No Repentance from Willow Creek – Only a Mystical Paradigm Shift

No Repentance
from Willow Creek

Only a Mystical Paradigm Shift

www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

Emphasis added in bold
letters

Recently, headlines about Willow
Creek filled the home pages of several online news outlets. The
caption stated: “A Shocking Confession from Willow Creek Community
Church.” Some wondered if Willow Creek’s pastor Bill Hybels was
repenting from past errors in ministry techniques.1
But

a Lighthouse Trails commentary showed that this “shocking
confession” was actually a re-enforcement of Willow Creek’s
efforts to “transform this planet” through contemplative and
emerging spiritualities. The LT commentary stated:

“It is no new thing that Willow Creek wishes to
‘transform
the planet.’ They are part of the emerging spirituality that
includes Rick Warren and many other major Christian leaders
who believe the church will usher in the kingdom of God on
earth before Christ returns. This dominionist, kingdom-now
theology is literally permeating the lecture halls of many
Christian seminaries and churches, and mysticism is the
propeller that keeps its momentum. If Willow Creek hopes to
transform the planet, they won’t be able to get rid of the
focus on the mystical (i.e., contemplative). Their new Fall
2007 Catalog gives a clear picture of where their heart
lies, with resources offered by New Age proponent Rob Bell,
contemplative author Keri Wyatt Kent, and the Ancient Future
Conference with emerging leaders Scot McKnight and Alan
Hirsch as well as resources by Ruth Haley Barton and John
Ortberg. Time will tell what Willow Creek intends to do
about strengthening its focus on “spiritual practices” and “transform[ing]
the planet.”

Well, it appears it isn’t going to take a lot of time to see
what their future intentions look like.
The most current issue (Fall 2007) of Willow Creek’s magazine… gives a clear view of the
organization’s spiritual emphasis. The issue titled Ministry
Shifts has a subtitle that says: “The landscape of our
ministries is shifting. Brace yourself for the aftershocks.”

Article titles in this Willow issue certainly make a statement
that things are going to change: “Seismic Shifts,”
“Rediscovering Spiritual Formation,” “Stemming the Tide,” “The
Changing Face of Worship,” “Shifts in Missional Mindset,” and
“The Next Great Debate.” With such commitment to change, it’s no
wonder Willow Creek supports Brian McLaren, who is currently on
his “Everything Must Change” tour (named for his new book).

In the first article, “Seismic Shifts,” the message is
straightforward: “Change or die. … If the local church refuses
to change, it will die. ... But the winds of change are blowing.
Leaders and entire congregations are making the choice to try
something new. They are looking at the world, culture, norms and
trends and they are daring to take a chance, venture a risk,
find another way.” Bell explains that the other articles in the
issue give “snapshots” of how the church is now shifting.

In the first article to follow, “Rediscovering Spiritual
Formation,” meditation promoter
Keri Wyatt Kent
writes positively about “monastic communities” and “the emergent
church.”… She correctly states that while there
are some “conservative” Christians who are suspect of spiritual
formation, by and large the term and “the practices” have become
“mainstream.” These practices, of course, are the mystical
practices that are the energy behind the spiritual formation
movement.

Kent identifies Scot McKnight as part of this mystical shift.
McKnight acknowledges the Catholic connection to contemplative
practices, and amazingly, Kent brings into her article Catholic
priest
Richard Rohr. Why amazing? Rohr’s spirituality would be in
the same camp as someone like
Matthew Fox who believes in pantheism and panentheism. For
Willow Creek to include him in Willow speaks volumes about the
level of spiritual deception that Willow Creek is now under…. Richard Rohr
wrote the foreword to a 2007 book called
How Big is Your God? by Jesuit priest (from India)
PaulCoutinho. In Coutinho’s book, he describes an interspiritual
community where people of all religions (Hinduism, Buddhism,
Christianity) worship the same God. Is this where Willow Creek
is heading?

While the Willow issue says that they are not moving away from
biblical principles, nothing could be further from the truth.
For those reading this who may be new to the terms contemplative
prayer and spiritual formation, it is quite simple. A mantric-style
meditation is practiced so that the pray-er can enter a silent,
altered state, which supposedly allows him or her to hear God’s
voice and be transformed. However, because the premise of
contemplative prayer is panentheistic (God in all), it is
actually occultic in nature….

Keri Wyatt Kent… explains: “Spiritual
formation is not a passing fad, but it does continue to shift
and to change as the Church and its people grow.” Of course,
what this really means is that where once the true nature of
contemplative had to be disguised, more and more it can come out
of the closet. No passing fad here. Contemplative is pure New
Ageism, the devil’s religion to put it bluntly….

Read the full report at:

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletter111507.htm

To understand contemplative spirituality and the
emerging church, read

A Time of Departing and

Faith Undone.