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The History of Willow Creek Community Church
Recent Trends in American Religiosity
The Conversion - Commitment Process Model
First Approach: Steps One and Two
Strictness and the Success of Religious Enterprises
This thesis is due, in great part, to the continual support, re-invigoration, and love by my family and friends. I would also like to thank Mr. Jeffrey K. Hadden for his time consuming help in the formulation of theories about Willow Creek, his sponsorship of the paper on his website, and encouragement of me to do my best. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge Mr. Dan Johnson for taking the time to read the work and to offer suggestions.
I also owe a great debt to Kimon Sargeant, author of Faith and Fulfillment (1996), and Gregory Pritchard, who wrote Willow Creek Seeker Services: Evaluating a New Way to do Church (1995), whose detailed descriptions of Willow Creek gave me quite a broad jumping off place from which to create this work.
Wanted: Upper middle class married white male, age 35-51, in search of adventure and personal fulfillment. Must be interested in having a good time, fellowship with others of similar background, and self- discovery. Non-churchgoers preferred. Reward: happiness on earth and life eternal.
With a current annual budget of eleven million dollars, one- hundred and forty- one acres of property, a roster of over two- thousand members, and frequently host to over fifteen thousand weekend guests, Willow Creek Community Church is affecting thousands of lives in the Northwestern Chicago suburbs. More importantly, it is a trendsetter on the Evangelical landscape, already influencing churches across the world. In creating a new tool for conversion, (the weekly Seeker Service,) pushing out the limits of what theological message is considered acceptable within the bounds of religious respectability, and using aspects of modern secular society in its mission, Willow Creek is experimenting with a new way to "do church."
Millions of souls in the Chicago metropolitan area are being targeted for redemption, but not with hell fire, brimstone, or any other traditional methods of conversion. Instead, the Evangelical Christian leaders at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, are betting that modern sound and stage equipment, a secular auditorium, and sermons targeted to Baby Boomers will eventually foster traditional beliefs about Jesus Christ in unchurched suburbanites. Offering parking attendants, recreation, professionally styled drama, and a plethora of special interest services and groups, Willow Creek Community Church, an interdenominational Evangelical Protestant church, is specifically designed for the manufacture of converts.
Willow Creek does not look or sound like a traditional Fundamentalist church, which often involves uncomfortable pews, long prayer, pleas to fill the collection plates, and tearful invitations to save your soul. Quite the opposite of these stereotypes, a typical service is a fast paced production designed to entertain and cajole without making anyone the least bit uncomfortable about being in a church or hearing the Word of God. And it has been amazingly successful.
While mainline Protestant denominations, such as the Presbyterians, have been in a membership free-fall in the past twenty years, losing hold of both the Baby Boom generation and their children, Willow Creek is seemingly immune to these trends. Now a front-runner in the drive to convert non-believers using innovative methods, the church holds conferences all over the world to share its strategies, and boasts over five hundred Baptisms a year (www. willowcreek.org/ faq/evangelism_query.html 10/08/97).
What perhaps cuts most against the grain is their unconventional strategy toward conversion and commitment. Gaining converts who will be hastened along to the maximum level of commitment is not part of their game plan. Instead, the option of members to choose whether to participate, over a long period of time, is built right into their strategy. Targeted to a Baby Boomer market which contains discriminating consumers, Willow Creek's strategy seems to be to offer the best product available- by incorporating entertaining contemporary media, modern psychological tenets, and no commitment or life change until members are completely at ease and eager for it.
Yet Willow Creek may have compromised too much to a consumer friendly, secular culture in this process. Willow Creek seems, at first glance, to fly in the face of classic sociological literature about conversion and commitment methods. Twenty years ago, sociological models for the fortunes of religious enterprises began to be grounded in analysis of the demands they made on participants. Dean Kelley's controversial work, Why Conservative Churches are Growing (1972), published just a few years before Willow Creek was founded, might portend its demise, based on its thesis that strictness of a faith, (the behavior changes it requires,) is correlated with success.
Kelley's research was based on a calibration of denominational strictness, and various measures of attendant success. "Strong religions" included such things as "the refusal to recognize the validity of other churches' teachings, ordinations, and sacraments," "unsociable behavior" (such as the refusal of some religious adherents to receive blood transfusions) (26), and strong group solidarity (58).
Kelly states that strict religions do not indulge violations or let their faith be "treated as though it made no difference" (121). In a word, he theorizes that in religion, "the stricter the stronger" (92). Witness the rapid growth of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Mormons, Pentecostals and Jehovah's Witnesses, all of which encourage strict behavioral norms of their members.
Because Willow Creek makes few demands on its participants, and affirms many aspects of secular culture rather then criticizing them, it might be expected that their methods will not lead to serious commitment. If Kelly's theory is correct, and the church cannot encourage spiritual metamorphosis and strong involvement with an undemanding dogma, what can be made of their great numbers?
Willow Creek is clearly providing a different model. New Religious Movement literature may provide better tools with which to analyze the church's slow progression to conversion and commitment. For example, Lofland and Skonovd (1981) and Downton (1981) both show how small religious movements used a slow, evolutionary process of conversion to enmesh members into their organizations. These New Religious Movement models show that potential converts are active participants in, and seekers of, their own conversions.
Rational choice models of religious behavior fit in which this scheme. Stark and Bainbridge's (1996) offer a different conceptual approach than the idea of quick conversion and full immersion into a particular religious organization. They write that a gradual affiliation, or group membership, based on rational choices by people for gain, may be a better concept than the nonscientific one of conversion. Stark and Bainbridge (1996) argued that conversion is an unscientific concept, and can be replaced effectively by the more quantitative term affiliation (196). This distinction may be particularly important in describing the processes of Willow Creek.
Thus, there are three related strands of theory which we may weave together to describe the Willow Creek phenomenon. The first is that strong religions are better able to motivate the sacrifices necessary for long term adherence, yet Willow Creek allows much leniency in its early stages. The second is that conversion may be a slow process after all, not the lightning strike usually associated with Evangelical revivals. Lastly, the concept of affiliation may better capture the subtle rational choices members make on their way to deeper belief and involvement within the church.
A comparison of Willow Creek's methods to proven forms of religious conversion and commitment attainment will show that Willow Creek is taking a risk in saving its strictness for the end of its membership process, and may have compromised two much to the secular world. But it will also be shown that its methods can work to inspire long term affiliation, especially if they can utilize small groups to encourage accountability of members.
Because it is fairly early in the Willow Creek movement to measure its success in strict numerical terms, sociological theory will be used to analyze the circumstances under which the traditional ideas of conversion and commitment occur, whether Willow Creek provides these, and whether a new model which incorporates slow processes to affiliation might be more useful.
As shown above, Willow Creek is not the typical evangelical church. The church's conversion and commitment techniques are seemingly opposed to traditional, conservative schools of Evangelical thought, which call for exhortation, behavioral controls and one moment of divine, or "Pauline" conversion. The Willow Creek model instead assumes that Seekers, "those investigating spiritual truths in its community," (www.willowcreek.org/index.html, 10/08/96) or what other churches define as those who have not attended a local church in the past six months (New Life Church of Christ website, www.newlifedc.org/seekers.html, 10/16/96) need more coddling before they will commit. Especially in need of enticement are the Baby Boomers.
Born into post- war affluence and optimism from 1945 to 1965, the seventy-eight million Americans of the Boomer generation have ridden the consecutive waves of upheaval, disenchantment, and materialism. Willow Creek was shaped around the premise that baby Boomers need a special kind of church. By packaging messages, (such as sermons entitled "Win the Rat Race Without Becoming a Rat"), and services pertinent to the lives of the population it wants to reach, and asking for literally nothing in return from its participants, it hopes to be able to create true believers who will, in time, give back to the church.
Is it possible to say that Willow Creek may attach members to itself without creating deep change of heart, perhaps doomed to lose followers to future eye-catching churches? In support of these ideas, two studies have observed that very high proportions of Willow Creek's audience are already believing Christians just switching from other congregations. The data supports the thesis that the church may not be effective at drawing people through a deeper commitment process. Pritchard estimates that less than 15% of attenders are true "seekers" investigating the Christian faith (1995, 268). Further, he notes that the rest of the audience may be "superficially churched" at best, attending Willow Creek only once or twice a month (1995, 268). He notes that only a small percent travel through the initiation process, become volunteers (1995, 621) and tithe (1995, 269). Assuming the validity of these figures, then Willow Creek could be merely a "half-way house" for less than dedicated Christians from other denominations, who come to enjoy the show (Sargeant, 1996).
Willow Creek emphatically states that its mission is to "turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ" (www.willowcreek.org/monthly...n_core_values/ ten_core_values.html, 10/08/96), which even Bill Hybels, the founder and head pastor of the church, admits is a challenging goal (168). Can the church do what it says it will? It may be years before an accurate assessment of the number of converts Willow Creek has yielded can be made. In the meantime, the success of the church in attracting both the curious and the believing is clear, and constitutes enough reason for sociological examination.
What is innovative about Willow Creek is "the application of marketing and management methods and ideas to Christianity," (Pritchard, 1994, 797). Marketing techniques have been used by Christian leaders for at least the past two centuries (see Moore 1994, and Frankl, 1987). Evangelical preachers have long used sophisticated marketing practices to draw people in and entice conversion. An important difference is that these techniques were used to make listeners see their sin and repent. Most preachers exhorted their followers to reject their worldly behaviors such as dancing and drinking , and to draw closer to God.
While the unique and extensive use of marketing techniques has clearly placed Willow Creek under scrutiny, what is even more unique sociologically is that their approach to motivating people to become involved differs so radically from conventional methodology. Mirroring secular business practices as marketing to a "felt need" (such as relationship guidance), and the rationality of belief, Willow Creek confounds this traditional separation of the worldly and the profane. Instead of calling followers to an outright rejection of the world's temptations, Willow Creek exploits the world in order to create believers. (Sargeant, 1996).
The importance of this content change in "doing church" is magnified because, though Willow Creek is certainly not the only innovative church in America, it is one of the few which has a movement to disseminate its methods. The Willow Creek Association, established in 1992, connects over 1400 churches around the world in their mission to convert the "unchurched" in a seeker- friendly environment. In its number, it is approximately equal to the size of the Presbyterian Church of America (Sargeant, 1996; 106). It is not really a denomination. Many of the associated churches are also members of established denominations. But observers are already comparing the Willow Creek Association to a denomination. It provides guidance, an array of services, and "standardization" program and printed materials packaged in the Seeker service format (Sargeant 1994, 62).
Clearly the Willow Creek Community Church has moved Christianity a step closer to the secular world. Now, with its Association, it is pulling parts of the evangelical world by its coattails. Evangelicals currently represent 18% of the U.S. population. Historically, they have been self-consciously insulated from secular culture, creating their own colleges, publications, and music (Sargeant, 1996: 126). The mixing of popular into ministry at Willow Creek is almost certain to have a decisive impact. Not all evangelical traditions will follow the methodology of Willow Creek, but almost certainly, other evangelical leaders will be "challenged to accommodate modernity in the ways that Willow Creek has" (Sargeant, 1994, 66).
A media darling because of its numerical success, the church has also received its share of criticism. It should not be surprising that some conservative evangelical Christians have been less charitable (Pritchard, 1995). Though Christianity Today, a leading evangelical periodical, recently named three Willow Creek staff members as some of the most outstanding people in the field (November 11, 1996), others have criticized the use of secular culture, the lack of Biblical emphasis, the development of a "God in man's image'', and the targeting of only one population-- white suburban Baby Boomers (see MacArthur, 1993, and Seel, 1993).
Data about Willow Creek used in the current research comes from two primary sources; Kimon Sargeant's Faith and Fulfillment (1996) and Gregory Pritchard's Willow Creek Seeker Services (1995). Sargeant, focuses his work on Willow Creek and the Willow Creek Association, specifically, the way they are "transforming their presentation of Christianity" (1996, 27). He surveyed 600 WCA pastors around the country who are following the Seeker church model, and performed content analysis of a year of sermons. Pritchard, who researched Willow Creek on site for several years while serving as a volunteer coordinator. He performed content analysis of a year's worth of weekend sermons from the Seeker service, and six months of New Believer sermons, along with various other Willow Creek training courses. Lastly, he used several studies which had been performed by Willow Creek about its own membership.
