convicting, instructive, encouraging and hopeful.

Willow Creek’s city section was in a very nice, big, ornate auditorium in downtown Chicago. The music was very polished and the musicians seemed to all be at the professional or semi-professional level. They had great A/V equipment and the service went off perfectly. Yet, the preaching, which was piped in from Willow’s main campus in Barrington, was extremely topical, and Heidi and I both came away feeling that the Scripture supported the message, not the other way around. Not that the talk wasn’t good – it was helpful and fairly encouraging. It was meant to deal with the tough question of “If there is a god, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?” And the preacher seemed to do a pretty good job in a half hour with such a difficult subject. But it seemed like more of a seminar than a sermon. I came away feeling a little better about having some resolution to that question, but I didn’t come away any closer to God or more like Him as a result of being changed by His Word. There was a lot of talk of God’s goodness, love, grace and mercy, but no discussion of the believer’s responsibility and no conviction of sin. The preacher used Scripture to support his points, but they were passages taken out of context.

The willow/saddleback/seeker sensitive topic is one that has been widely discussed, documented and debated. I continue to believe that the way you evangelize and grow the church is by building into believers, equipping them to be the points of ministry throughout the community. I believe this is the model laid out in the Bible. As opposed to making the service the product by which seeking consumers are drawn into the kingdom. But can’t we be seeker sensitive with our services while also having strong biblical teaching and close fellowship, all under the overarching and primary purpose of glorifying God through corporate worship? Yes, absolutely; that’s what I believe we should do. But that’s vastly different than creating a seeker-targeted product on Sunday mornings.