Willow Creek, Homosexuality, and the Future of Evangelical Response

I guess it always pays to be on time from coming back at lunch at The Summit.  We missed a huge announcement yesterday from Bill Hybels on the withdrawal of Howard Shultz from the schedule of the Summit because of an online petition claiming Willow Creek is “anti-gay.” I felt like Hybel’s response was one of the best responses I have heard in a long time concerning homosexuality and the Church.

Patrick Lencioni was amazing as a last minute fill in talking about being vulnerable in leadership.  He broke out principles from his latest book called “Getting Naked.” Looks like a great book for sure!

Here is Hybel’s graceful announcement/response to the last couple of weeks.  Total class act!

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I really liked what Ed Stetzer wrote on his blog concerning the announcement.  Here is a portion:

Much could be said here, but let me briefly suggest five principles to consider about the issue of homosexuality and evangelical churches:

1. The issue is not going away and you cannot ignore it or seek to downplay your views.
2. The culture sees this as a “justice” issue– Christians discriminating on the basis of immutable characteristics.
3. Though it is easy to make the case (in the church) that homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture, it will be exceedingly difficult case to make in today’s culture.
4. Building bridges and showing grace and love is needed, lacking, and essential when dealing with people with different views and values.
5. At the end of the day, all evangelicals (including centrist evangelicals like those at Willow Creek) will still have to deal with an issue that the world perceives as narrow and bigoted.

Pray for Willow as they are in the media this week– that they will make much of Jesus, will continue to stay true to the scriptures, and will show grace in the process.

Ed Stetzer – Willow Creek, Homosexuality, and the Future of Evangelical Response.