Willow Creek Community Church

The Willow Creek Community Church is an independent U.S. church without denominational affiliation (engl: non- denominational church ) in South Barrington, Illinois, near Chicago. It was founded in 1975 by Bill Hybels, who is pastor of the church until today. Due to the numerous participants in the service, the Willow Creek Community Church is called a megachurch.

Size of the community

Religious Movements of the University of Virginia in 1997 indicates that Willow Creek with 2,000 members and 15,000 worshipers, the second largest congregation of the United States ( figures 1997). Willow Creek itself on the weekend and during the week 17,500 to 6,000 worshipers, to about 2,700 home groups with about 17,000 participants ( 2005 figures ). In the published by Outreach Magazine list of the largest and fastest growing churches in America Willow Creek is listed in 2011 as the third- largest church with 24.377 visitors. Willow Creek is financed on the basis of donations.

Willow Creek Association

The Willow Creek Association was founded in 1992 as a network between communities. For this network now comprises approximately 11,000 communities, Willow Creek was for Germany in 2011 more than 300 partner communities to. Early May 2012 gave Willow Creek on his website only 13 partner municipalities in Germany. Each municipality pays a membership fee of $ 249 annually.

Willow Creek Germany / Switzerland

To the Board of Willow Creek Germany / Switzerland offer are Hartmut Baerend, Ulrich Eggers ( first Chairman), Hartmut Steeb, Karl- Heinz Zimmer (Managing Director). Since 1996, several conferences in Germany and Switzerland organized by Willow Creek (municipality conventions, Promise Land congresses, youth congresses, conferences line ). The largest conferences in Germany were the Willow Creek - line conferences in 2000 in Dusseldorf with 4,000 participants in 2002 in Oberhausen with 8'100, 2005 in Stuttgart, Germany with 11,000, in Bremen in 2006 with 5,400, 2008 Oberhausen with 4'500, 2010 in Karlsruhe with 7'700, 2012 in Stuttgart with 7,500 and 2014 in Leipzig, with 8,000 participants. In addition to Bill Hybels as the main speaker also speakers from Germany have been invited increasing. In recent years, Prof. Dr. theol Michael Herbst was one of the speakers from Greifswald.

Criticism

Besides a lot of encouragement, the Willow Creek movement like other megachurches is also criticized partly violent, based of critical media as the mirror as "a great temple with entertainment " of parts of evangelicalism as too little and too much on biblical marketing.