May
2009
IDOLATRY: FINDING THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THE CHURCH IN THE PROCESS OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH!
Willow Creek Church, along with 200 other churches, recently published findings from an extensive survey of congregants (80,000), which traced some of the dynamics of spiritual growth and the process of maturing as a Christian. Specifically they were able to identify four segments or levels of spiritual maturity in the church, Exploring Christ, Growing in Christ, Close to Christ and Christ-Centered Life. They based their assessment on the premise that spiritual growth is a process of increasing intimacy with God, under the Matthew 22:37-39 rubric. The upshot is that there is a shift in the role of the church between the earlier stags of growth and the later more mature levels. But in many cases the church has not reacted to this, and has elevated its role to the place of prime resourcer of personal spiritual growth at every stage in the Christian’s personal development. This is tantamount to church idolatry, especially when the shift to greater intimacy occurs more as a result of personal practices at these more mature levels, rather than what the church directly contributes. The church has in a sense inserted itself in the process where the Holy Spirit should be… and this can only be described as idolatry. The fall out is that while the church purports to want its people to grow, what it is actually doing has stunted and even arrested spiritual growth, by babying its people and failing to change roles to become the resourcer of ministry and service, by those who have grown past a direct dependency on the church for their personal spiritual growth.
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