What follows is a survey of both the standard and innovative practices that the Willow Creek model utilizes, and an analysis of why they might be useful for conversion of non-believers, but potentially not in the making of committed church members. A brief history of the church, a review of recent trends in mainline Protestant religions, and the theory that surrounds these, are necessary preludes to the current analysis
.
Thus far, Willow Creek Community Church has primarily been referred to as an actor in its own right, seemingly with anthropomorphic motivations and tactics. But the heart of the story is really that of one man, Bill Hybels, and his vision to build a new sort of church. A dynamic leader, Hybels was just twenty three years old when he felt called by God to create a new ministry, which would evangelize non-believers as well as preach to the faithful. His dedication to this mission is obvious and explicit in his book, The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church (1995), and has led him to more than twenty years of Willow Creek pastorate. To talk about Willow Creek's values and practices, then, one must emphasize the man behind it.
Hybels got his start in the evangelism business when he and Dave Holmbo ran a service in the early 1970s which sought to convert teenagers by incorporating aspects of modern culture. "Son City," as it was called, used drama, down to earth preaching, and raucous music to attract young people to Christianity. Lynne Hybels, writes that they "dreamed of a place where the Word of God would be communicated in an irresistibly compelling way" (50). The group did attract hundreds of youth, but Bill Hybels knew that real world impact could only be achieved by reaching entire families (Hybels, 1995, 50)..
His vision was to build a fully functioning "Acts 2, Bride of Christ Church," (163). Hybels states that within months, "every other goal I had considered seemed to pale in comparison to the thought of establishing the kingdom of heaven here on earth" (48). His wife and others conducted a "market survey," (which was really just going door to door in nearby neighborhoods selling tomatoes to raise money, and asking questions). They found that people who were not going to church believed it to be "irrelevant, boring, and predictable," along with "guilt inducing to newcomers" (92). This activity bolstered Hybels' dream to build a church which would be as non-threatening and culturally pertinent as possible.
Willow Creek Community Church was founded on October 14, 1975. In his book, Hybels remembers the early days when attendance in the Palatine Willow Creek movie- theater they rented was small: "our survival as a church depended on drawing new people in quickly" (64). This led to a variety of promotional events, such as "big Easters," and women's luncheons. Even early on, Willow Creek had much of the foundation for its later structure- "vertical" and "horizontal Christianity" (better relations with God and with other people), the idea of friends bringing friends to the service, and the great use of the arts. In the first two years, over half of their weekly offering (a total of about three- hundred dollars) was used on media costs.
By 1976, the burgeoning church had grown to the point that it needed to find its own building. The South Barrington spot was chosen because of its central location; there are 2 million people within a twenty mile radius.
The church went through many growing pains in the late Seventies, due to lack of funds and resignations. Early on, there were also problems with the lack of Biblical content in Hybels' sermons. He reflects that in the early years people just heard "I can cheat a little here... God will forgive me" (87). Starting in 1980, Hybels vowed to teach more about the sin and Christianity, and less about emotional healing. (Hybels states that they finally "shed their image as a black sheep" by 1983 (101)). Other major developments included the establishment of the small group ministry which assimilates newcomers and develops leaders, in 1980, the opening of the main 4,500 seat auditorium in 1985, a new focus on Baby- Busters called "AXIS," the development of a Network program, to discover members' spiritual gifts, and the Willow Creek Association.
Currently, Willow Creek efforts to woo Boomers include four "seeker" services each weekend and two "Believer" services midweek. The seeker services are not worship services, for they are aimed at a population who does not believe, and thus do not worship and accept Jesus in the traditional sense. Hybels' discovery of the "felt needs" of baby boomers, means that the messages of Willow creek reflect a nurturing, forgiving God who will help with life on earth, and that programming reflects the needs of busy lives-day care, recreation, and fellowship in an isolated suburb.
It further means that Willow Creek's staff found liturgical decision making on the whims of the marketplace. In doing so, doctrine is not handed down from any denominational or theological authority. Religious programmers simply analyze what the consumer needs and likes (for instance Hybels tells staff to copy the styles of secular movies (Pritchard, 1995, 65), and attempt to give it to him, in the form of nonthreatening, useful, sermon, music, and environment.
Willow Creek's attendance hit a "non-holiday weekend" high in 1992 with 17, 010 visitors. Currently, there are over 15,000 visitors each weekend at one of its four weekend services. The Willow Creek Association continues to grow, and includes churches in Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, and the Dominican Republic (142). Willow Creek itself has been studied by the Harvard Business School (Lewis, 1996) as an example of packaging a message to a desired audience. Hybels states that media coverage of his church as merely a business franchise is inaccurate and that he hopes only "to encourage church leaders to go through the agonizing but exhilarating experience of determining God's 'thumbprint' for their particular enterprise" (147). Over twenty years later, Willow Creek's thumbprint is still targeting the lost, variety as an inducement to religious excitement, and soft selled rationality as the basis for religious conversion.
Willow Creek is not one of a kind, as plenty of other modern churches have used innovation to attract visitors and to grow to huge sizes. Saddleback Valley Community Church, in Orange County, California, (www.saddleback.com) has used advertising, modern worship, and an application oriented focus to draw crowds of 9,000 (Sargeant, 1996, 13). Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral, in Garden Grove, California, (www.anaheimoc.org/CrystalC.html) and Houston's Second Baptist (at 22,000 members) rival Willow Creek numerically (17). Elmer Towns (1990) has surveyed the most innovative churches in America and found that many also do what Willow Creek does, including "exalting Christ and not denouncing sin" (60), self help small groups (77), and training members how to "soul win" (106). Sargeant writes that what these churches have in common is a focus on methodology, and are not joined in a common theology, and that "megachurches," those with more than two thousand congregants, will be increasingly important, just as large conglomerates are in the secular world (1996, 19).
Willow Creek is the focus of this particular analysis because it was the first church in the country to develop specifically to be a seeker church, because it is important both in size and influence, and because its methods and rationale are well- documented. The question remains as to why any of these churches are willing to go out of their way to draw crowds. Sargeant theorizes that they do it to face the crisis of secularization (1996, 37).
Many have characterized contemporary American religion as being in a state of crisis (Reeves, 1996; Wuthnow, 1997). What is the character of this perceived crisis? Gallup and Castelli (1989) report that people do not believe in or practice their religion much differently than they did half a century ago. Still, some faith traditions have clearly lost while others have gained adherents. Recent statistics show some Protestant denominations, including the Presbyterians and United Methodists are experiencing significant decline in membership and monetary giving in recent decades. On the other hand, more conservative faiths traditions with strict requirement for membership, such as the Southern Baptists have been growing. Further, religion's trend toward disestablishment and lack of denominational boundaries may mean there is little that low-demand liberal faiths can do to hold onto members.
There is scholarly debate about the actual causes of mainstream decline. Some point to the "sudden" collapse of American religion in the Sixties (Marty 1979), perhaps due to the anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian feeling of the "self-conscious and disaffected" baby boomer generation (Roof, 1993, 79). Alternatively, Stark and Finke (1992) argue that this decline has actually been occurring for the past two centuries (246). They emphasize that it is the lack of doctrinal content, not any "seismic shift" of attitudes in the Sixties, which makes faiths fail (18).
Indeed, data such as Stark and Finke's seems to support Kelly's supposition that strong religions will thrive because they demand more of participants (Clark, 1994, Roof, 1993) . Pentecostal and conservative Protestant faiths have grown by over 300% and 200% since 1950 (Clark, 1994, 1037). It is also known that it is the liberal churches which have declined the most in the recent upheavals. Those that Roof and McKinney (1987) say emphasize "individualism and pluralism in belief and those most affirming to American culture (Reeves, 32) have especially lost members. Finke and Stark state that as faiths stopped valuing traditional doctrine and stopped asking for anything from people, they stopped growing (32). Calling American Christianity "innocuous," Reeves, in his book, The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Christianity (1996), supports Kelly's assertion that the mainline Protestant faiths in particular are known for "placidity, decorum, and tolerance, i.e. sterility" (Kelly, 1960: 154-55, 168-69).
But other theorists, most importantly, Bibby and Brinkerhoff (1983), report that the seeming growth of conservative faiths is due merely to the movement of a transitory population of members, the retainment of their children as they age, and "reaffiliates," not active conversion of people who have never believed. Yet, regardless, the important question is why do members return or stay with some churches when they leave and do not return to others? Sargeant notes that as the "symbolic boundaries" around the Bible continue to weaken, both mainline and conservative churches, will decline (1996, 70). (Later, the current research will delineate the sociological properties of religious and group organizations which can be used to predict success.)
What is known is that evangelicals today face a population for which denominational connection and loyalty is low (Roof, 1993, ). Sargeant writes that "religion has retreated to... the private realm" (1994, 17), and that even Seeker churches have less denominational loyalty (1994, 57). Further, it is important to note that American religion is increasingly pluralistic, as the triad of (mainline) Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths have lost their hegemony. Modernity's pluralism has shaped a "marketplace in which the church must operate" (1994, 15). As mentioned before, it is also true that members of the Baby Boom generation in particular participate in church in much fewer numbers, particularly in the mainline churches. Roof reports that sixty-seven percent of them left the church at some point, with forty-two percent still drop-outs, and a quarter returned (Sargeant, 25, 106).
Although historically, it was normal for young people to drop out of the church, often to return in later years, the boomers have returned less. Along with the widespread deinstitutionalization of recent decades, boomers have begun to embrace a more secular attitude, shrugging off "the gravitational pull toward the church" (Clark 1994). Hoge and Roozen (1979) state that the those thirty- nine and less years of age have been the greatest defectors of the church since 1960. Wade Clark Roof's intensive study of this generation's religious habits is documented in his aptly named book, A Generation of Seekers (1993), which surveyed 1,600 members of the boomer and "pre-boomer" generation about their religious practices. Boomers go to church less, and remain faithful, or even belong to a denomination less than the previous generation. Roof states that they bring a consumer mentality, "an increased acceptance of alternative morality," and a private belief system.
Part of the reason for this is that Boomers are the most educated generation in history, with twice as many students going on to college as their parents. Here, "new and more secular meanings" began to compete with old religious understandings of life (Roof, 1993, 53). Roof found that once a Boomer drops out of the faith of their childhood, "education fundamentally alters their chances of becoming religiously involved again" (1993, 167). Too, in the early Seventies, Americans were offered more and more choices of faiths in which to believe. New religious movements, along with faiths such as Buddhism and Pentecostalism, and popular movements such as Transcendental Meditation, all vied for attention. And pluralism has led to consumerism. With so many options to choose from, people are willing to explore various teachings in search of the right one for them. McKinney finds that Boomers seek religion that is experiential, personal, and relevant (1987, 23).
This consumerism could be a reflection of their "personal autonomy, (the acceptance of alternative, liberal morality and a lack of local community ties) on which they score significantly higher than pre-boomers (Hammond, 1987, 76). Almost a third of Roof's boomers affirmed the statement that "God is within us, so churches are not really necessary (Roof, 85). This anti-establishment feeling is reflected in one of Roof's respondents, who commented, "I'll take anybody's opinion and listen to it... just don't push it off on me" (Roof, 196). Spiritual awakening is thus mediated by choice, not the unquestioning adherence to dogma. The church is not seen as a given, but a provider of "spiritual fill-up" as necessary.
Johnson, Hoge and Luidens (1993) found that people often leave church simply because "religion had become low on their list of priorities; they did not feel in need of a fill up. Roof found that church becomes a priority to people again for a variety of life cycle reasons: wanting to raise their children with some religious background, their own mortality, the search for community, enjoyment, and most importantly, the desire for self- fulfillment (Roof, 1993, 151). People switch churches based on stylistic qualities of churches like better children's programs, more entertainment, and the commitment to reach seekers (Sargeant, 1996, 124).
