[.uk] Willow Creek Seeker Services: Evaluating a New Way of ... (ISBN 0801052742)

A very informative book:
Beginning in the 1970s, pastor Bill Hybels, and a group of excited young believers began for a new way to "do church." Focusing on the church's duty to evangelize unbelievers, Hybels studied what kept people out of church and what would bring them into church, and they reformatted their church service for these "unchurched Harrys." And now, more than twenty years later, the Hybels' church, Willow Creek, is one of the most influential churches in Evangelical circles and beyond. In 1983, sociologist Dr. Gregory Pritchard examined Willow Creek, how they operate and why, and what they do that is good and what they do that is not so good. This is a very good book. The first section is a sympathetic look at Willow Creek, which is sure to please supporters and inform those unfamiliar with the Willow Creek way of doing things. The Second section is a critical look at Willow Creek, examining what some of the unintended consequences of the Willow Creek way are. As the author is at pains to point out, every church's modus operandi is bound to have positive consequences and negative unintended consequence, with Willow Creek being no different. If you are interested in an evenhanded analysis of Willow Creek, then I highly recommend this book to you. Having read it, I now understand a great deal more about this phenomenon.

Balanced View on Willow Creek:
Dr. Pritchard's book on the seeker sensitive movement rightly examines the "mother" of seeker churches in Willow Creek Community Church. Willow Creek seems to be defining church these days along with Saddleback Community Church. Entire denominations have reshaped their methods to adapt to the seeker movement. Is it any wonder than that a book such as this is needed? Pritchard examines Willow Creek Community Church after attending the church for over a year and having unlimited access to the pastors and staff of the church. He divides his book into two formats. He first gives an insider's view of Willow Creek and their history, philosophy, and practices. He covers Senior Pastor Bill Hybels in-depth. The second section of the book offers a critical review of the church's practices and theology. To be fair, Pritchard is not overtly critical of the church but he does find some faults but I'll leave that to you to read on your own.

A Very Balanced Read, Check it Out:
Of this book, John Armstrong writes, "Before you move your church in the "seeker" direction, be sure to read Pritchard's amazingly fair and truthful analysis. The first two-thirds will tell you what is happening - how and why. The last third will raise all the right questions for those who have a serious theology of the church. Get this book into the hands of everyone you know who is attracted to this philosophy as soon as possible. It might well be used to open eyes before your church is moved in a whole new direction and few bother to ask where they are really going."

Dated and with a negative slant:
Pritchard did the work on this book > 10 years ago, and as we all know, any thriving church has had tremendous changes in that time. I agree with other reviewers that he had a biased slant to criticizing Willow Creek, rather than finding the areas to emulate. Lastly, having been to Willow Creek, Pritchard criticizes the church for its theological content, yet fails to mention or critique their mid-week service. It is unfair to critique the theological depth of a church when looking only at the service intended for seekers (and believers), while missing their mid-week service which is intended for believers. Having not been to Willow during the time he wrote this book (early 90s), I can assume that this book may have had some validity during that time, but I see little benefit in reading this today. A much better and useful book to understand the seeker movement and gain some practical steps to implement in your church today would be Mark Mittelberg's Building a Contagious Church.

Pritchard quicker to find fault than see benefits:
Pritchard leans a little bit towards being an armchair quarterback who sits back and criticizes the efforts and motivation of a church that has served America well. He does do a good job of explaining the technical side of how Willow Creek produces a service, but the book is dated and not entirely objective. I felt that at times he missed the heart of the leaders at Willow Creek. Don't judege Willow Creek by this book.