Rediscovering Church: The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church
Bill Hybels is pastor of the fastest-growing church in the U.S. during the past 20 years, an institution attended by some 15,000 each Sunday. In this two-part book, his wife, Lynne, first tells his and the church's story, and then he explains the vision of Christian community, the principles of leadership, and the strategy for gathering followers that have made Willow Creek Community Church thrive. Hybels' basic motivation has always been to bring souls to Christ. His program for doing so involves using drama and rock music to get the "unchurched" to hear Christian teaching and see that it relates to their lives and then routing new members to small groups and services to deal directly with their desire for companionship and counsel. Perfecting Willow Creek's evangelical methods took time and hard work, as this smoothly written book makes plain, and the payoff is a genuinely nurturing Christian community for an impressive number of persons--a worthwhile accomplishment the Hybels describe with neither vainglory nor false modesty.Ray Olson