Willow Creek Community Church: Space For Transformation?

Has America created a new church? Bill Hybels reveals his close ties, friendship, and influence with Robert Schuller in his book, "Rediscovering Church."


Pictured: Bill Hybels, Rebecca St. James, Robert Schuller .

Completion of the 7,200-seat, $73 million, auditorium keeps Willow Creek in the ‘top ten’ largest church auditoriums in the country. The lobby includes a water wall, escalators, 12 kiosks connecting the church’s Web site, and an indoor coffeehouse with fireplace.


Willow Creek Pastor Mark Ashton commented on site of the completion, “This is really about creating a space for transformation to happen in peoples’ lives.” Ashton has led “TruthQuest Coffeehouse” and “The Biggies” where he and co-leader Richard Angle promote that Christianity does not have a corner on all truth anyway and that we can “find truth in all corners of the universe.”

On Willow Creek’s “vision night 2005,” after Gene Appel read from Acts, “As the apostle Peter preached…and 3,000 people were added to their number.,” Bill Hybels pointed out that they now have “plenty of empty seats….” Highlighting the evening, Hybels shared that the dream of his adult life has been to be in a church where every single person knew that they were a priest and that they would be AN UNSTOPABLE FORCE IN OUR COMMUNITY, CITY, STATE, COUNTRY, AND WORLD. He believes it can happen. In the lobby, tables were set up with Bill’s new book “The Volunteer Revolution” for everybody in the Willow family “AT NO CHARGE.”

The churches that “are effective” will be giving up their declaration of independence, according to church growth guru C. Peter Wagner who boasts that the “growing churches” around the world will be distinctively “interdenominational.” Wagner calls this change the “new apostolic reformation movement.” It is not a reformation of faith, but a reformation of practice. His sites the Willow Creek Association, an alliance spawned by the 18,000 member Willow Creek Community Church, “as an example” as Willow Creek now provides spiritual association and direction for thousands of churches worldwide. (19)

The 1995 membership book for Willow Creek, on p. 41, claimed  that Willow Creek is now "interdenominational." They had claimed to be nondenominational up to that point.  Nondenominational churches reject all man-made doctrines and strive to follow only what the Bible teaches. Interdenominational churches, on the other hand, accept all beliefs.... 

“The New Apostolic Churches” believe they are “the last push to fulfill the Great Commission” according to C. Peter Wagner in his book “A Radical New Way of Doing Church.” He is joined by 18 apostolic church leaders, including Bill Hybels, who share their stories of inspiration as they shape their churches into new models for the twenty-first century.

