Developing a Church Model
In recent times, two models for building church congregations have become extremely popular: the Willow Creek Church model and the Saddleback Church model. The Willow Creek Church model relies on the seeker-sensitive method of gathering feedback from respondents to design church programs. Bill Hybels, the church's founder, conducted extensive surveys before starting the church. In his surveys, he asked church attendees about their expectations and problems with churches, in general. Subsequently, he condensed their responses into four main points that encapsulated the reasons why people were staying away from churches. These four points formed Hybels’ basis for reinventing the church-going experience at Willow Creek. Quite often, the Willow Creek Church model involves the use of experimental methods and techniques to make the church experience relevant and useful to attendees. For example, alternate communication mediums and contemporary references are used to create a connection with attendees. The Saddleback model of church building emphasizes and clarifies a church's purpose in a community, and all activities exist to serve that purpose. This model was developed by Rick Warren, founder and senior pastor at the California-based church. According to Warren, a church exists to fulfill five unique purposes: fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry, and evangelism. All activities at a church must be directed at achieving these purposes. Nearly 200,000 pastors have been trained in the Saddleback model since 1980. About the Author: Pastor John Wagner is a Texas-based pastor with many years of experience building church communities.