And Evangelicals today know this, too. Lee Strobel wrote one of Willow Creek's most popular texts, Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary (1993), which portrays what the typical Seeker might feel. Lyle Schaller, and Leith Anderson, both evangelical pastors, have published books about the nature of American religious population today. Anderson, states that Boomers have low loyalty (81), high expectations (83), weaker relationships (86), more tolerance for diversity (87), and are more comfortable with change (89). Anderson, commenting on the market today commented, "People are more and more likely to choose churches on the basis of demographics and psychographics rather than geography" (34). He also cites increased mobility, the movement to non-denominational churches by charismatics, and consumerism as causes for denominational decline (46-47). Reeves, addressing the work of psychologist Paul C. Vitz, wrote that "Millions of Americans today feel free to buy as much of the full Christian faith as seems desirable. The cost is low and customer satisfaction seems guaranteed" (Reeves, 67).
Obviously, these generalizations cannot necessarily be applied to the seekers in Willow Creek's audience, but they do exemplify the types of issues Hybels and the other pastors face. Willow Creek leaders have developed a body of assumptions on which their practice is based. These include the idea that most unchurched are reluctant to accept all of a church's tenets quickly, that the unchurched have very voluntary faith and will make choices about what to believe and which programs to attend, that they look for churches to cater to their felt needs, that they need anonymity, variety and practical advice in order to even come to church, and that they need a rational basis for belief in Christ. Lastly, because boomers in America are less encumbered by other religious ties, they are prime for conversion efforts. While Son City targeted teenagers, Hybels knew that true impact could be achieved in mining this untapped resource of spirituality and Willow Creek's target market was born. The new church would be a servant of the people, not a dictator.
The current work seeks to identify how Willow Creek fits into the puzzle of Baby Boomer religiosity. Will their methods convert the curious into committed followers? Do the many already believing who attend the church merely represent Baby Boomers flitting from one privatized faith to another? How will Willow Creeks practices absorb and change the lives of potential converts? What are their practices?
The leaders of Willow Creek Community Church use a variety of techniques in their missionary pursuits, some new and some as old as the Nineteenth Century pitch tent revivals. The concept of "methodology" refers to practical, applied aspects of their ministry. While in the past, churches were chosen by their doctrine first, followed by name and denomination, today function, (or style and quality), form, and then doctrine are important (Towns, 194). Sargeant notes that consumers, like the Baby Boomers, are interested in the services, not the doctrinal content of the churches they decide to join (1994, 42). New denominations have responded by increasingly focusing on methodology rather than theology (Towns, 247).
The current work seeks to understand how the form of their ministry and programming, as opposed to one particular theological point or another, influences members to join. In pursuit of this goal, the following section will identify the historical precedents for Willow Creek's technical emphasis, and will, more importantly, highlight the programming Willow Creek uses to attract and convert the unchurched.
The specific methods and services to be analyzed are service provision, choice, team evangelism, the seeker service, use of contemporary culture, rationality, and a soft-selled message. Each will be delineated in preparation for an analysis of their utility in fostering conversion and an intense commitment. Willow Creek is clearly good at drawing people into the group, but it is not clear that they are as good at drawing people through a process of deepening commitment. To explore this issue, we will introduce the concept of affiliation. It may possibly provide a more powerful concept for analysis of religious group commitment than the concept of conversion.
First, though, a review of Willow Creek's historical predecessors will orient the Willow Creek church in time and space.
The Willow Creek methodology of attracting members can be a rather startling surprise to those used to thinking about revivals as a recruitment method. But Willow Creek did not spring out of nowhere. Indeed, many of the methods utilized by Willow Creek leaders have historical precedent nineteenth century revivalism. This is clearly evident in Razell Frankl's study of televangelism which is subtitled "the marketing of popular religion" (1987). As full reviews of Evangelical development can be found elsewhere, (see Frankl, 1987), a brief review will suffice to link Willow Creek's methodology to a rich evangelical tradition.
Hybels, who often defends his work through Biblical and historical precedent, has stated that even "innovation is not a new invention" (Sargeant, 1996, 82). Whether responding to an identified "crisis" in religion or not, evangelicals have in the past two centuries used plenty of invention to cast their net.
Hybels' dream may be slightly different than the evangelicals' that have come before him, but his methodology bears strong family resemblance. Citing predecessors such as Billy Sunday and Robert Schuller, Hybels indeed stands on the shoulders of giants.
What is the rationale for using "techniques" or a "methodology" in the conversion process at all? Radical in his day, the first proponent of this was Charles Finney. Emphasizing that "the physical, psychological, and physiological laws of nature were now so well known ... that it was clearly God's intent that men should make use of them to evangelize the world" (Finney, xi). Finney believed that people could choose or not choose faith. His goal was to employ pragmatic strategies that would encourage them to make a positive decision. His revivals themselves have been likened to theater, aimed at challenging American's "inattention to religion," (Finney, 140).
It was the quickest growing faiths in the Nineteenth century that were using the emerging media, like advertising, in their ministry (Moore, 213). The rational was simple: they "had the best product in the world and a potentially universal set of buyers (214). Finney underscored this marketing orientation in stressing the importance of knowing the audience when he stated that preachers should know everyone in the audience (198) and address them with practical, direct speech. Henry Ward Beechen, a famous preacher of the time, used his social credentials and knowledge of his followers to build an audience of the well to do (Moore, 53). Advertised, pitched, and distributed, religion was becoming a commodity (91).
Influences of Willow Creek's emphasis on variety in programming include Billy Sunday a leading evangelist at the beginning of this century. Sunday, a former major league baseball player, developed a preaching style that mixed entertaining vaudeville and Scripture to provoke religious excitement. Billy Graham, with his revivals for the lost, his message of individual redemption, and his large use of mass communication, has also inspired Willow Creek. Hybels states that he does the same thing as Graham did, in that they both train Christians to share their faith, and use easy to understand Scriptural passages (1995, 174).
The originator of the modern "Church Growth movement," part of which Willow Creek's philosophy derives, is Dr. Donald McGavran. McGavran wrote "that churches not only could grow but should grow (Sargeant, 1996, 99). Like Finney, who used the psychological techniques known in the day, McGavran asserted that social science principles could be employed to build ministries (Sargeant, 1996, 99). His emphasis on "certainty of belief," rather than just technical precision, allowed him the confidence to be very creative in his ministry, such as using twenty women dancers one Easter (Hafer, 5, 14). Seeker churches are a direct descendant of the movement.
Robert Schuller, of the Crystal Cathedral, is another modern inspiration to Bill Hybels as to the type of techniques which can be used to grow. He was conducting neighborhood surveys about worship interests back in 1955 (Pritchard, 1995, 50) and, like Finney and Sunday before him, understood and preached to the needs of his audience (56). Hybels read his books and went to his seminars and was thus part of Schuller's rise in the Church Growth movement (54). Pritchard says Schuller's importance was in that he "modified the method of how he communicated and he modified the content of what he communicated" (51), in his self- esteem focused sermons.
Schuller and Hybels' theology diverged, as Hybels wanted to focus somewhat more on Biblical teaching. Yet Hybels has, in fact, been able to take certain of the church growth techniques "all the way," because he is unencumbered by denominational ties like Schuller was (56). Now peers in the achieved congregation business, Hybels and Schuller both head towering ministries, and both have established parachurch organizations; Schuller's is the Churches United in Global Mission (CUGM).
The parachurch organizations, like the evangelical Young Life or Campus Crusade, that Hybels and his peers grew up with, helped to inspire the founding of the WCA. Brought together for a common cause, parachurches "have implanted a vision as to how Christian belief is best transmitted and expressed (Sargeant, 1996, 82). Sargeant writes that they "excel at targeting their particular ministries to very specific groups" (81). They also give able example of how to build coalitions across denominational lines.
In summary Willow Creek, while innovative, is one of many creative ministries. Leaders there follow in Evangelist footsteps of down to earth preaching, the use of media, variety, training Christians to preach, church growth philosophy, self-help philosophy, parachurches, and niche marketing. These examples have fostered Willow Creek's inspired use of programming.
As will be shown below, Willow Creek takes history a bit further by expanding on the basic ideas of targeting a market and using media in several important ways. They include the use of the congregation as a resource in ministry, the creation of the Willow Creek Association, the idea that Christianity is believable because it is practical, and the attempt to tailor services to consumer needs.
While the leaders at Willow Creek do not attempt to throw out everything that has worked for other faiths in the past, it is their thirst for continual change and improvement in services that sparks their notoriety and efficacy at bringing people into the church. The foundation of their technique is based on the idea that conversion, and later, commitment, can be reached by bringing potential members of the church through a series of steps, each entailing greater involvement. Hybels believes that this low to high process which gently sells Christianity to the audience, is necessary for today's Baby Boomers.
It is also important to remember that the techniques the church uses were not created from formulae. Lynne Hybels notes that "the unimpressive truth is that we just made the whole thing up as we went along" (1995, 53). Although Hybels followed in the footsteps of many mentors and organizations (i.e. Robert Schuller and Young Life), practical experience, not necessarily lots of forethought, has shaped Willow Creek. If a practice, such as rowdy rock music worked, they kept it. If it did not work, they took it out. As noted above, Hybels encourages churches to find their own creative paths to ministry, instead of merely applying a Willow Creek template.
The following sections will highlight some of the church's most innovative practices. By beginning with a clear idea of the consumer, catering to "felt needs," using a dynamic service, taking away dogmatic demands, and incorporating members into small groups, Willow Creek's process encourages potential converts to willingly choose what they have to offer. This choice is based on the practicality of faith, built around the church's attempts to demonstrate credibility. Willow Creek programming tries, in many ways, to show that Christianity is the rational choice for people looking for a better life. A look at the general themes of orientation to the market, service provision, choice and team evangelism will be followed by a step by step guide to the church's slow commitment process.
Orientation to Market
The most important aspect of Willow Creek's methodology of service provision is its general orientation to its audience. In message, architecture and presentation, from "stem to stern," Willow Creek caters to an upper middle class suburban population. The congregation reflects these efforts, as sixty percent are twenty-seven to forty-five years of age, married, and politically conservative, and about half have college degrees (Pritchard, 1995, 67-68).
And the church uses their knowledge of Seeker characteristics to their advantage. While Willow Creek's attempts to provide fulfillment will be addressed later, an obvious example of their modern innovations includes their Website, (http/:www.willowcreek.org) which churches of all stripes provide today too. Willow Creek's is particularly sophisticated, offering "quick- time" tours of its auditorium and sound clips of the music for sale. Their Website (www.willowcreek.org) is also a gateway into the WCA, with conference, membership, and career information. Thus , any business man or woman can probably access information about the church while in their office.
Another of Willow Creek's adaptation to market demands is its complete lack of religious symbolism. Upon arrival at Willow Creek, one notices legions of parking attendants or the building's striking resemblance to a local mall or large company. Hybels stated that "what we want him to do is just say, 'I was just at corporate headquarters for IBM in Atlanta Wednesday, and now I come to a church here and it's basically the same'" (Pritchard, 1995, 81). Housing no less than a food court, three gyms, a day care center, and numerous nooks and crannies for small group meetings, along with a huge auditorium and chapel, Willow Creek is set up to be a community gathering place.
In the worship spaces themselves, there is a lack of religious symbolism. In fact, the entire complex is designed to be "seeker friendly." The creators of Willow Creek found that overt religious symbolism is intimidating to the newcomer, so they removed it. It is an example of Willow Creek's desire to tailor its brand of faith to market it is trying to reach.
Service Provision
Service provision is another function, or form, technique which views congregants as consumers who have a need (of fellowship or healing, for example) which can be capitalized on by churches as a lure to commitment. Indeed, a study by found that sixty-three percent of religious conservatives and sixty- eight percent of moderates say that "participating in religious activities is 'something you do if you feel it meets your needs'" (Roof, 1993).
