The Roys Report Willow Creek at 50: The Extensive Impact & Profound Damage
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Nov 19, 2025 
Lance Ford, Director of Restoration Resources at The Roys Report, delves deep into Willow Creek's complex legacy as it marks its 50th year. He explores how the church’s seeker-sensitive model revolutionized modern church design while also highlighting its darker impacts, including leadership idolization and spiritual stagnation. They discuss the failures of attractional services to foster genuine discipleship and examine how Willow’s corporate-style governance affected church culture. Ford provides insightful reflections on reimagining church practices for future generations.
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Seeker Model Became A Global Church Paradigm
- Willow Creek built a global paradigm that reshaped modern Sunday services and pastoral identity.
- Its seeker-sensitive, production-driven model prioritized attraction over deep disciplemaking, with long-term consequences.
Personal Faith Rebuilt At Willow Creek
- Julie Roys recounts attending Willow Creek in her twenties and finding apologetics that rebuilt her faith.
- She credits Willow with bringing unbelievers in but later questions its full effectiveness for long-term growth.
Attraction Trumps Discipleship
- Willow targeted the 'unchurched' by stripping liturgy, replacing it with storytelling and contemporary production.
- That made church attractive but shifted center of gravity to the stage, not to disciplemaking.
