Willow Creek Repents

I've commented on the Reveal Study before on my own personal blog, but given my last post on the subject, I want to follow up a little bit.

• Reveal Spirituality Survey Results
• Reveal Small Group Data

After reading MacDonald, it reminded me of something that Bill Hybels said in response to the Reveal Data. I heard him share some of these thoughts at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, but here is how he said it as quoted at the Out of Ur blog of Christianity Today called Willow Creek Repents (There's a second post as well from Greg Hawkins of Willow.

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and became Christians, we should have started telling people and
teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self-feeders'. We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

Out of UR then goes on to says, "In other words, spiritual growth doesn't happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships."

Have we gotten so far away from the basics that we've lost the very core of what it takes to develop a disciple?