Oh, how I had hoped that it really was encouraging, Gamecock...
But, unfortunately, Willow Creek is just using the popular man-made survey approach, again. They used this approach to establish the church and now they are using the approach to to meet the crowds ever changing tastes. The crowd no longer wants the "entertainment church". The crowd, as shown in the survey, now wants something more "spiritual".
So what will Hybel's give the crowd, now?
It is something that existed already at Willow Creek in a smaller dose...but it appears that Hybel's is ready to give it to them in a much bigger dose: hard core mysticism and the social gospel.
As evidence, Hybel's just had Brian McLaren, an emergent heretic, speak at Willow Creek, on the "shift" that is taking place, and that must take place, in Christianity. McLaren's proposed shift is a shift away from biblically-based orthodox Christianity towards a religion of mysticism and the social gospel.
While Willow Creek's conclusion that the seeker sensitive approach does not work is correct (as many have said from the beginning)...Their remedy associated with their conclusion is EVEN WORSE!
- the existence of a literal hell
- the atonement of Christ on the cross (among other statements on the subject, he endorsed a book that calls penal substitutionary atonement "cosmic child abuse")
- that homosexuality is a sin
- the Gospel
- all that...and so much more
This is the "huge shift" that Willow Creek is talking about.