This book is essentially the result of a series of surveys prompted by Willow Creek's self-evaluation back in 2008 or so. This self-evaluation prompted a number of changes in the church's approaches to ministry (270-277). I liked some aspects of the book, but I didn't like others. I'll start with what I liked and then tell you what I didn't like.
The positives: The writers emphasize the importance of biblical engagement, pulling away from some of the pushes for diet Scripture teaching and preaching of yesteryear (10, 219-227). They even laud the oft-assumed dinosaur of expository preaching as an effective means to this end (222). The writers dismiss the activity and program-oriented model of church growth (16-17) for a model that is more focused on individuals and their spiritual vitality. Participation is not enough (33). The admission that the churches surveyed primarily are filled with immature believers was interesting (51). While I don't know if this is true across the board, it is a valuable statistic to be aware of. The fact that believers "expect to be challenged" (54) is a strong point to make, but a needed one. We sometimes tend to think that avoiding placing church members into tight accountability structures makes the church more attractive, but it really does just the opposite. I thought the gap concept (88-98) was very important. The church does a good job teaching people to assent to key biblical concepts like stewardship, evangelism, service, and love for others, but can often fail at driving the congregants to actuate these beliefs. The importance of accountability and intimacy through spiritual friendships and mentorships is highlighted (120). I appreciated the writers' rejection of a one-size fits all model, even if the recommendations seem to move in this direction, something I'll address later (158). The rejection of the Keswick crisis-model of sanctification is also notable (159). An emphasis on personal commitment to the cause of Christ (174) and small group ministry (177) are also helpful. I thought that the last two chapters on community outreach (237-247) and pastoral leadership (248-255) were particularly insightful.
The negatives: The whole approach seemed off to me. The book begins with the assumption that the church is on the wrong course with doing ministry. Rather than beginning to take polls to see what needs to be done, perhaps some other steps needed to be taken first. Perhaps the church should examine what may be wrong with the approach. Willow Creek and many of the seeker-oriented models began with similar community-focused surveys in order to help them cater to the wants and needs of the unsaved and saved community around them. They then shaped their churches around these needs and wants. They created a consumer mentality for their churches. Now, twenty years later, the people are dissatisfied, so the approach is to poll the people and find out where they're at. On the upside, they're polling church-goers in order to understand how the church should work. On the downside, it seems like they forgot to poll God. I guess that's a little harsh. Let me back it down a little. I get that they're trying to gain insight on where they're succeeding and failing in ministering to their people, and you can get a glimpse of that from a poll, but you can also learn a lot if your starting point is the Word of God. This also works itself out in the approach of the survey.
The whole continuum model (21-22) seemed problematic as well. First, these analyses are made by people in the moment. By an answer to one question, the writers are filtering every other aspect of the survey. Perhaps some of the people being surveyed just had a really bad week and struggled with a particular sin, and then they ranked themselves low; however, on the whole, they're really much stronger Christians than they'd admit. Second, these categories become the lenses through which the rest of the book views the peoples' actions. I'd rather see that paradigm reversed. In other words, we should be taking an Epistle of James approach and identifying certain actions of believing persons that demonstrate growth, poll these, and determine where our congregations are at spiritually. Finally, these paradigms shouldn't become so front and center in our ministry that we forget that people are on a journey and not in a science lab. Counting and grouping are all well and good in the lab, but in real life people often don't fit neat little molds that we try to force them into.
Another issue I had was that the impression that the writers give is that certain beliefs, church activities, personal practices, and spiritual activities need particular emphasis at different times in the Christian walk (see charts on 111, 114, 118, 121). But every church is made up of people at different points in the walk. Surely if we're turning off and turning on (or turning down and turning up) aspects of teaching and edification as we poll our congregations then we run the risk of doing exactly what the writers lament: catering to one set of needs above another (183). Perhaps it seems a little simplistic to say this, but if we're being whole-Bible pastors and are seeking to teach the whole counsel of God, shouldn't we be covering all these bases through every avenue of the church as possible? Why would we turn off or turn down any of these aspects?
At times the writers tend to downplay "the church's direct influence" (155), as if there's a time at which the church equips believers, and then the believers go out on their own to evangelize and grow. But I think this misses the mark. We need the church more than we could possibly imagine. But this is also one of the downsides of a survey. Super-saints tend to think they don't need other people. The Bible says that everyone needs the church (Eph. 4:12). I don't think that this is what the writers intend, but it almost comes across that way.
So I guess I'm saying that there are some interesting points that surface throughout the book, but on the whole it would have been better if it was approached through a Scriptural lens. If you're already conscientiously contextualizing a Gospel-centered model (cf. Keller's
Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City
), then you'll probably not find the results of this study quite as shocking or "counterintuitive" (14) as the writers claim.
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