2009 Theme

‘Come to me, learn from me;’ claimed Jesus, ‘for I am gentle and humble in heart...’ (Matthew 11:29)

In 2009, the theme for Spring Harvest will be Apprentice. We will be learning how to be apprentices, disciples and followers of Jesus...

Steve Chalke with
the latest update on the theme...

“We made a mistake.” The words of Bill Hybels, the founder and senior leader of Willow Creek, one of the five biggest churches in North America.

At the end of last year Willow Creek released the findings from what they called “a multiple year qualitative study” of the life of their church. They wanted to know which of their activities were really making a difference. As they put it, which “were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not.”

The results were published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You? And what the research uncovered shocked Willow Creek to the core. Bill Hybels called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.”

Having spent thirty years and tens of millions of dollars creating and implementing a spectrum of programmes designed to build a ‘seeker friendly’ church, the study revealed that most of the church’s programs had completely failed to lead people into deeper relationships with Jesus.

Hybels referred to the report as the “wake up call” of his life and then, in typically honest style, added that Willow Creek would now be getting on with the hard work of coming to grips with the “root and branch changes” that it demanded.

As John Buckeridge put it in his editorial for Christianity magazine, “Long-held assumptions about how discipleship deepens crumbled.” But he added that, “I’ve always had a high regard for Willow Creek and its senior pastor Bill Hybels…now, even though their discipleship strategies have been shown to be patchy, I regard them even more highly.”

Buckeridge goes on to set out three reasons for the depth of his respect for the Willow Creek leadership.

• One: They had the courage to ask the tough questions in the first place. “How many individuals, churches and organizations”, he asks, “choose not to ask important and penetrating questions – presumably for fear of what they might discover?”
• Two: Having discovered flaws in a strategy that had been widely praised and well regarded, the Willow leaders “didn’t spare their own blushes. They honestly acknowledged a problem.”
• Three: Having paused, prayed and taken advice, they are responding by changing.

Spring Harvest 2009 will begin to explore the theme of Apprentice with its subtitle Walking in the Way of Christ.

The author Dallas Willard wrote: “Presumed familiarity of Jesus and his message has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance.”

As the church faces up to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, it is time to look again, with fresh eyes, at how Jesus nurtured his first disciples or apprentices. What can we learn from re-reading the gospels to discover more about Christ’s own methods and approach to discipleship, to mentoring, and to learning and teaching?

As Graham Cray, Bishop of Maidstone summed it up; “If our goal is whole life Christianity, our task is to change the church’s current default settings.”

See you at Spring Harvest 2009! Steve Chalke - Spring Harvest Leadership Team