What exactly are the needs of this group? Surveys of Willow Creek find "direction in life, family and relationships" (Sargeant, 1994 28), along with "personal fulfillment, identity, companionship" and perhaps surprisingly, "a deep relationship with God" to be important (Pritchard, 1995, 70-72). (Remember that most of the attendees, even at the Seeker services, are believers already and are at church to deepen their faith). Pritchard wrote though, that "the primary motivation of unchurched Harry is his own personal fulfillment" (1994, 492, emphasis added).
To get the attention, then, of the unchurched, and to make religion higher on their list of priorities, Hybels feels as though he must provide them some of the things they need now, including entertainment and day care, in order to give them the deepening of belief in God they really need. Examples of this at Willow Creek are addiction recovery groups, Bible studies, recreation facilities, and specific materials, classes, and sermons on how to evangelize more effectively. (The Willow Creek Association is another level of the service provision mentality, in that it provides tools to fellow seeker churches, as will be discussed later).
Another important way to address felt needs is during the Seeker and New Community Sermons, which can give clear answers to people's issues. Sargeant writes that the seekers want "material they can apply directly to their lives" (Sargeant, 1994, 29). Hybels' sermons imply that Christianity will solve people's problems here on earth. In a sermon he gave in 1989 he said that Christianity "will not only fulfill you, but will lead to spiritual growth and relational warmth and emotional health and physical strength in your life. Anybody interested?" (Pritchard 141). This is how Hybels soft sells Christianity to consumers; by bringing out the best points first. Pritchard writes that in "Christianity 101," faith is portrayed as "the solution to felt needs with fulfillment as the result" (144).
Choice
The idea of volunteering also fits in here. If Willow Creek provides a large choice of services, then the consumers are free to choose which services they will use. Hybels underscores how important choice is to the unchurched seekers who come to visit (Pritchard, 1995 104 ). He states that "Harry wants to observe, and not to participate" (105), and no participation is expected of him (Sargeant, 1994, 32). Sargeant notes, "decision making is now an important part of the spiritual process" (1994, 34). Again, this is based on the assumption that people are rational actors, do not want to be told what to do by a hierarchy. (Later it will be shown how Hybels' message illustrates that Christianity is rational). In fact, Willow Creek uses the same management techniques as non-profits in order to motivate "volunteers" to participate in church ministries (Sargeant, 1994, 35). People are not preached at or overtly admonished for their unbelief.
Team Evangelism and Equipping
What Hybels notes as one of the most innovative things about Willow Creek is the idea of "team evangelism" (www.willowcrrek.org/wca_wil...tegic_trends/strategic_trends.html, 01/27/97), which actually has two underlying aspects: that social ties are important in creating believers, and that part of the church's job is to provide resources for the congregation in their own evangelical work. In the creation of Willow Creek, Hybels was attempting to reach any unchurched Baby Boomer, and his methods can do that. But more importantly, he created a specific methodologies to assist lay people to first, generate an interest in Christianity in the unchurched and to then draw them into the congregation.
The Willow Creek web site details four movements within Christianity which have led up to "team ministry". They include the church growth movement, the seeker movement, the contemporary worship movement, and the small group movement. Each of these has been a topic of scholarly interest (Wuthnow, 1993), and Willow Creek has been on the front lines of all of them, with "marketing, evangelism training, new praise music, and decentralized lay leadership of small groups" (www.willowcreek.org/wca_wil...tegic_trends/strategic_trends.html, 03/27/97).
But Hybels' end goal has always been how to build a "fully functioning Biblical Community." This means that it is lay persons, not just ministers preaching helpful sermons, or actors putting on dramatic sketches that should be doing most of the evangelical work.
The Seeker Service, and the enormous energy devoted to putting on an exciting demonstration of what Christianity is about, mostly assume, correctly or not, that the unchurched in the audience have come to visit with a believing Christian. During his New Community Believers services, Hybels preaches that he is providing the audience tools (such as the "Becoming a Contagious Christian" training course) with which to evangelize the unchurched people in their lives. Hybels and others have named this trend in Christianity "equipping" (Towns, 211). What one observer has dubbed a "pyramid sales scheme" (Lewis, 14), Hybels calls "relational evangelism," and states that it, rather than advertising gimmicks, is the basis of their audience draw (Hybels, 1995, 172).
This idea also incorporates using the congregation as a "resource base," within Willow Creek's "agency structure" which follows the marketplace (Sargeant, 1994, 61). At Willow Creek, this means that congregants are used to further the ministry, as the church molds its programming around both the needs of those who believe (and who are to evangelize), and those who have yet to believe. Willow Creek will provide the support services if members do the footwork. In this way, though, there has been a "shift in the locus of religious authority from the institution to the individual consumer" (Sargeant, 1994, 26). Team evangelism can not be underestimated as a source of the ministry's power. In the attempt to use hundreds of believers to preach to thousands of potential affiliates, Willow Creek might be able to achieve enormous numbers of congregants, in a self- sustaining ministry.
In summary, Willow Creek tries to use rationality to draw people further into commitment. They embody an awareness of their population's needs, a service provision to those needs, a liberal amount of tolerance to individual decisions to commit, and the use of lay persons to preach. As will be seen later, this sort of low key choice may not offer enough of an incentive to potential converts. The next section will take a tour through Willow Creek's several steps to commitment, to show more specifically their processes.
First Approach: Steps One and Two
Perhaps in tune with their position as an auxiliary resource in individual ministry, the first step in the conversion- commitment process at Willow Creek has nothing explicitly to do with Willow Creek. Members are asked to "build an authentic relationship with an Unchurched Harry" (Sargeant, 1994, 46). Well before joint attendance at a seeker service, a real friendship should develop, which can be important in building credibility with non-believers.
The second step is to "share a verbal witness," perhaps using the aforementioned tools such as Lee Strobel's Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary (1993). Hybels has said in his sermons, "you can go and learn the kinds of questions that seekers ask so that you can be better equipped to give a word of verbal witness when the time is right" (Hafer, 110).
Thus, the "pure" Willow Creek model assumes that those attending their church already know a little about Christianity and are not entirely anonymous within the weekend seeker services of four thousand plus people. How this model operates in fact is difficult to determine. Church leaders realize many people come alone, and therefore provide cards the interested can fill out for more information along with stationing ministers at the front of the church for questions. Earlier, it was noted that Hybels stresses the importance of anonymity and choice to seekers. Perhaps the concept of "social distance" fits into relational evangelism in that attenders need distance from the church as a whole, but not from the believers they know.
The Services: Steps Three and Four
This observation, that Harry needs time and space, underlies Step Three- "Inviting Unchurched Harry to a Seeker Service." When seekers come to Willow Creek, they are not asked for money, they are not asked to sing (in fact, most seeker services have only one song which is communally sung), and they are not asked to accept any sort of traditional religious symbolism. These are not religious worship services, but extended displays of the benefits of Christianity. Seekers are asked to sit back in their movie-theater styled chairs and relax as Willow Creekers "present the basic truths of Christianity in a creative, compelling, and spirit anointed way" (Hybels, 1995 175). The Word is not spread through prayer recitation or Bible quoting, but through professionally styled drama, music, and thirty to forty minute carefully planned sermons.
Seeker services are especially designed with Willow Creek's market analysis of Baby Boomers in mind. This section will delineate the assumptions Willow Creek makes about Seekers during its services, focusing on stylistic programming concerns, and later, the content of the sermons. Though Hybels writes that Step Four is to attend the midweek New Community Service for "main kinds of meals," including teachings about the faith, preaching styles are similar at the two services (Hafer, 112). Both use a contemporary style and message to "accommodate modernity in order to remain 'relevant' or to reduce the cognitive dissonance with the prevailing rationalism of modern life" (Sargeant, 1994, 10), and both make no demands for participation.
Stylistic Concerns
What Hybels notes as intrinsic to excellent programming is "Variety, variety, variety, variety" (Pritchard, 89) and constant evaluation (103). Lee Strobel, a seeker-turned Willow Creek leader recalls, "from week to week, I never knew what was going to happen... and that unpredictability fostered an atmosphere of anticipation" (182). Each service has two parts. The first involves a variety of programming used to warm up the crowd for the second half's sermon. Hybels says that the contemporary forms of art, such as clips from recent movies, are used in order to "pique curiosity, to evoke ideas, and to till the soil of the soul so that the seeds of God's word can be planted there" (Hybels, 207). Hybels further states that "art isn't used to teach at Willow Creek" (207). Pritchard writes that the programming is "successfully elicits laughter from unchurched Harry" and has "the effect of swamping the previous negative preconceptions that unchurched Harry is bringing to Willow Creek and creating a more positive emotional attitude toward Willow Creek, and thus Christianity" (97).
Each service has a musical prelude which could be "a jazz group, a solo flutist, a thirty piece orchestra, or a rock or country band" (Pritchard, 1995, 84). After a greeting, the congregation joins in a contemporary hymn, led by Willow Creek singers and musicians. Important to note here is the excellent quality of this music. Members must audition and then participate in numerous rehearsals for each service (86). Good performers are backed up by a "top of the line" sound system (Pritchard, 102).
The Willow Creek Website, when detailing techniques toward a good production uses rather secular sounding ideas such as, "Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance, Always be available, Facilitate 'Whatever it Takes,' No Compromise, Be on the edge, set your standards like the industry professionals do- High! Speed of the leader is speed of the team- Who's setting the pace?" The last admonition "We can ruin a moment in a moment if we're not 100%" underscores the fact that Willow Creekers are to take their job performance seriously (www.willowcreek.org/faq/production_seminar.html#introduction, 01/06/97). Hybels tells his staff to "look at secular plays and movies to see what people are influenced by (Pritchard, 65). The assumption here is that secular standards for excellence, including dynamic content, performance, and equipment, will build the credibility of the church for non-believers (92).
This is an important distinction between Kelley's strict faiths and Willow Creek. While not necessarily hurtful to religion, Wuthnow states that what is conveyed is "that these organizations are carefully planned and controlled, with someone [not God] in charge at all times who arranges the most efficient means to accomplish clearly specified ends" (1994, 158). Sargeant writes that marketing attempts which focus on "what works... leave little room for divine intervention" (1994, 74). In contrast with conservative Fundamentalist Christians, who believe "the course of history does not depend ultimately on these organizations, but directly in the hands of God" (1994, 159) and who "consciously distance themselves from dominant norms," (including rationality), Willow Creek uses technology to manufacture faith. (This absence of "charisma" will be explored further below).
Willow Creek uses relevance as another tool to reach seekers. The songs are chosen for the pertinence of their lyrics to Seeker's lives. Even the "language" (visual media) that Willow Creek uses is television-reared boomer friendly (Pritchard, 91). Lots of visual skits and video clips are used because modern audiences are familiar with them, they are more subjective and emotional (Sargeant, 1994, 33) and thus appeal to privatized belief systems. Pritchard writes that drama is further used to give "self-understanding" to Unchurched Harry (94). For example, one skit involved spouses fighting about sex, which many in the sixty percent married audience could probably identify with (Pritchard, 1995, 68). Pritchard writes that "the programming team sees the first thirty minutes of the service as a 'backdoor' to influence Harry" and to lower defenses (95).
Because Willow Creek sells the video clips, message texts, music, and dramatic sketches it uses in its own services, it lists and provides details on all of them on its website. An illustration of the topics show that felt needs are being attended. Topics in the dramatic clips include "God's acceptance of us, failure, comforting others, Easter, loneliness, doubting, and decision making" A more specific example, called "Dearly Beloved Brethren" will exhibit Willow Creek's style. It describes the adventures of Oatmealy, a recurring character in Willow Creek productions:
"Oatmealy, a cartoon "seeker" heads off to church with a bounce in his step. But from the moment he arrives he hears austere music, words that condemn him, and religious phrases that he doesn't understand. During the service we can see Oatmealy's thoughts which are presented as humorous pictures above his head. In the end, he leaves in a gray cloud of confusion. The show is humorous because of its exaggeration, yet it makes the point that we must be sensitive in the way that we communicate to those outside the church." (www.willowcreek.org/cgi-bin...exe?Template=/pm/search_result.dbm, 01/06/97).
