Ran across an [1] old blog post from Andrew on the clash between the emerging church culture and the mega church culture.

In short, he writes:

“We feel manipulated […], insulted […], dumb [… and] like we haven’t been to church”.

Some good food for thought.
When thinking of the Saddleback-mania and Willow Crrek-itis, I can’t help but recognizing that it indeed seems to be effective. Yet, the key to this effectiveness lies in the culture these churches are operating in. It just doesn’t work to export the values, concept and programming if the prevalent culture in the target location is completely different and / or opposing to the culture where Saddleback or Willow Creek became successful. E.g., you just won’t find many Baby Boomers in the inner cities or on student campuses.

Along these lines (or not), Brian McLaren writes in his book “Fast Forward: New Maps for a New World” the following (as quoted [2] here, p. 24):

So one of the biggest questions on my screen these days is, How does the Spirit of Jesus Christ incarnate in a postmodern world? This question very likely terrifies or infuriates some Christians because they see the traumatic implications of what I am saying. And maybe they are right: Maybe there is no way ahead. [b]Maybe the faithful thing to do these days is to become intellectually Amish and create communities that live in the past.[/b]

So, the though is out there: Will visiting Willow Creek in 50 years be like visiting an Amish village today ? We’ll see…