WILLOW CREEK COMMUNITY CHURCH EVOLVES

1. “AN ORDINARY DAY WITH JESUS,” unfolds at Willow Creek with Ruth Barton and John Ortberg. Barton was trained at Tilden Edward's New Age Shalem Institute. (Protestant No More : Willow Creek is Infiltrated by a Mystic Quaker Movement Called Renovare)
2. MARK ASHTON—TruthQuest 2003: “The truth can be found in all kinds of corners of the universe….”
3. RICHARD ANGLE—TruthQuest 2003: “…Christianity doesn’t have a corner on all truth…you can find truth in a lot of things. As we get in touch with how people of other faiths think, then, I think we have more of a bridge that we can build to them.”
4. BILL HYBELS—Senior Pastor: mentor has been Robert Schuller who believes all ways lead to God.  On the back of Brennan Manning’s 2003 book “A Glimpse of Jesus: A Stranger to Self-Hatred,” Bill Hybels comments “I attempt to read everything Manning writes.” Former Catholic priest/present Catholic mystic, Brennan Manning combines Eastern mysticism, psychology, the New Age movement, liberation theology, Catholicism and Protestantism. He claims his debt to the Catholic Church is enormous with its mysticism, beauty, the Eucharist, which he believes is true, and the long history of fine writers and thinkers. Manning regularly meditates (centering prayer) and reports having many visions and encounters with God.
5. JOHN & NANCY ORTBERG—(click picture to read)Late teaching pastors: teach ‘centering’ and train pastors at conventions with labyrinths, yoga, monastic rule of life, and spiritual directors ( Yoga).
6. KATHY DICE—Late director of women’s ministries: was let go after 911 suposedly due to "cut backs", yet a whole new "new age" staff was hired to run the women's ministries and Hybels was able to give away free books at the women's mentor classes as well as his new book "The Volunteer Revolution" to the whole church at his mid-week service....
7. NANCY BEACH—Teacher at Willow Creek—National Pastors Convention…labyrinths..
8. SIBYL TOWNER—Women’s mentor trainer/teacher—Teaches Lectio Divini, covenant groups, breath prayers, promotes Richard Foster, Parker Palmer, Tilden Edwards, and works with Karen Mains’ “Hungry Souls.”
9. MINDY CALIQUIRE—Spiritual formation leader who led the congregation in meditation with arms outstretched and palms up winter 2003.
10. GILBERT BILEZIKIEN—(Dr. B.) Influential teacher; egalitarian.
11. RUTH HALEY BARTON—Spiritual director; praised by mystics; works with Tilden Edwards …
12. KERI WYAT KENT—Women’s teacher; speaks at retreats with labyrinths, centering, …various meditative..”
13. SUSAN SHADID—Children’s ministries; helped lead mentor training with Sybil Towner
14. MYSTIC QUAKER RICHARD FOSTER--“Foster teaches quietism, mantras, centering, Buddhism, Yoga, T.M.(TM wants to do away with Christianity!), spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola(Loyola killed Christians for Catholicism and Catholics say “anathema “ to those who claim the true Gospel which has nothing to do with Catholic rituals.”
15. TILDEN EDWARDS—“…. trainees at least need to be with someone who is their director, who can help them attend to the Master of Loving Truth within.” (Protestant No More)
16. MYSTIC QUAKER PARKER PALMER (click pictures)—“The soul: It is like a wild animal: tough, self-sufficient, resilient, but also exceedingly shy…if we are willing to go into the woods and sit quietly at the base of a tree, that wild animal will, after a few hours, reveal itself to you.”
17. IGNATIUS LOYOLA—“He wrote spiritual exercises and, with the Jesuits, they would meditate and put themselves into a trance and levitate. The Jesuits were known for being the most cruel order of priests in what became what was known as the bloodiest time in the history of mankind.”
18. MYSTIC QUAKER GEORGE FOX—“The nickname “Quaker” came from the shaking aroused by inner struggles of individuals facing their inner motives “under the Light” in the Quaker meetings. They believe they have revived true Christianity and all other religions are false.”

19. ROB BELL-- Bell is well-known at Bill Hybels’ Willow Creek--“I preached that sermon one time at Willow Creek and the goat pooped right on the stage. A great moment in that fine church’s history... I feel like I helped them go to a whole new level of ministry in the Chicago suburbs. The same thing happened here at Mars Hill....”

Hailed by “mystics,” RUTH BARTON is a “spiritual director,” teacher, and retreat leader trained through Tilden Edwards’ Shalem Institute. She is cofounder of “The Transforming Center,” a community of Christian (?) men and women who shape and care for the souls of leaders—equipping them to guide their churches and organizations in becoming “SPIRITUALLY TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES” that discern and do the will of God(?). In 1995 John Ortberg and Ruth Barton unveiled “spiritual formation” at Willow Creek with their book “An Ordinary Day With Jesus.” Similar to mystic Richard Foster, who is promoted at Willow Creek and teaches astral projection, “An Ordinary Day With Jesus’” curriculum teaches to “pray the ordinary.”

Currently, the WILLOW CREEK BOOKSTORE is stocked with HENRY NOUWEN and RICHARD FOSTER’S contemplative books which replace biblical concepts with “centering prayer” that is said to be the same process as integrating the conscious with the unconscious as described by JUNGIAN PSYCHOPHERAPY. SPIRITUAL FORMATION is a new paradigm and “consciousness revolution.” Individual thinking and application of reason are discouraged for this new shift to “intuitive right brain” modes.