The video clips run the gamut of recent popular movies, including "Beaches, City Slickers, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Wall Street." Just a few moments long, most detail some aspect of modern life, such as parenting, greed, addiction, or friendship. Overall, the music, drama, and video during services uses aspects of contemporary media to create a connection between faith and daily life. Instead of ignoring the problems of the secular world, Willow Creek uses them to illustrate how belief can be helpful. This use of secular standards and entertainment also has peers in the Evangelical movement. (Christian rock is a $300 million dollar a year industry). Yet few other churches use it so profusely.
The Message
Artistic precision aside, Hybels says that about 85% of the effect of Willow Creek is due to good preaching, often built around "authenticity, integrity, intimacy, emotions, and affection" (Pritchard, 1995: 117). This section will examine typical Willow Creek preaching and illustrate its attempts to be relevant, practical, intimate, and entertaining. Hybels writes that "preaching should always be the central focus" (Hybels, 187). What are the sermons like?
Hafer, in a graduate degree examination of the structure of Hybel's sermons, wrote that they include "soundbites" of the Bible, but were "developed in a topical way rather than in an expository method" (67). Pritchard's work concurred, adding that Scripture was also paraphrased" and thus is able to "support his argument that Christianity is a more fulfilling way of life" (Pritchard, 1994, 553-4). Most of the Biblical references were about improving relationships and human nature (554-5). Pritchard notes that other topics include "the truthfulness of Christianity" and "the elements of the Gospel" (555).
Hybels used more illustrations in the Seeker sermon than in the Believer sermon, about half of which were news items (from Time, Forbes, etc..) and half personal experience (67). Hafer, in his analysis of a sermon by Hybels about "Good groups going bad," wrote that Hybels preached to seekers and believers at once in his sermons. For example, by telling believers to go to communion when it is offered, he speaks to believers and also tells seekers to believe he is a strong leader and that Willow Creek is a strong group (Hafer, 37). Moore wrote that "settled" preachers in the antebellum period used history, science and current events to create interest and "had to be something of an actor" (52).
Another way that Willow Creek accepts the secular world into its auditorium is by its attention to secular or "hallmark" holidays, such as Mother's Day. In order to identify with Harry and to bridge the gap between the religious and secular worlds, secular events are addressed. A review of recent year's messages shows sermons titled "Bart Simpson, Bill Clinton, Dennis Rodman, Peter Jennings,and Princess Diana" (www.willowcreek.org/cgi-bin...exe?Template=pm/search_result.dbm, 01/06/97). Pritchard writes that "there is a deep affirmation of American culture in Willow Creek's principle of identifying" (Pritchard, 1995 123).
The sermons continue to show relevance with more personal identification. Like the politicians' "I feel your pain," Sargeant wrote that most seeker-oriented pastors "see the psychological approach to faith as an essential path to addressing spiritual issues" (1994, 40). The emotionalism of the sermons and programming is also a route to persuasion (108). Pritchard's content analysis of Hybel's sermons over a year's time (1989- 1990) showed that he used the word "I" over 6,000 times to create intimacy (1995, 119) but only referred to specific Scripture verses 169 times (147). Pritchard writes that WCCC leaders are "conservative Christians who emphasize how similar they are to those nonbelievers around them" (1994, 53). Sargeant goes further and says their techniques foster an air of "see how similar we are to the world" (1996, 46).
Rationality
Because rationality is so prevalent in Boomers' worldview, Willow Creek uses in their message. Hybels uses modern anecdote and psychology in his preaching to build credibility, (prove he knows where seekers are coming from) and convey that one should believe because it is practical and reasonable to do so. These methods are used as a response to the target market, and assume that the unchurched will not commit on doctrinal reasons (i.e. eternal damnation) alone, but need self- fulfillment reasons to do so.
Using down to earth words, Hybels and other preachers try to speak directly to felt needs. Wuthnow states that rationality is so pervasive today, it would be hard to ignore; "an emphasis on effectiveness is but one of the implicit norms that pervades the public arena because it is so heavily dependant on complex formal organizations" (1994, 158).
Sargeant's analysis of Willow Creek sermons found that they gave much practical advice. While 35% of sermons concentrated on a scriptural message, 33.5% focussed on personal growth and relationships, and 10% focused on family issues. He further stated that two- thirds were oriented to "felt needs" (1994, 30). Hybels also does this more generally in the aforementioned "Christianity 101," the teaching that "Christianity is the best means for Harry to satisfy his felt needs and to be happy" (Pritchard, 1994, 544). Church leader Mark Mittleberg states that Seekers want to know "What is the cash value now? How does this affect today and tomorrow?" (Willow Creek Tape, rpt. in Pritchard, 1994, 544). The audience is told in effect, "that without Jesus they cannot live to the fullest in the here and now," without mention of eternity (Sargeant, 1994, 40). Anderson, has noted in contemporary attempts to be heard, that "theology is repackaged from...(dogma) to relevant principles for everyday living" (Anderson, 98).
Pritchard writes that another of the practical techniques used in Willow Creek sermons is psychology, and identifies several aspects used. They include "self- identity, temperament, family history, importance of emotions, and self analysis" (Pritchard, 1994, 576). He gives examples of Hybels' practical advice about intimacy and says, "Many of Hybel's talks could accurately be described as relational workshops" (1994, 523). For example, in one sermon Hybels said, "Couples who can open up their lives to one another, talk honestly and openly about their personal pain, about their fears, their failures... [have a ] high probability of being able to work out their differences" (Pritchard, 1994, 523).
Pritchard states that psychological orientations encourage people to pursue their "psychological self- identity, structure their relationships according to psychological categories, and pursue personal fulfillment" instead of focusing on traditional Biblical teachings of things like humility and honesty (1994, 612). Also, through techniques such as these, religion becomes "anthropologically centered, not theologically centered" (Sargeant, 1994, 67).
Choice
With the above uses of logic, Hybels tries to push Seekers to a decision for Christ. The message is not solely that Christianity "works," but that it is "true" (Pritchard, 1995, 157). Pritchard writes that Willow Creek tries to use destabilization techniques to get Seekers to "challenge nontheisitc conclusions" (1995, 158). Speakers try to push the audience toward anomie and disheartenment, and then tell them what Christianity is about. "The message that Willow Creek Christians hear again and again is that Christianity is true and reasonable" (166). Church leaders say that faith is "a forward step based on an understanding of plausible reasons and evidence for the truth of Christianity" (Pritchard, 1994, 748). How do they convey these truths?
The Soft Pitch
A trend in some parts of the Evangelical community today is to emphasize the more "appealing doctrines" of their faith (Sargeant, 1994, 21). Fundamentalism is not a popular word in America today, so Willow Creek does not force its own beliefs (that the Bible is "without error") (www.willowcreek.org/welcome..ure/what_we_believe/wwbelieve.html , 10/08/97) on the audience, but instead sneak their message in the "back door" (1996, 206). Hybels repeatedly defends his work as uncompromising to Biblical truth, though, saying that while early on he may have focused too much on felt needs, now he concentrates more on all of the Gospel (92). He notes, "I've learned over the years that if I get an A for cultural relevance and a C for doctrinal purity, I've failed (Hybels, 187).
Hybels describes Willow Creek as "a safe place where seekers can here the very dangerous, life changing message of Jesus Christ" (Hybels, 206). He and his wife stated in their book that all "major doctrinal subjects have been addressed throughout the years" (206). Yet analysis shows that when Scripture was mentioned, it was often paraphrased, or translated into modern terms (Hafer, 66). For example, Zaccheaeus became a "very wealthy, white collar, Management type of guy" (148). Pritchard writes that Hybels does this because he assumes "Harry is not interested in the Bible" (149).
Pritchard writes that "Hybels doesn't teach a health and wealth gospel" (1994, 497) and does not promise that faith will be a panacea. But he does emphasize the fact that "God wants to help individuals be fulfilled" (1994, 497). Part of the way they can be fulfilled is through "an intimate relationship with God, an Adventurous cause to live for, and serving other people" (1994, 498). All of these promise the fulfillment that Seekers lack in the secular world. It is not what Hybels teaches, but what he omits that leaves the audience with positive feeling about God.
For instance, "the harsh news of God's anger against mankind's defiant sin was virtually never heard" (Pritchard, 1994, 781). He recounts the sermon "when Hybels broke the news that large percentages of the congregation in the previous 6 months had lied (33%), stolen (18%), committed adultery (12.5%), and its men had viewed pornography (27%) (1994, 781). Instead of criticizing the audience Hybels said, "Put out your chest a little bit, we are acknowledging our unrighteousness...and learning how the Holy spirit can help us walk a little differently next week" (Willow Creek Tape, Pritchard, 1994, 781). But Pritchard notes that the non-participatory audience had not repented," had merely filled out a survey (781).
Absence of Dogma
"The sole basis of our belief is the Bible" (www.willowcreek.org/welcome...ure/ what_we_beleive/wwbeleive.html, 10/08/96), but Sargeant notes that theology is "noticeably absent from the literature and claims of Seeker churches" (1994, 73). Nor does the church have "formally delineated" rules for how to live after your personal conversion (Sargeant, 1996, 208). Hybels states, "our approach has been to teach unapologetically on social topics that the Bible addresses, including racism, poverty, injustice, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, the environment" but "as a church we've been scrupulous about staying out of partisan politics" (Hybels, 212). They have only 10 core beliefs which address none of these issues specifically.
Later Involvement, Small Groups: Step Five
After attending one or both services, the fifth step to commitment is joining a small group. Hybels writes, "we want Willow Creek to not be a church that offers small groups, but to be a church of small groups" (180). The "metachurch" model, instituted in 1980 means that it is lay leaders who interact with most of the congregation; the pastor interacts with these leaders in turn. The website states that there are over 1,400 small groups at Willow Creek, of all kinds. Popular small groups include Disciplemaking small groups, Seeker small groups, and Serving Groups (www.willowcreek.org/welcome..ure/small_groups/small_groups.html, 10/08/97).
In 1996, a "Participating Membership curriculum" was established at Willow Creek. The hope was to have each member study "the 5 G's" (Grace, Growth, Gifts, Groups, and Good Stewardship), and analyze how they could accept all of them (www.willowcreek.org/monthly...s/oct96/ group_life.html, 10/08/96). Wuthnow states that these groups are one of the most important recent innovations, widening the gap between public and private religion, and foresees a time when there will be no churches, only associations of small groups (1994, 67).
Small groups are changing the shape of religious commitment today. In a nationwide study of them, Wuthnow found that many are merely fellowship groups; "most of what they do is sharing activities and time together" (1996, 148). Like Willow Creek's application of the Gospel to daily life, Bible study members also make the passages they study relevant to them, creating more of a sharing session than a scholarly review of the Bible. Willow Creek's small groups are advertised to be geared toward application, and Sargeant writes they can become "pop- psychology oriented" (1994, 39).
Again, the work becomes focussed on people and this world instead of being God/ otherworldly centered (Sargeant, 1994, 67). Towns stated that people who choose churches today are not just deciding on a faith, but "buying into a relationship" (227). Conversion, per se, probably occurs right before or after the onset of participation in a small group. To be a full member in the church, it is necessary to study the five G's, be interviewed, and be presented to the church body (Hybels, 198). As will be shown below, these groups may be Willow Creek's best chance.
Networking: Step Six
Step six in the model is "discover, develop, and deploy your spiritual gift" (Hybels, 180). The Network system, is another church facilitator for congregants. The WCCC website states that it "equips those who are seeking to serve... by providing a process that helps them understand who God has made them to be" (www.willowcreek.org/faq/network.html, 01/06/97). Like many of the sermons, this process also utilizes psychology. Members take a personality test to tell them which gift of the Holy Spirit they have, so they can put their talents to good work for the church. The Network program is a popular product of the WCA, as the website boasts that over 85, 000 people have used it (www.willowcreek.org/faq/network.html, 01/06/97). As mentioned earlier, this service is again seen as a means to self- fulfillment.
