A Holy Experiment
Aaron Niequist and Steve Carter discuss launching a new initiative at Willow Creek.
A Leadership Journal interview
September 23, 2014
When Willow Creek Community Church was founded in 1975, it emerged as one of the most innovative congregations in the country. Seeking to reach a culture full of "Unchurched Harrys and Marys," Willow re-imagined how the church did worship, preaching, outreach, and discipleship. Other church leaders have been eager to learn from Willow's innovative model ever since.
Forty years later, many of the ideas Willow Creek pioneered are now commonplace, but the church has not lost its innovative impulse. A new generation of pastors is building on Willow's heritage of leadership by experimenting with forms of worship and discipleship never before tried at the church. Aaron Niequist, a worship pastor, and Steve Carter, a teaching pastor, are beginning an 18-month experiment at Willow Creek called The Practice. Leadership Journal editors Drew Dyck and Skye Jethani sat down with Niequist and Carter to discuss their holy experiment.
Most ministries tend to think about innovation or change when they notice their existing plan is no longer effective. Was that the case for Willow Creek?
Steve Carter: Not at all. The conversation emerged from a place of opportunity, not fear or decline. We've been humbled and surprised by how God has been working at Willow, and we wanted to be open to what he wants to do next.
Aaron Niequist: And that is what is exciting for me about the culture at Willow. We don't settle. There's a sense that there is still ground to be taken. There are still ways to grow. There are still things we don't know and ways we can learn. I think Bill [Hybels] and the executive team have modeled that attitude.
Carter: That culture of innovation is even reflected in the church's operating ...
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