Willow Creek Community Church
Encyclopedia
Willow Creek Community Church (or simply Willow Creek Church) is a non-denominational, multi-generational Evangelical Christian megachurch
located in the Chicago suburb
of South Barrington, Illinois
. It was founded on October 12, 1975 by Bill Hybels
, who is currently the senior pastor. The church has three weekend services averaging 24,000 attendees, making it the third-largest church in the United States
(this ranking includes multi-site churches). The church has been listed as the most influential church in America the last several years in a national poll of pastors.
and Dave Holmbo http://www.cmmlink.com/Tribute.htm were inspired by the success of the South Park Church’s youth ministry, of which they were both leaders (Dave had invited Bill to work with him a few years earlier), and aspired to start a church that used relevant biblical teaching, music, and drama. On October 12, 1975, the church met for the first time, renting Willow Creek Theater in Palatine
, Illinois
.
In 1977, the church purchased 90 acres (364,217.4 m²) in South Barrington to build its own building. The first service was held in the new building in February 1981. Since then, the building has been doubled in size and the property expanded to 155 acre (0.6272633 km²). The changes included a new worship center with more than 7,000 seats, which replaces the 4,500-seat Lakeside Auditorium.
There are now ministries designed to serve a variety of needs for different age and people groups.
The church bases its belief on the Bible
, asserting it to be inspired by God, inerrant
, infallible, and the final authority on matters which it covers.
Based on its understanding of the Bible, the church then draws the following conclusions:
In addition to the South Barrington central campus, Willow Creek has 6 "regional congregations" around the Chicago area:
Willow Creek has different ministries depending on the age of the person:
The church holds three weekend services and midweek classes on Wednesdays. Midweek classes are an opportunity for people to move forward in their spiritual growth through targeted teaching in the areas of Biblical Theology, Spiritual Practices, Faith in Action, and Training. The slogan for Willow Creek and their regional congregations is "One Church. Multiple Locations." The regional congregations each have their own worship team, student ministries, children’s program, and campus pastoral team. The main message is videocast from the South Barrington
campus for the weekly services.
Aside from the suburban congregations, beginning October 1, 2006, the church has held one Sunday service before matinee performances at the Auditorium Theatre just south of the Chicago Loop
. The church will also use its downtown presence to develop its ministries for the homeless and prostitutes.
. However, it is a distinctly separate organization which has close affiliations with Willow Creek Community Church.
There are more than 13,000 member churches, which come from 90 denominations, and 45 different countries.
There is an annual membership fee of $249 which gives the member church access to discounts on Willow Creek Resources and conferences, as well as a magazine, an audio journal, several web-based ministry tools, and a variety of Select Service Providers. Select Service Providers are ministries and organizations that provide products and services to member churches for a discounted price. Examples and more details about WCA Membership can be found on their website: WCA Membership
To be a member of WCA it is a requirement that the member church, ministry, or leader hold to an “historic, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity.”
Since 1995, Willow Creek Association has held an annual Leadership Summit. Speakers at the Leadership Summit have included President
Bill Clinton
, Karen Hughes
, who served as Special Advisor to former President
George W. Bush
, Lady Vols'
women's college Basketball
coach Pat Summitt
, Dallas
, Texas
pastor
Bishop T.D. Jakes, business consultant and author Jim Collins, University of Southern California
president Steven Sample, Yahoo!
's Tim Sanders, business author and leadership consultant Marcus Buckingham, and Rick Warren
, pastor and author of The Purpose Driven Life
. The 2005 Leadership Summit had over 53,000 attendees in over 100 locations across North America. The 2006 Leadership Summit featured Bill Hybels interviewing U2 frontman Bono
.
The 2007 Leadership Summit served 80,000 leaders in over 130 cities. Speakers included Colin Powell
, Jimmy Carter
, John Ortberg
, Richard Curtis
, Reo Anderson, Carly Fiorina
, Michael E. Porter, Marcus Buckingham
and Willow Creek Community Church's Senior Pastor, Bill Hybels
.
It was the first church in the world to make use of two Mitsubishi
Diamond Vision high-definition
LED
screens 14'x 24' in size, usually seen in new sports stadiums. Each screen is movable on its own track system and can be combined into one giant screen. The Worship Center also has innovative dual, stacked-deck balconies.