Financial Giving: Step Seven
Hybels writes in his book, "We have no pledge plan, no envelope system, no elders knocking on doors, no outside fund- raisers, no thermometers on the wall, no coercion or emotional appeals (Hybels, 209). He said "everyday individuals" who want "to honor God" supply most of the church's funds. Hybels calls Willow Creek's teaching of the Biblical for basis for tithing (or giving ten percent of income to the church) "incredibly countercultural" (Hybels, 182). This final step, as opposed to, say, clearly delineated moral practices based on Biblical behavioral standards, would seem to be the pinnacle of religious adherence at Willow Creek. Interestingly, Step Seven, which for thirteen years was "Evangelize," is now "Stewardship of the Church."
Thus, Willow Creek's structure allow visitors to make the choice to believe. Rather than depending on certain theological premises to attract members, the church has shed denominational attachments and behavioral prescriptions. The church is instead a resource for belief and ministry, personal fulfillment and practical guidance. A free agent in the marketplace, it attracts believers by making them an offer they cannot refuse: services, advice, personal growth, perhaps even salvation, all with no money down, few songs to sing, prayers to recite, and little recommendation for behavioral amendment in the outside world.
Yet, the progression through these steps may not be as simple as it seems. Hybels recognizes the need for continuing inducements to greater involvement in the church. He has said, "we have learned in just the past years... that somehow we have to try to bring about a second conversion, and that is to convert a consumer into a contributor" (Pritchard, 1996, 25).
We turn next to an analysis of Willow Creek's methods, based on the sociological literature concerning conversion and commitment. As we have noted before, the Willow Creek model seems to be in sharp contradiction to sociological theories of conversion that stress strictness and high demands. This theory would suggest that Hybel's need to convert attending "consumers" into member "contributors" may be difficult to do using Willow Creek's low keyed methods. The contemporary consumer in search of a spiritual fill up today may readily abandon Willow Creek in pursuit of another spiritual trip or amusement tomorrow. If this outcome should eventually ensue, we might conclude that Hybel's low keyed methodology that lured people in with entertainment, sans any demand, was a Faustian bargain.
There is another social science literature, born of investigations of the many new cults and sects that have emerged during the past quarter-of-a-century, which might suggest a different outcome. Rather than focusing on conversion as a sudden life transforming experience, this literature eschews the concept of conversion for affiliation. Newcomers bring personal needs and agendas. To the extent that the group is responsive, the newcomer takes tentative steps toward affiliation. Gradually, social interaction either reinforces or fails to reinforce the tentative commitment. Thus, people many more toward a more permanent affiliation and an ensuring commitment, or they may slip away.
Lynne Hybels' admission that they "just made the whole thing up as [they] went along," may, in the final analysis, be quite significant. Creating a comfortable environment without demanding commitment may just have created the kind of environment necessary for contemporary seekers to eventually make enduring commitments. But we get ahead of the story.
Sociologist Robert Balch, who has been a significant contributor to the new paradigm, argues that social scientists need to spend more time on empirical research and less time considering theory. "What we need," writes Balch, "is reliable data linking recruitment and socialization techniques with objective measures of effectiveness" (1985, 17). Balch is at least partially correct. We need both empirical data and interpretation. Unfortunately, much scholarship does not even attempt this integration of theory and data. This seems to be the case with many of the investigations of Willow Creek.
Scholars who have noted the high proportion of persons who "pass through" the doors of Willow Creek, or the high proportion attending seeker services who are already believers, are not really interpreting data. What is more interesting sociologically than forecasts of doom for religious enterprises, is defining the processes that can entice all types of potential members to religious organizations, and keep them there.
Neither Kelly's thesis, that finds strength in strictness, nor the path breaking research and theory of scholars of new religious movements (NRMs) is infected with the implicit ideological presuppositions of secularization theory (Hadden, 1987). The Willow Creek phenomenon--both the church which Hybels built and the association the church inspired--provides a stage to test important theoretical ideas.
Over the long haul, if Willow Creek fails to build and then sustain commitment, we might conclude that Kelley is right. This outcome might further suggest that the employment of secular methodology to lure clients into the fold is indeed a Faustian bargain. A more interesting outcome would be the discovery of a synthesis of the Kelley model with the gradualist commitment process observed by scholars of NRMs.
It is possible that there can be multiple paths to strong behavioral norms and value commitments (strictness), and that one of those pathways involves progressive steps rather than a single life-transforming conversion experience. This appears to be the side bet and Bill Hybels and his colleagues at Willow Creek have made.
The rest of this paper will analyze Willow Creek methods against the backdrop of more proven means to commitment. First, a review of the traditional sociological literature on commitment will show Willow Creek to be innovative in its methods. Next, an overview of the New Religious Movement literature will explain how it might be possible for the church to convert and affiliate potential members in an evolutionary process. Lastly, the conclusion of the paper will demonstrate how the church might be proving the utility of the concept affiliation.
Commitment Processes
Why might many sociologists of religion be skeptical about Willow Creek's methods? Because church processes go against the traditional notions of what makes for a successful religious enterprise. The theories used in this section will demonstrate why Willow Creek's commitment inspiring mechanisms may prove ineffective. They include work by Kelly (1972), Stark and Finke (1992), Coser (1974), Kanter (1972), Bittner (1963) and Hechter (1987). The topics to be addressed include sacrifice and control, isolation from the culture and otherworldliness, and ritual and dogma. This analysis will consider both practical and doctrinal strictness, in the ways that organizations promote sacrifice. The ways religions can control members, such as isolation, monitoring, and having high expectations will be analyzed first, after a brief overview.
All the scholars below analyzed the aspects of religious organizations which make for effectiveness. Kanter examined several dozen communes in America, the results published in her Commitment and Community, and found that "successful communes use more of the commitment mechanisms" because "abstract ideals of brotherhood and harmony, of love and union, must be translated into concrete social practices" (75). She names attaching (investing) and detaching (sacrifice) processes as important (72). Willow Creek has no concrete practices for potential members to follow in the beginning, and few to follow at the end.
Stark and Finke wrote "that religious organizations can only thrive to the extent that they have a theology that can comfort souls and motivate sacrifices" (5). Kelley's main thesis was that "a group with evidences of social strength will proportionately show traits of strictness and a group with traits of leniency will proportionately show evidences of weakness rather than strength (86); i.e. some can motivate members to sacrifice better than others. Hadaway and Roozen write that theological conservatism, not Kelley's strictness, per se, is the determinant of growth, because it "emphasizes evangelism" and "strong symbolic boundaries between what is religion or not" (Sargeant, 1996, 67). Again, Willow Creek can not be characterized as a strict faith, either dogmatically, or in its practices, as we shall see below.
Religion has also been called a "collectively produced commodity" (Stark and Finke, 1992, 252), and as such, the rational thing to do is to "free ride," or get the benefits of religious organization without giving resources or belief back (253). Only costly religions prevent this by excluding those who do not adhere to the dogma. Kelly argues that on the surface, this "would seem to make religion less attractive, other things being equal, but other things do not remain equal" (254). Kelly writes that strict religions "make high demands of those admitted to the organization.. and do not include or continue to include those who are not fully committed to it" (121), and emphasized this need for strong boundaries between the committed and others (71). Because Willow Creek does not separate out non-believers, and encourages believers to form close relationships with the unchurched, this traditional literature suggests Willow Creek may not be able to hold onto the curious it attracts. Let us take a closer look at the issue of non-member obligation and reward.
Sacrifice and Control
Hechter, in his application of rational choice theory to the problem of group cohesiveness, addresses the free rider problem by analyzing solidarity, which is "the extensiveness of corporate obligations" and the "degree to which individuals comply" (18). Obligations include giving resources to produce immanent goods, those that directly satisfy their members' utility (by increasing their sense pleasure, happiness, and so forth)" as opposed to some saleable good (42) Two common sacrifices Kanter's successful communities asked members to make were abstinence and austerity (77-78). Free riders can only be avoided if groups are even able to exclude non-contributors from receiving the joint good (39). Further, he writes that many groups move from "expansion to exclusiveness" over time, narrowing accessibility to their joint good (47).
Groups must have means to enforce obligations, for "without control, group solidarity is, at best, a chimera" (Hector, 52). Kelly's strict religions control their members, and "do not consent to, encourage, or indulge any violations of its standards of beliefs or behavior by its professed adherents" (121). Yet, members are willing to suffer penalties rather than leave the group (58). Why might this be so? What are some means to enforcement? The faiths Kelley studied used group confessions, and shunned outcasts (79). Types of control Hechter listed were open architecture, public rituals, specificity of obligations, consensual decision making, obligatory sanctions, group rewards, limited privacy, and gossip (149-157). Sanctions included such things as exit costs (157, 161). He writes that large groups have to "economize on control costs" in order to achieve solidarity (14).
More general techniques can be utilized too. Stark and Finke's rational choice model considers "opportunity costs," those things one cannot do unless avoiding other things. People must "weigh the promise of tremendous rewards (for which the supernatural is the only possible source) against the cost of qualifying for those rewards and the risk that the rewards will not eventuate" (252). Reasonable sociable religion costs little and thus is not valued greatly" (Stark and Finke, 250). Membership is thought to be more valuable if there is a sacrifice (76). Willow Creek's philosophy toward newcomers is a slower process; early participation costs nothing, though later membership does. But can early non-participation be a spur to increased action and devotion? Willow Creek's message to seekers is to relax, watch, and to remain uninvolved as long as necessary, for there will be no dogma to absorb, no dues to pay, and complete anonymity (Sargeant, 1994, 32).
Other obligations found in strong religious organizations include behavioral ones. Kanter wrote that people often join movements "deliberately seeking the identity change involved in mortification; they may call it "personal growth" instead" (105). Behavior changes may be desirable. Kanter writes that self-esteem itself "comes to depend on the norms of the group" (103). This indicates that members of Willow Creek may be looking for guidelines which to follow and change their lives, hence the popularity of Hybel's pop-psychological sermons. Yet these do not provide specific unchanging dogma or beliefs, so the desired mortification may not even be possible. Confession and criticism, with the attendant sanctions, are found in Kanter's communes to be the basis for later spiritual differentiation based on spiritual achievement (106-8) Without the ability to monitor behavior, it would be hard to do this with newcomers at Willow Creek. (As will be shown later, small groups may solve this problem).
High expectations of members have been found to be an incentive to commitment; "members of theologically conservative churches that stress financial sacrifice, personal piety, and personal salvation are the most generous givers" (Reeves, 32). Long and Hadden (1983) state that, by definition, membership entails differences between members and non-members. People must know the requirements for membership, be able and committed to fulfill them (6). Again, Willow Creek allows non-members and members to mix indiscriminately, especially in the beginning, and stresses their absence of obligations of seekers.
The activities that go into "shaping" novice behavior include sanctions. "Incorporating" members involves selecting certain people from a potential pool, monitoring their progress, and placing them in various positions in the organization (6). Willow Creek partially does this through the Network volunteer and small group systems, though in the Willow Creek model these occur much later..
As the delineation of their methods showed, Willow Creek is also quite liberal about pushing its message on members. The church does not state that potential members, even those that come to the Seeker service every week, have to do or believe anything. This sort of liberal, uncommitted attachment does not require much changing of one's behavior, because they do not impinge on many areas of one's life. But in strict sects the "true believer" is always convinced he has a special hold on the Truth" (Coser, 111). Kelley stated that successful faiths "do not keep secret about it, apologize for it, or let it be treated as though it made no difference, or should make no difference in their behavior or in their relationships with others" (121). Willow Creek may not do enough of this in their message to newcomers.
