Diana Butler-Bass on Willow Creek's Move from Programs to Practices

Diana Butler Bass, author of The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church comments on the change at Willow Creek at the God's Politics blog.

Inevitably, someone asks: "How does this relate to a Willow Creek strategy for church growth?" Most every pastor knows about Willow Creek and its wildly successful seeker-oriented, market-driven church growth program—and many pastors have labored to recreate such programs in their own churches or denominations.

Until recently, my answer has been, "Not very well. They focus on numbers, on getting people into church, and on 'one-size fits all' programs for the spiritual life. That isn't bad for them; it is their path. And it is different from what my team found in small and medium-sized mainline churches. We found the programs don't make Christians. Practices do."

Read it all.