Wheelchair seating has a "1 person to 1 LCD ratio" for disabled attendees. Back rows have 62 inches (1.6 m) LCD screens at an approximate "10 seats to 1 LCD ratio." Every TV broadcasts the service across the room utilizing 8-12 standard definition cameras. Although the room is HD ready, only one HD camera is currently used for weekly services.
, New York Times bestselling Christian author, was a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church from 1987 to 2000.
Shawn Christopher
, a popular dance music vocalist, leads worship at Willow Creek's weekend services.
The Christian rock
/Contemporary Christian music
group BarlowGirl
is associated with Willow Creek. The Barlow sisters' father, Vince Barlow, created youth CDs at Willow Creek. His work gained exposure throughout the United States, and he was hired to perform at events. He brought his daughters as his backup band in the late 1990s.
Another notable former member is Shane Claiborne
who did an internship at the church. He is the author of The Irresistible Revolution
and Jesus for President: Politics For Ordinary Radicals (by Zondervan ISBN 978-0-310-27842-9) and founder of The Simple Way.
Gunner McGrath
, the lead singer, and guitarist of the punk rock band Much The Same
Megachurch
A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...
located in the Chicago suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of South Barrington, Illinois
South Barrington, Illinois
South Barrington is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States south of Barrington, Illinois. The population was 3,760 at the 2000 census. South Barrington is a wealthy suburb of Chicago and home to the famous megachurch Willow Creek Community Church. The village is known throughout the area...
. It was founded on October 12, 1975 by Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels
William Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, one of the most attended churches in North America, with an average attendance of nearly 24,000 as of 2011...
, who is currently the senior pastor. The church has three weekend services averaging 24,000 attendees, making it the third-largest church in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(this ranking includes multi-site churches). The church has been listed as the most influential church in America the last several years in a national poll of pastors.
History
Willow Creek Community Church started when Bill HybelsBill Hybels
William Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, one of the most attended churches in North America, with an average attendance of nearly 24,000 as of 2011...
and Dave Holmbo http://www.cmmlink.com/Tribute.htm were inspired by the success of the South Park Church’s youth ministry, of which they were both leaders (Dave had invited Bill to work with him a few years earlier), and aspired to start a church that used relevant biblical teaching, music, and drama. On October 12, 1975, the church met for the first time, renting Willow Creek Theater in Palatine
Palatine, Illinois
Palatine is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a northwestern residential suburb of Chicago. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 65,479, making it the sixth-largest community in Cook County and the 16th-largest in the state of Illinois at that time...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
.
In 1977, the church purchased 90 acres (364,217.4 m²) in South Barrington to build its own building. The first service was held in the new building in February 1981. Since then, the building has been doubled in size and the property expanded to 155 acre (0.6272633 km²). The changes included a new worship center with more than 7,000 seats, which replaces the 4,500-seat Lakeside Auditorium.
There are now ministries designed to serve a variety of needs for different age and people groups.
Beliefs
Willow Creek Community Church states that its mission is to "turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ."The church bases its belief on the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, asserting it to be inspired by God, inerrant
Biblical inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.Conservative Christians generally believe that...
, infallible, and the final authority on matters which it covers.
Based on its understanding of the Bible, the church then draws the following conclusions:
- There is one God, eternally existing in three persons— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— each possessing all the attributes of Deity.
- Humans were created by God to have fellowship with Him, but due to their rejection of God, they need His saving grace, which must be received by repentance and faith, in order to end the separation from Him.
- Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth and then voluntarily paid for the sin of humans with His death on the cross. This payment offers salvation for those who believe in Jesus. He rose from the dead and is the mediator between us and God. Christ will return to the earth to consummate history.
- The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ and equips believers for personal growth and service to the church.
- The church's role is to glorify God and serve those in need.
- At the end, everyone will experience bodily resurrection and the judgment. Those forgiven through Christ will enjoy eternal fellowship with God.
Church organization
Willow Creek Community Church's leadership is divided into four sections:- Teaching Pastors
- Board of Governance (includes Elders)
- Leadership Team
In addition to the South Barrington central campus, Willow Creek has 6 "regional congregations" around the Chicago area:
- Casa de Luz (Sevicio en Español in South BarringtonSouth Barrington, IllinoisSouth Barrington is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States south of Barrington, Illinois. The population was 3,760 at the 2000 census. South Barrington is a wealthy suburb of Chicago and home to the famous megachurch Willow Creek Community Church. The village is known throughout the area...
