Just a couple of things I’ve been checking out today:
- BBC Radio 4 has just started a series on the British Newspaper Industry, but it could just as easily be about the newspaper industry in the U.S. The first episode asks if it’s time to write the print newspaper’s obituary; it’s called A Farewell to Print.
- There’s a new survey out there called Reveal that is being used to try to determine the spiritual health of churches based on something other than simply how many people a church has attending or participating. The survey was sponsored by Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and has led to that megachurch rethinking its philosophy of ministry.
I don’t think print is ever going to die. People want to read a piece of paper. The problem with so many newspapers is typified by our local rag. Establishment newspapers are so biased and unwilling to dig for the truth that people only turn to them for sports and fluff. They go to sites like the Chronicle for real news.
Even though Billy has been drooling to write that obit for years now, the truth is that many of us use all forms of news gathering… TV, newspaper, magazines, blogs, etc. And, like the Mouse said, many of us want to be able to carry that written word around… it’s a heckuva lot easier than a laptop in the bathroom to read (not that I’ve tried)… it’s just more relaxing.
If newspapers go, then magazines would not be far behind… yet go to Barnes & Noble and check out their “printed word” areas. There’s a whole new generation of people who like tucking the newspaper under his/her arm. It will never be what it used to be… but it will never die either.
Mainline denominations have been struggling with these issues of metrics and definitions of “success” in a church context for decades, but this survey is really the first time megachurches have tackled it, which is nice to see.
It’s good that the megachurches are looking for a measure other than “size = awesomeness.” But then Willow Creek has always been one of the best megachurches; the ones that really NEED this research aren’t ever going to look at it. Any metric other than “size = awesomeness” would decrease their bottom line. 😛
What is sort-of interesting to me is that Willow Creek appears unaware of the existing data out there from mainline US denominations and from other churches worldwide (it’s not just Americans struggling with the issue of church metrics); one would assume that would be valuable and prevent at least a certain amount of reinventing the wheel, as well as providing some historical data.
That was supposed to be a sticking-out-the-tongue face, not a happy face.
Eyebrow, you really need to work on your smiley skills 😉
Some good friends of ours recently attended Willow Creek. They sang a Beatle’s song , I think it was called Revolution, without any revisions or modifications. Somehow that just doesn’t sound appropriate for a church survice. I think they need to re-evaluate the purpose of the church, which is to edify the saints.
I’m not a big fan of megachurches generally, but Willow Creek has a genuine concern for its members spiritual lives and functions as an actual church. Some megachurches just exist to pick pockets or use Jesus as a marketing tool to sell the pastor’s Complete Line of Weight Loss in Jesus Books and Supplements.
Frequent Reader: I’m guessing that your friends attended on a weekend. Their weekend services are targeted toward seekers, not the saints. Their Wednesday night services are like a traditional church’s Sunday morning services. Willow Creek’s Sunday morning services are geared toward evangelism.
C.J.
Isn’t it customary to evangelize by presenting the gospel? What kind of evangelism do you get from a Beatle’s song?
Frequent Reader, Here are the other songs they sang that morning, according to the Willow Creek website: Kingdom Come (Words and Music by Ben Fielding, ©2005 Hillsong Publishing), You are Good (Words and Music by Israel Houghton, ©2001 Integrity’s Praise! Music), and The Noise We Make (Words and Music by Chris Tomlin and Jesse Reeves, ©2000 worshiptogether.com songs / sixsteps Music). Also, Bill Hybels spoke on Romans 8, which is a pretty evangelistic chapter.
Was the Beatles’ song part of some drama that went along with the message?