Last Sunday I visited Willow Creek DuPage, one of Willow Creek’s Regional Campuses, which meets at Wheaton Academy. I actually just made it for the end of the service because I went to another church service first.
The Willow Creek DuPage room seemed quite full. All of the rows were 70% full. 400 people perhaps? After the service, they had lemonade and cookies set out at different tables labeled with different high school names in the area. The idea is that people can more easily find people who live near them.
But I had one question. At the end of the video message by Mike Breaux, the worship leader came up and led three songs. He invited people to stand and later to clap their hands. It didn’t seem to me like many people were singing. Then again, I was in the back. Perhaps many of the people visiting are "seekers" and thus feel uncomfortable singing.
For this reason I thought that Willow Creek did not invite people to sing very much in their weekend services. I thought the focus was on performed music as opposed to congregational singing. Is this still the line of thinking? Or are Willow Creek and other seeker-driven churches incorporating more congregational singing? Just curious.
P.S. I’m sorry for not asking the regional pastor this question but I felt bad because I hadn’t been at the whole service and he had invited people who were hurting to talk with him. I threw away my brochure but I have sent an email to the general DuPage regional church email address to see if someone wants to comment.
I’m also sorry for not carrying my camera and taking a photo. The law of copyrights with photos is that you usually don’t get in trouble if you post your own photos. So I’ll have to do that more often. This photo is free to use because I found it on stock.xchnge
See my recent post about video venues for more discussion about this concept.