17
claims that this eschatological nature is more than incidental: "its [the church's] very identity
turns on this reality."
55
How do seeker church leaders respond to these criticisms?
In reading key books by leading seeker church pastors,
56
I discerned their genuine desire
to be both biblically sound and pragmatically effective. The two aims exist in some tension,
which can be creative or destructive. My concern is that the tension be negotiated with
theological reflection.
I am encouraged by a recent interview in which Hybels said of Willow Creek, "We've set
up all our leadership structures and goals to grow a full-functioning Acts 2 community, as
opposed to just an evangelizing machine that doesn't drive the roots down deep and do all the
other things it's supposed to do."
57
I think Hybels gives here an important clue to how a seeker
church must function if it is to avoid wandering outside ecclesiological boundaries. The big
Sunday morning service, with the non-traditional sermon and the drama and the cutting edge
music, may be seen as "the evangelizing machine." It is not the church that is seeker sensitive; it
is the evangelistic service. There must be another time and place where Willow Creek or any
other seeker church becomes believer's church and does what is necessary to "drive the roots
down deep and do all the other things" a church must do.
Charles Colson thinks Willow Creek is doing both. Their Sunday morning service for
seekers is evangelism; their Wednesday evening service is worship for Christians.
58
Harry Poe
compares Willow Creek's Sunday morning services to that of Sunday evening services a century
55
Ibid.
56
Such as Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
1995), Lynne and Bill Hybels, Rediscovering Church: The Story and Vision of Willow Creek
Community Church.
57
Verla Gillmor, "Community Is Their Middle Name," Christianity Today 44:13
(November 13, 2000), 50.
58
Charles Colson with Ellen Santilli Vaughn, The Body (Dallas: Word, 1992), 343.