) - Willow Chicago (Chicago Auditorium Theatre)
- Willow Crystal Lake (Crystal LakeCrystal Lake, IllinoisCrystal Lake is a city located in southeastern McHenry County in northeastern Illinois, in the Chicago suburbs. It is named after Crystal Lake, a lake located west-southwest of downtown. Crystal Lake is also a suburb of the city of Chicago. The population was 38,000 at the 2000 census, but as of...
) - Willow DuPage (West ChicagoWest Chicago, IllinoisWest Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,469 at the 2000 census. It was formerly named Turner Junction after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1855...
) - Willow Huntley (HuntleyHuntley, IllinoisHuntley is a rapidly-growing village in McHenry and Kane Counties, Illinois. In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the village's population to be 22,923. As of the 2000 Census, the village had a mere 5,730 people, meaning the village's population has more than tripled in eight years...
) - Willow North Shore (NorthfieldNorthfield, IllinoisNorthfield is an affluent village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately north of Chicago. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 5,389...
)
Willow Creek has different ministries depending on the age of the person:
- Promiseland (infants–grade 5)
- Elevate (junior high) elev8world.com
- Student Impact (high school) studentimpact.com
- Axis (18- to 20-somethings "young adults") iamaxis.org
- Main service (adults)
The church holds three weekend services and midweek classes on Wednesdays. Midweek classes are an opportunity for people to move forward in their spiritual growth through targeted teaching in the areas of Biblical Theology, Spiritual Practices, Faith in Action, and Training. The slogan for Willow Creek and their regional congregations is "One Church. Multiple Locations." The regional congregations each have their own worship team, student ministries, children’s program, and campus pastoral team. The main message is videocast from the South Barrington
South Barrington, Illinois
South Barrington is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States south of Barrington, Illinois. The population was 3,760 at the 2000 census. South Barrington is a wealthy suburb of Chicago and home to the famous megachurch Willow Creek Community Church. The village is known throughout the area...
campus for the weekly services.
Aside from the suburban congregations, beginning October 1, 2006, the church has held one Sunday service before matinee performances at the Auditorium Theatre just south of the Chicago Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
. The church will also use its downtown presence to develop its ministries for the homeless and prostitutes.
Willow Creek Association
In 1992, the Willow Creek Association was created as a way to link together churches for the purpose of “Reaching increasing numbers of lost people." The WCA develops training and leadership conferences and resources for its member churches. The Willow Creek Association is often confused with Willow Creek Community Church, or mistaken for a denominationChristian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
. However, it is a distinctly separate organization which has close affiliations with Willow Creek Community Church.
There are more than 13,000 member churches, which come from 90 denominations, and 45 different countries.
There is an annual membership fee of $249 which gives the member church access to discounts on Willow Creek Resources and conferences, as well as a magazine, an audio journal, several web-based ministry tools, and a variety of Select Service Providers. Select Service Providers are ministries and organizations that provide products and services to member churches for a discounted price. Examples and more details about WCA Membership can be found on their website: WCA Membership
To be a member of WCA it is a requirement that the member church, ministry, or leader hold to an “historic, orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity.”
Since 1995, Willow Creek Association has held an annual Leadership Summit. Speakers at the Leadership Summit have included President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Karen Hughes
Karen Hughes
Karen Parfitt Hughes is the Global Vice Chair of Burson-Marsteller. She served as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of State with the rank of ambassador. She resides in Austin, Texas.-Early life:Born in Paris, France, she is the daughter...
, who served as Special Advisor to former President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Lady Vols'
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
women's college Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
coach Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt
Patricia "Pat" Head Summitt is an American women's college basketball coach. She is currently the head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history of either a men's or women's team in any division...
, Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
Bishop T.D. Jakes, business consultant and author Jim Collins, University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
president Steven Sample, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
's Tim Sanders, business author and leadership consultant Marcus Buckingham, and Rick Warren
Rick Warren
Richard Duane "Rick" Warren is an American evangelical Christian minister and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States...
, pastor and author of The Purpose Driven Life
The Purpose Driven Life
The Purpose Driven Life is a devotional book written by Christian author Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. The book has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for advice books for one of the longest periods in history, while also topping the Wall Street Journal best seller charts as...
. The 2005 Leadership Summit had over 53,000 attendees in over 100 locations across North America. The 2006 Leadership Summit featured Bill Hybels interviewing U2 frontman Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
.