Isolation and Dependence
Another technique found to be effective at instilling commitment is the isolation of members from the surrounding culture. Coser found that the Jesuits tried to "remove [members] from the influence of all competing foci of loyalties" (125).
Kelly wrote that one of the characteristics of strictness is that faiths do not "confuse it with other beliefs/loyalties/practices, or mingle them together indiscriminately (121). As stated before, the strict churches in Kelly's study "refuse to recognize the validity of other churches' teachings, ordinations, sacraments (26), while liberal churches are "more attuned to the social demographic trends of the modern population" (27). Willow Creek, with its mix of secular culture, and po-psychology sounds like a liberal faith.
Kanter noted that successful communes often have an inward focus, serving their own members first (3). Opposite this, the Unification Church had trouble sustaining membership, after a strong conversion process, because converts were not convinced in their heart about the nature of their belief, and they have not changed their worldview. The authors write, "Instead, they are likely to rely on the more deeply embedded conventional culture to interpret their participation, on which the Moonies ironically relied to make organizational commitment plausible for new members in the first place" (Long and Hadden, 10).
Willow Creek is turning somewhat more inward, as its seventh step is financial support of the church, not evangelism, and more attention is being focussed on the Believers' service. Yet as, shown above, many of their techniques are still tied to the secular world, including the use of the rationality and professionalism, and may in the end, undermine the bridges they have constructed to religious belief.
A related tool to separating the church from the world is dependence. Hechter writes that the more dependant people are, the more tax they must pay for access to the same quality of a given good (46). Dependence is based on such things as the "limits of supply of close substitutes available outside the group boundaries, a lack of information about these alternatives, moving costs, and the existence of strong personal ties among members" (which need repeated interaction to form) (46). Kanter wrote that a person becomes more committed as "his own internal satisfaction becomes dependant on the group and as his choice to make other choices or pursue other options declines" (70).
Isolation from the world was often facilitated by an "us versus them" feeling, geographical isolation and "institutional completeness" (Kanter, 83). Willow Creek does this to a degree. With their offering of a food court, fellowship, recreation, and day care, they make themselves a "one-stop shopping" place for members. But they do not have Kanter's identified norms for monitoring interactions with visitors (in fact they are told to socialize with non-believers), or for renouncing friends and family (89). Lastly, Willow Creek certainly has no "us versus them" mentality, for they invite the world, secular norms, and sinners right into their services. Though Willow Creek destabilizes visitors' secular belief systems, it is only to critique its effectiveness, ("money is not making you happy") not to judge its inherent morality.
Theology
An important aspect of many religious movements is the moral belief system. As shown above, Willow Creek has underemphasized this aspect of their ministry. Liberal churches are dying because they "have lost their grip upon the Gospel, or rather, allowed the Gospel to lose its grip upon them (Kelley, xii). Starke and Finke memorably wrote that "theological refinement is the kind of progress that results in organizational bankruptcy (5) and that "a single faith cannot shape its appeal to suit precisely the needs of one market segment without sacrificing its appeal to another" (19). For radical organizations, to survive, "on all rungs of membership, there must be an intensive concern for the purity of belief" (Bittner, 937), yet observers have pointed out the difficulty in knowing who is a believer at Willow Creek and who is not (www.willowcreek.org/faq/evangelism). .
And Sargeant writes that Seeker churches do not "elucidate Christian doctrine, but instead "promise relevant application" (1996, 153). There is nothing that seekers are made to adhere to, for Hybels only asks visitors to "check out the facts for yourself" (Pritchard, 1995, 734). The church tolerates "diversity of thought" (Sargeant, 1996, 138).
Further, what message seekers do hear is only partial, Instead of a "believe or be damned" message, participants at Willow Creek hear a "Believe and be fulfilled" one, which ignores Biblical teaching on the harshness of God. Yet, "people will value the otherworldly rewards of religion more highly to the extent that those around them do so (Kelley, 255).
Otherworldliness
Part of religious doctrine is the idea of otherworldliness. Kanter writes that successful communes often had an "institutionalized charisma" in which leaders were imbued with "awe-inspiring qualities, such as wisdom, experience, spiritualness" (114). It was these leaders who made the decisions for the group, basing the "ultimate" or non-routine ones, on irrationality, or divine revelation (120). Bittner also found charisma to be important in radical groups, and that "the doctrine that inspires the movement should contain information from outside the realm of everyday life" (936).
Willow Creek does this, if one considers the style of worship to be a routine decision based on logic, but the targeting of Boomers, or the content of the sermon to be based on Biblical bases. Willow Creek also has Kanter's "authority hierarchy," (116) in its battalion of small group leaders, which is necessary in large groups to spread the charisma. Whether these leaders could be said to have charisma is unknown; the way one becomes a small group leader is after two years of study, an interview, and training. Also, as noted above, the church de-emphasizes the importance of otherworldliness in order to give more time to practical, rational reasons for belief.
Coser's analysis of sects points out that the separation of church and secularity is important; "the more hostile the outside is viewed, the more salvation found inside"(114). Sect morality is against the world's and they shun tolerance of individual views, and contact with people or art of the secular world (107). Kelly states that religion "explains the meaning of life in ultimate terms" (37). LaNore states that liberal churches may offer other services, but de-emphasize salvation, "the one incentive unique to churches" (Reeves, 92). Besides, secular service offerings may be more compelling than the church's. If "the individual's interest in joining a group is merely the attainment of fellowship, then this can be fulfilled by membership in nearly any kind of group (Hechter, 46). Churches have to offer something more. If members of Willow Creek's small groups and admirers of their weekend entertainment are not attached strongly to the church, because it does not offer otherworldy incentive, they will leave as soon as they find other distractions.
A sense of divine mystery is a crucial ingredient in belief. Decisions have to be removed from everyday life, and involve a sense of the supernatural. Often, this transcendence is based on the charisma of a leader who has been imbued with divine intervention. Belief in this leader eventually means following whatever moral guidelines he imposes (Kanter 116, 120, 122). The Willow Creek model does not have these supernatural aspects. Rather, like Finney in his day, Hybels utilizes aspects of the surrounding secular culture in his mission, including organizational techniques, marketing to consumer needs, and providing a selection of groups, goods, and services styled after the plethora of choice at the local mall. Seekers can enter the church through whatever avenue they choose, whether it be a softball league, a day care program, or a self-help group. In this way, decision making is removed from the sacred and brought to the earth bound.
Ritualism
One way to show the value of otherworldliness is ritual, which gives shape and theme to occurrences (Wuthnow, 141). Kanter identifies music and special occasions as possible rituals (99). Ritual also links "specific values or contemporary policy statements to a long line of cultural wisdom" (Wuthnow, 163). Wuthnow underscores that ritual is important because "in spite of efforts to be rational.. the church is what it is because it upholds a faith tradition" (164). Hybels tries to create credibility through logic and business maneuvers, but the long line of tradition over the centuries may do a better job of this.
Sargeant writes the most important determinant of ritualism is the "experience of closed social groups" which Willow Creek has only in its small group programming. Outsiders who move in and out of the Church will not value the regular symbols of the seeker service as much as those who are regular participants. Willow Creek on the other hand offers a variety of programming within each service and within the ministry as a whole, (though the idea of the seeker format is becoming standardized, with contemporary music, friendly encounters, and "vocal specials" (Sargeant, 1996, 150)).
Tradition is seen as an unnecessary barrier at Willow Creek (145). Douglas writes that variation in programming "fosters intense emotional states" (Sargeant, 1996, 153). "By becoming emotional, Hybels is able to seize Harry's attention and spur him to decide to trust God for salvation" (Pritchard, 1995, 741). Seeker churches use both emotional, visceral song and image to move people, and then use rationality to build the credibility missing from their lack of tradition
But can their attempts at credibility and low cost religion make up for their deficits in the processes that contribute to commitment? They may not. Willow Creek lacks much of the motivation to, and the behavioral control for, the sacrifice of potential members. While they have the framework for intensive group processes in the small groups, it is unknown how many members make it to that stage of the process. Mixing the surrounding culture indiscriminately with their ministry, there is both less otherworldly influence and less cultural critique. The church offers personal fulfillment as a means to motivation, but this may not work in the long run, as members find other religious or secular ways to solve their problems.
Whatever doubts scholars may have about the potential success of Willow Creek's model to sustain commitment, it is undeniable they are effective at drawing people to the church and at sparking almost a thousand Baptisms a year. The church's ability to foster conversion may be its greatest strength, and this section will use New Religious Movement literature to show why they might be successful at this task, and later, at the affiliation of emerging believers. Willow Creek's process of a slow change, emotional sermons, and attempt to use social ties to convert may provide an effective venue for affiliation.
This section will address both the organizational aspects of conversion (the supply side of faith) such as techniques to allow investigation without commitment, and also the demand side, or which predispositions in converts are important.
Conversion has been variously defined. Richardson and Stewart (1978) see conversion as a "'movement' between general orientations," underscoring that many conversions today are "multiple event phenomena," not one time occurrences (25). Henrich (1977) viewed it as moving from one level of commitment to higher one. In their pioneering work on conversion, Lofland and Stark (1965), characterized conversion as a radical change in worldview and identity. (Later, as we shall see, Stark came to question the utility of the concept of conversion).
Willow Creek seems to have an eclectic view of conversion which includes believers moving into a deeper level of involvement, as well as the unchurched adopting a Christian problem solving perspective. Both are potential converts. Conversion in this case is contrasted with members' later commitment to the organization (i.e. the behavior changes brought about by acceptance of Christianity). The idea that conversion may be a slow process with and multiple steps support the use of the concept of affiliation.
Evolutionary Conversion
Following the lead of sociologists who have argued for conversion as slow process (Lofland and Skonovd, 1981), Pritchard detailed three distinct categories of a typical Unchurched Harry in the audience at Willow Creek, underscoring the need for several conversions, not just one (78). The first type is the "Hostile Harry" who is a complete skeptic; there are few of these in Willow Creek's auditorium, The second, and most prevalent in the church, is a "Curious Harry" who has some Christian background but has not accepted a church. The last is a "Sincere Harry" who has made a commitment to explore Christianity for real to "discover if it is really true" (1995, 75).
Lofland and Skonovd (1981) describe six types of conversion which include intellectual, mystical, experimental, affectional, rivivalist and coercive (373). The study is relevant here because the Willow Creek model has similar characteristics to those documented as successful, showing that their methods might be effective for conversion. Lofland and Skonovd (1981) state that Jehovah's Witness conversions are "expected to be slow, progressive, extremely cognitive and something which one achieves" (375). The Willow Creek model views conversion as an evolutionary process. Depending on how one defines "participation," Willow Creek could involve either the intellectual or the experimental motifs.
In the intellectual model, people study the faith without social involvement, by reading about it or attending lectures, and a "reasonably high level of belief occurs prior to actual participation in the religions' ritual and organizational activities" (376). If you define the seeker service as non-participatory, this is what it accomplishes. The authors cite Evangelical television shows as an example of this type of conversion. (And remember that Schuller was one of Hybel's mentors).
The experimental conversion is also slow. In this type, potential converts are asked to participate in activities and the lifestyle of the group even if they do not believe. The process is cognitive and pragmatic. Willow Creek asks seekers to "participate"/ attend services as they explore the faith. Further, small groups are routinely used to teach new converts; "we came to the small group to learn about what we believe in" (Hybels, 197). Lofland and Skonovd state this process is similar to other socialization processes in which people gradually narrow down their options for alternative actions. The oft- cited requisite "intensive interaction" is really just repeated opportunity for people to learn the new role and to make "situational adjustments" ( 379).
Downton (1980) examined the conversion/ commitment process of the Divine Light Mission and found that it was also a slow, "evolutionary"one. The author states that Lofland and Stark's (177) steps of commitment must be put into a wider perspective, showing how converts even became willing to accept the organization's "recommended solutions for change" (395). Conversion is a gradual process because "individuals apparently shun excessive conflict and risks" (395). This is concurrent with gradual socialization models of conversion (Long and Hadden 1983). Downton underscores the point that people often avoid "experiences which threaten to disrupt the sense we have made of the world." Willow Creek capitalizes on this idea by integrating secular culture, and allowing potential members to linger.
