April 21, 1997 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Bill Hybels's Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, Illinois, is noted as the second largest "Protestant" church in North America and is upheld widely as a model for church growth. Hybels is a popular speaker in Evangelical circles, appearing, for example, at Moody's Founders Week Conference with men such as Billy Graham, E.V. Hill, Warren Wiersbe, Charles Stanley, Chuck Swindoll, George Sweeting, Joseph Stowell, Tony Evans, and David Jeremiah. On March 19, 1997, we distributed an article which describes the unscriptural character of the Willow Creek ministries. One of those is their acceptance of female pastors.

The following information is excerpted from the article "Femme Fatale: The Feminist Seduction of the Evangelical Church," World magazine, March 29, 1997 --

The move [to inclusive language Bibles] fits with the trend toward egalitarianism--the denial of any distinctions between men and women--in the church and home. Egalitarians assert that women should be pastors, elders, and co-heads of families. Gilbert Bilezikian, professor emeritus at Wheaton College and author of Beyond Sex Roles, puts it bluntly: "There cannot be authentic community as described in the New Testament without the full inclusion of the constituency of members into the ministry life and leadership of the group."

Mr. Bilezikian is a founding elder and influential theologian at Bill Hybels's Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. Willow Creek's rapid growth and its influence on other evangelical churches through the 2,200-member Willow Creek Association makes its position on the issue important. Willow Creek has had women elders since its founding in 1978. But in the past year the church has made explicit among its leaders the reasons for its position--and demanded a level of agreement from staff and prospective church members. In January 1996, John Ortberg, one of Willow Creek's teaching elders, taught a two-hour class to church ministry leaders, in which he said that staff needed to share the convictions of the church, or study until they shared those convictions; and they had a year to do so.

Mr. Ortberg's teaching became the basis for a draft position paper dated January 1996, which WORLD has obtained. The paper, which was distributed only to Willow Creek's ministry leaders, says the church "has sought to insure an appropriate level of consensus on this issue with new staff members" to avoid an environment that "would be destructive to authentic community and effective ministry." The statement makes clear the church's belief that "when the Bible is interpreted comprehensively, it teaches the full equality of men and women in status, giftedness, and opportunity for ministry," despite "a few scriptural texts that appear to restrict the full ministry freedom of women."

What does Willow Creek mean by "appropriate level of consensus?" In practice, it means that complementarians are encouraged to look elsewhere for a church. As Dr. B--at is what Willow Creekers affectionately call Gilbert Bilezikian--explains, "Anyone who is a member adheres to the statement of beliefs and practices of the church."

Dick Carr had attended Willow Creek since 1992. "I came to Christ there, was baptized there, married there," he says fondly. That's why Mr. Carr's dissent over the women-in-leadership position is painful for him to talk about; he still loves the church. But last year, when Mr. Carr decided to join the church, he ran into difficulties. An appendix of the membership book "threw up red flags for me."

Mr. Carr asked his division leader, who told him to read Dr. B's Beyond Sex Roles. That raised even more questions. He read a complementarian book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, by John Piper and Wayne Grudem, which made sense to him. But when Mr. Carr recommended the book be carried by the Willow Creek bookstore, he says the bookstore manager told him "it was deemed not appropriate." Mr. Carr went back to his division leader, who referred him to a female elder who is the author of a paper called "Elders' Response to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Membership at Willow Creek." In that document, volunteer membership coaches are told, "We ask that Participating Members of Willow Creek minimally be able to affirm and joyfully sit under the teaching of women teachers ... that they can joyfully submit to the leadership of women in various leadership positions at Willow Creek."

A letter from Mr. Bilezikian to Mr. Carr confirmed the church's position: "I commend you for wanting to serve with integrity in a church that is compatible with your view. Obviously Willow Creek is not that place." At that point Mr. Carr gave up the idea of membership.

Willow Creek teacher Mr. Ortberg says the need for agreement is an "issue of integrity" But complementarian Wayne Grudem uses no euphemisms in his analysis of the Willow Creek position: "The way an egalitarian view triumphs is by a suppression of information and discussion."

Willow Creek makes explicit the connection between the egalitarian position on women's roles and Bible translations. The January 1996 statement on sex roles states that Willow Creek is committed to "encourage the use of translations of Scripture that accurately portray God's will that His church be an inclusive community." ("Femme Fatale: The Feminist Seduction of the Evangelical Church," World magazine, March 29, 1997)

See also the following articles:

"Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek Community Church"
"Bill Hybels and the Roman Catholic Church"