The 2007 Leadership Summit served 80,000 leaders in over 130 cities. Speakers included Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
, Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, John Ortberg
John Ortberg
John Ortberg, Jr. is an evangelical Christian author, speaker, and senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, California, an evangelical church with more than 4,000 members...
, Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
, Reo Anderson, Carly Fiorina
Carly Fiorina
Carly Fiorina is an American business executive and a former Republican candidate for the United States Senate representing California. Fiorina served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and previously was an executive at AT&T and its equipment and technology spinoff,...
, Michael E. Porter, Marcus Buckingham
Marcus Buckingham
Marcus Buckingham is a British-American New York Times bestselling author, researcher, motivational speaker and business consultant best known for promoting what he calls "Strengths." Basing most of his writing on extensive survey data from interviews with workers in countries around the world, he...
and Willow Creek Community Church's Senior Pastor, Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels
William Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, one of the most attended churches in North America, with an average attendance of nearly 24,000 as of 2011...
.
Worship Center
Willow Creek's state-of-the-art Worship Center (completed in 2004 at an estimated cost of $73 million) seats 7,095 people, making it over twice as large as the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and one of the largest theaters in the United States.It was the first church in the world to make use of two Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi
The Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy...
Diamond Vision high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
screens 14'x 24' in size, usually seen in new sports stadiums. Each screen is movable on its own track system and can be combined into one giant screen. The Worship Center also has innovative dual, stacked-deck balconies.
Wheelchair seating has a "1 person to 1 LCD ratio" for disabled attendees. Back rows have 62 inches (1.6 m) LCD screens at an approximate "10 seats to 1 LCD ratio." Every TV broadcasts the service across the room utilizing 8-12 standard definition cameras. Although the room is HD ready, only one HD camera is currently used for weekly services.
Notable members
Lee StrobelLee Strobel
Lee Patrick Strobel is a writer, creationist, former journalist and former megachurch pastor. He is the author of several books, including four which received ECPA Christian Book Awards and a series which addresses challenges to a Biblically inerrant view of Christianity...
, New York Times bestselling Christian author, was a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church from 1987 to 2000.
Shawn Christopher
Shawn Christopher
Shawn Christopher is a female African American dance music singer from Chicago, Illinois.-Career:She was a touring backing vocalist for R&B singer Chaka Khan from 1982 to 1985. She is also a former member of the industrial dance band known as My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, and sang with the...
, a popular dance music vocalist, leads worship at Willow Creek's weekend services.
The Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
/Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
group BarlowGirl
BarlowGirl
BarlowGirl is an American Christian rock–CCM all-female band from Chicago, Illinois. The band is composed of sisters Alyssa , Rebecca , and Lauren Barlow . The band has won several awards in their genre; their song "Never Alone" was the longest running No...
is associated with Willow Creek. The Barlow sisters' father, Vince Barlow, created youth CDs at Willow Creek. His work gained exposure throughout the United States, and he was hired to perform at events. He brought his daughters as his backup band in the late 1990s.
Another notable former member is Shane Claiborne
Shane Claiborne
Shane Claiborne is one of the founding members of The Simple Way in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This community was featured on the cover of Christianity Today as a pioneer in the New Monasticism movement. Claiborne is also a prominent activist for nonviolence and service to the...
who did an internship at the church. He is the author of The Irresistible Revolution
The Irresistible Revolution
The Irresistible Revolution is a book by Shane Claiborne published in 2006. This work, subtitled "Living as an Ordinary Radical", describes and advocates what the author argues to be a truly Christian lifestyle...
and Jesus for President: Politics For Ordinary Radicals (by Zondervan ISBN 978-0-310-27842-9) and founder of The Simple Way.
Gunner McGrath
Gunner McGrath
This page is about Chris "Gunner" McGrath, the musician. For other people of the same name, see Chris McGrath .Christopher Leslie McGrath , better known as Gunner McGrath, is the founder, lead singer, and guitarist of the punk rock band Much The Same...
, the lead singer, and guitarist of the punk rock band Much The Same
Much the Same
Much the Same was a punk rock band from the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Their style is based on the fast, melodic skate punk of the mid-to-late 1990s made popular by bands such as NOFX, Lagwagon, and No Use for a Name....
Willow Creek websites
- Willow Creek Community Church - South Barrington, IL, USA
- Willow Creek Association - resources for churches of various names and denominations across North America and the world
- Recap of the 2004 WCA Leadership Summit
- http://www.willowchicago.org Willow Creek Downtown Chicago Campus