Downton states that converts to this NRM must be first disillusioned with conventional society (383). (This is what Hybels pushes for in his destabilization). The next stage is a development of a religious problem solving perspective, which can occur through experimentation with spiritual practices or social ties to the new movement (384) (Willow Creek's Steps 1,2, and 3). The third stage is a redefinition of self as "spiritual person," which in this case involved following a set of rules and ideals (Willow Creek has Baptism, and small group and Network involvement). The fourth stage is feeling how futile they are in reaching the goals they set for themselves. (Willow Creek's destabilization).
The fifth stage draws on social ties again, which need to be positive with both members and the leader of the movement. This stage also involves "assumption of the status of aspirant-outsider" in which possession of secret knowledge "distinguishes insiders and outsiders, setting up a social gulf which can only be overcome by the decision to join and by adopting a social demeanor regarded by the community as appropriate for membership" (387). At Willow Creek this may take place within the context of Disciplemaking small groups, though which posture members need to take is unclear).
Stage six is to accept the NRM's perspective and to want to join it, including participation in its rituals and belief in its principles. (At Willow Creek this could be attendance at the New Community or small groups). Stage seven involves "conversion," including a reduction in the ego. (At Willow Creek- Baptism, reception of communion). Stage eight is surrender to the control of the guru. (Not at Willow Creek). Stage nine involves a deepening of commitment, especially in the ways that Kanter noted, including isolation from the outside world (Downton, 391) (WCCC's presence as a community center, servicing diverse needs). The final stage is total commitment, meaning that members' identities have been transformed. (At Willow Creek this involves accepting an evangelist role and working with the unchurched).
Long and Hadden (1983) state that membership requirements, who participates, and the activities used, are important in slow socialization. Their analysis found that early efforts of the Unification Church failed because they tried to get members to commit based only on knowledge of the group's beliefs, as opposed to social integration, and did not control the novice behavior or environment. Later, they changed their methods to focus more on engaging people in group activities and less on dogma, and had much more success at attracting members (9). Using isolation, control over behavior, and assignment of roles and tasks, they were able to create converts quickly (9). Willow Creek shares this early de-emphasis on dogma and invitation to newcomers to group activities, along with later small group participation and Network volunteering.
Predispositions
These mechanisms of church induced transformation aside, are there any predispositions to conversion on which Willow Creek can capitalize? If conversion is defined not as an event that happens to people, but also actively sought by them, the predispositions of converts becomes important. Richardson and Stewart note that a high congruence is necessary between potential converts' predispositions and the group (Richardson, 39). Willow Creek certainly tries to match seekers' expectations one for one.
Lofland and Stark (1965) studied a millenarian cult to develop "a 'value added' model under the conditions under which conversion occurs" (862). Calling Christianity a socially valued perspective, as opposed to a small, unknown group such as the "Peyote Cult of the Southwest Indians" (862), they wanted to know why people would switch to a lesser known belief system. This study is relevant because at Willow Creek, Christianity is thought of as a lesser known belief system (than secular worldviews) that needs to be sold, found several predispositions to be important in the creation of converts, including "tension" in their personal lives, a religious "problem solving perspective" (as opposed to psychiatric or political), "seekership," and a "turning point" in their lives (874). All converts to the movement had "a general propensity to impose religious meaning on events," but had "found conventional religious institutions inadequate as a source of solutions" and were still searching (868). This indicates that Willow Creek will have an easier time "converting" those who already have some history with a church, and as shown above, many in the audience have a church background.
But here we see the difficulties that arise with the use of the concept of conversion. At which point in any of these processes does the moment of "conversion" occur? When members choose to accept the church's Biblical teachings, are they experiencing a change in identity, or merely moving into a few more hours a week spent at the church? Sociologically, we can ask, when does the distinction between strict religious norms and adherence become important?
Stark and Bainbridge (1996) and Long and Hadden (1983), among others, have noted that this idea of socialization into new religious groups may be a more useful tool than conversion, for measuring patterns of religious commitment. The term affiliation does "not prematurely specify what changes might or might not take place inside the individual, and simply points to the plain facts that changes in group membership are important to explain and easy to measure" (Stark and Bainbridge, 196).
The fact that conversion is not essential to religious affiliating, "whether lightning conversion by the hand of God or an elaborate series of rituals in three steps, is most simply demonstrated by the fact that many groups fail to employ this concept" (Stark and Bainbridge, 199). Suggesting "a radical, perhaps supernatural transformation of the person who is converted" (195), the concept of conversion may not be able to account for the occurrence of multiple conversions, over a lifetime, or the inability of certain religious organizations to move, and keep, members in high levels of commitment.
It is important not to confuse the concept of recruitment with that of conversion. Robbins (1988) states that "the actual degree of identity transformation involved" needs to be assessed, and states that "playing the role of convert' is a different phenomenon than identity and worldview transformation (81). In reality, it is impossible to say how many identities and worldviews are really being changed at Willow Creek. In the future, though, it will be possible to say whether their affiliation processes have been successful, by judging how many stay involved.
Viewing the processes at Willow Creek as affiliative shows us how early deficits in strictness can be a path to later commitment and belief in the principles and practices of the church, such as receiving the sacraments, tithing, volunteering, or evangelizing. If conversion and belief are not synonymous with total immersion into the strict practices of a faith, it might be possible to understand how even liberal churches can slowly draw in members.
So where does all this lead us? Possibly with the idea that Willow Creek may not be as effective at manufacturing fully functioning Christians as it appears. By creating an undemanding faith, church leaders may have sold their souls to the secular, consumer mind-set of the population they are trying to reach. Though they can create conversion experiences, their methods lack a clear differentiation between themselves and other religious or secular service providers. Further, they lack an early accountability of members to provoke life change.
Alternatively, Willow Creek might be demonstrating that slow enmeshment into an organization can lead to greater commitment, especially if the church later utilizes several of Kelley's characteristics for strong faiths. These include their later-stage methods to incorporate members into small groups and church positions, perhaps erecting symbolic boundaries around members and non-members, and increasing behavioral accountability.
Stark and Bainbridge (1996) use a rational choice model to emphasize the fact that people make decisions based on their expected gain. They theorize that "humans seek high exchange ratios," which are "a person's net rewards over costs in an exchange" (32). If people's decisions to believe are based entirely on the promise of reward, there is actually little religions can do to maintain commitment except continually try to maximize it. They cite the benefits of social ties, participation, and child socialization associated with church-going as rewards (46). By highlighting their many earthly rewards, Willow Creek has effectively drawn people into their church.
On the other hand, faiths strongly committed to otherworldliness can offer what Stark and Bainbridge call "compensators." These include dogma concerning life after death, moral superiority, and prayer (46). While these are unattainable, they may be treated like rewards if the church presents them as valuable. As shown above, many strong faiths, including Kelly's successful strict denominations, make use of compensators in their ministry. Using all the techniques listed above, which inspire commitment, they continually emphasize the importance of the groups's belief's and cohesion.
Currently, Willow Creek emphasizes the compensators it offers only in later stages. This is a risky strategy. Though Stark and Bainbridge state that humans value rewards more than compensators (1996, 37), most of the rewards Willow Creek offers can be found in the secular world, which may be able to compete more effectively for their loyalty. This thesis has tried to show that offering strictness and compensators at later stages is a potentially successful way to affiliate members. But the balance between secular like rewards and religious compensators must be kept very precise. One way to ensure that compensators are sufficiently valued is the aforementioned idea of small groups.
Hybels and other church leaders are aware of this need to move members into niches where increased accountability and involvement are possible. Lofland's (1965) study indicated that social ties were absolutely necessary between the movement and the convert. Many ties to the group were "pre-existing friendship pairs or nets" (871). Social processes reinforce member beliefs and allow for closer monitoring. Richardson also documented this need for "positive affective ties" (39), while Kanter underscored the importance of lots of group contact or "communion" (98), which reinforces or socializes people in their new role (Robbins, 83).
If the church wants to move members into a greater level of commitment, it has to erect some symbolic boundaries around its tenets and believers. If one views affiliation as coming to believe what your friends believe, then small groups are really the crux of Willow Creek's affiliation plan. The groups have mechanisms for increasing obligations and closed boundaries, and thus may be able foster more belief in the benefits of compensators. Intense interaction may provide the ties to, dependence on, and finally, belief in, Willow Creek's Biblical beliefs.
Faustian bargain or template for the new age? Small group affiliation will decide.
ACADEMIC
Bainbridge, W. S. 1985.
"Utopian Communities" in The Sacred in a Secular Age. P. E. Hammond, ed., Berkeley: U California Press, pp. 21- 35.
Beckford, J. A. 1985.
"Religious Organizations" in The Sacred in a Secular Age. Phillip E. Hammond, ed., Berkeley: U California Press, pp. 125- 149.
Balch, R. W. 1985.
"What's Wrong With the Study of New Religious Movements Today and What We Can Do About It," in B. K. Kilbourne, ed., pp. 24-39.
Bibby, R. W. and M. B. Brinkerhoff, 1983.
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Bittner, E., 1963.
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Clark, C. S., 1994.
"Religion in America," CQ Researcher, pp. 1035-1052.
Coser, L. A., 1974.
Greedy Institutions: Patterns of Undivided Commitment. New York: Free Press.
Downton, J. V., Jr., 1980.
"An Evolutionary Theory of Spiritual Conversion and Commitment: The Case of Divine Light Mission," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 19, pp. 381-396.
Finke, R., and R. S., 1992.
The Churching of America 1776- 1990. New Brunswick: Rutgers U Press.
Frankl, R., 1987.
Televangelism: The Marketing of Popular Religion. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U Press.
Hafer, G. B., 1994.
Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek Community Church, PhDissertation, S.W. Missouri State U.
Hammond, P. E., 1985.
The Sacred in a Secular Age, Berkeley: U California Press, 1985.
Hammond, P. E., 1992.
Religion and Personal Autonomy. Columbia: U South Carolina Press.
Hechter, M., 1987.
Principles of Group Solidarity, Berkeley: U California Press.
Heirich, M., 1977.
"Change of Heart: A test of some widely held theories about religious conversion," American Journal of Sociology, 83. pp. 653-679.
Johnson, B., Hoge, D., and Luidens, A., 1991.
Vanishing Boundaries, Louisville: Westminster.
Kanter, R. M., 1972.
Commitment and Community, Cambridge: Harvard U Press.
Kelley, D. M., 1972.
Why Conservative churches are Growing, New York: Harper.
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Long, T., and J. K. Hadden, 1983.
"Brainwashing and Drift Models," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22, pp.1-14.
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Marketing the Church, Masters Thesis. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
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NON-ACADEMIC
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The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
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Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
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Willow Creek Community Church: http://www.willowcreek.org
Willow Creek thus sets itself up to be a resource for those who want to evangelize. Fitting in with the consumer mentality, Willow Creek is, further, service provider for other churches who might want to emulate Willow Creek's marketing style. The Willow Creek Association is specifically designed to connect fellow "seeker-friendly" churches and to provide a bounty of ready- made sermons, drama sketches, music, and programming ideas (WCCC website,YYY) They state that they can "stretch scarce ministry dollars," and offer training and encouragement (WCCC website, unattached). Most of the churches in the WCA have no denominational ties. The largest faith represented is the baptists with 24% and the Methodists at 5%. Over 75% of the churches call themselves "very" or "extremely" committed to the seeker model (WCCC website, unattached).
In line with their "resource" philosophy, Willow Creek assumes that attendees and other churches will select what they like and leave the rest; it has no denominational authority. Sargeant writes there has also been a 'rationalization of significant aspects of the church's organization and approach" (1994, 26). An example is their very professional staff. Part of WCA is to provide a NetWork for churches seeking employees, with want ads posted on the WCCC Website. Most of these job descriptions employ terms such as "proven market ability" (CITE).