Church Visit #1

Tessa Larsen - Church Visit #1

Church name: Willow Creek

Church address:  67 Algonquin Rd, South Barrington, Illinois 60010

Date attended: 2/9/14

Church category: Significantly less liturgical

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

The worship service at Willow Creek was significantly more contemporary and less liturgical than the church I currently attend. Both services play a blend of upbeat and reflective songs. Both services also offer some songs as collective corporate worship and others as solo pieces to be listened to. However, the differences comes in the overall aesthetic of the service. My current church service is held in a building with wide open spaces and big windows with lots of natural sunlight. This creates for a warm, welcoming environment, which is very conducive to fostering community. Willow, however, has a more concert-like atmosphere. This is likely due to the combination of the auditorium seating arrangement, lack of windows, and all of the stages lights. Initially, I thought I wouldn't like this concert-like feel. And though I still don’t prefer it, I was surprised at how warm and welcoming they were able to make us feel. From the moment we walked in to the moment we left we were being welcomed. The auditorium was huge, but it also had a surprisingly homey feel to it. Willow is far from any church that I have ever attended and while yes, it was overwhelming, I still was able to come away from the experience with a greater appreciation for the church.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?

Besides finding escalators, multiple cafes, and a waterfall inside the church I think the section communities was one of the more interesting and appealing things about the worship service. One of my biggest frustrations with churches this size are that people often become lost in the congregation. It is so easy to blend into the mass of people and lose sight of the goodness that comes from being in community with one another. During the announcements, information about how to get involved in your section community was offered. At first I was just confused because he would call a section of seats and everyone would start cheering in that section, but I quickly realized that every week as you start attending Willow you sit in the same section and start to develop a community within that section and have what they call Section Parties. It is just a way to, very practically, break down the immensity of such a large-scale church and harbor smaller, close-knit fellowship between church members. I just thought it was a great way to be proactively fighting against letting anyone fall through the cracks because if someone new sits in your section you quickly realize they are new and can introduce yourself and invite them in.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

In anticipation for the worship service at Willow Creek, I knew I would likely feel overwhelmed and out of place. This is often the case in settings of such large quantities of people. Upon our arrival to Willow Creek, I was not disappointed and immediately overcome. Two things that are incredibly valuable to me when it comes to a place of worship are community and aesthetics. Personally, it is difficult for me to foster a community of believers in a place where I am overwhelmed just by the sheer number of people. I realize, however, that this is likely only a personal preference and not true for all people. Aesthetics are also important to me. Close, warm, intimate places are often the places where I feel most in communion with God. This is another reason why I prefer a smaller church setting. Everything in this church was big. We walked into what I thought was the main worship service, which turned out to be the youth group. That definitely put things into perspective. We then walked through their cafeteria, which was massive. At one point I thought we were walking through an airport food court. This church wasn't playing games when it came to their food selection. Eventually, we made it to the service and were ushered to the front row. Honestly, I think what was most disorienting was the pure scale of this church. Everything was big.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

The sermon was on belief and centered on 1 Corinthians. I thought he did a great job of clearly articulating his message. Fundamentally, he was challenging the cultural definition of belief. Often belief is used to label a preference or a personal conviction, but the truth is that belief is only that which is essential. Christians are often using these words interchangeably, when in reality they are far from the same. We say things like, “I believe dancing is wrong” or “I believe oranges are better than apples” when really belief is said to be only the essential. Preferences and convictions are a different category. Belief is the essential gospel truth that is true for all of us. Adding preferences and convictions to this is like saying that we need Jesus plus something else, which is far from gospel truth. Though this may not be far from my regular church context, I think this is different from the context of daily life at Wheaton. Wheaton is filled with high-achieving, principle-abiding individuals who, I think, often get caught up thinking their personal convictions and preferences are essential. Convictions are important and so are preferences, but I think there is a grave danger in mislabeling them as essential beliefs. I fall into this too. I often want people to abide by my personal convictions and forget to realize that those are not the essential parts of belief, but rather only convictions of mine.