In Willow Creek’s Bookstore I purchased the November/December 2003 issue of “Books and Culture: a Christian Review,” a publication of Christianity Today International. On p.22 I found a book review that helped me understand the “angle with the culture” that was surfacing. “What Heresy?” by Frederica Mathews-Green, who “claims” to be a Christian, expresses an author’s interest with Gnostic theology and texts as she reviews a new book. Not unlike Richard Foster’s non-Christian call for “renewal,” she felt that Christianity was “called afresh” to what she claims to be “the truth about God” in this book review. Her truth was the idea that “God is within and permeates all creation.” She goes on to describe it not only as a “direct” but an “electrifying” encounter with the interior presence of God. She claims that she had her first contemplative experience as a “non-Christian” and that anyone can experience this because “GOD IS WITHIN EVERYTHING HE CREATES (pantheism).” So when the Gnostics claim that “The Kingdom of God is within you,” in Frederica’s opinion, it’s hardly a heretical statement. She goes on to report that today’s Neo-Gnostics would find a crowd around them, from 17th century Spanish nuns to 21st century American Pentecostals, saying, “That sounds like what I’m talking about.”

Willow Creek's "TruthQuest" has been gathering for about four years now. “Hopefully,” TruthQuest host Richard Angle explained, “people ‘Christians and non-Christians’ will gather together for charitable, open conversation in a way that all will benefit.” What they want to do at TruthQuest is share and learn from other’s opinions and for others to learn from them. White tablecloths were set with flowers and candles at each table. The coffee was good, there was a fine assortment of sweets spread, a musical guest, and people interested in why you where there. The Coffeehouse gathering seeks to “reach the culture” and “answer the big questions people have about their faith.” With an interactive format, their hope is that “people from all religious backgrounds” will come to discuss and learn about issues related to “spirituality.”

“…Christianity doesn’t have a corner on all truth…you can find truth in a lot of things. As we get in touch with how people of other faiths think, then, I think we have more of a bridge that we can build to them,” Angle commented.

Mark Ashton immediately followed claiming, “I’m real close to Richard…I love to find truth in all kinds of corners of the universe.” Richard says he makes it his business to find out what other religions believe. Currently he is working on a course in Buddhism just to see what it is like and to see if it has any “foundations.”

“Willow Creek started in the 1970’s as a youth group, then it moved to a movie theater, and we just keep making it up as we go along” was how Richard Angle (truthquest.richard@willowcreek.org ) described Willow Creek’s “historic roots” at the November “Truthquest Coffeehouse” on the topic “The Joy of Sects.” Richard opened with, “In Acts 2 the Apostle Peter...as he preached and 3,000 people were added to their number….not specific....like fundamental, Baptist…there were no separate distinctions among the people.”

A panel of members from Willow Creek who came from different faiths answered questions. Willow Creek claimed its sole basis to be the 66 books of the Bible along with teachers to help them. The Roman Catholic rep chose to humorously mention that masturbation is a sin to RC’s, and, on a more serious note, recommended that Willow could learn from reading about the walks of prior pilgrims like Francis of Assisi. The Liberal rep shared that Liberals include Marxist ideas, compassion like Buddhism, objectivism, dialectic, free and open inquiry to Scripture, and belief that the kingdom of God is here and now...that is the reason for the emphasis on social justice...and Willow was learning from the liberals and something was “already in the wings.” Richard, Willow’s rep, made it clear that not getting married was especially important to him... “Do All Paths Lead to the Same Destination?” (http://www.leaderu.com/wri/articles/paths.html ) was available for group discussion.

BILL HYBELS:  “Our values are our rock solid convictions—who we are at Willow. We are going to try to understand the culture. Jesus used to say every once in a while you have to change wineskins. When new wine is being made you have to put it in new containers. The old message needs to be re-packaged. It needs to be continually re-packaged so we can make sense to people living in the culture. That is a core value here. We will never change the message, but we will understand the culture and bring that unchanging message in undiluted uncompromising to the culture in a culturally sensitive way. It is a value of our church to be authentic with each other and to stop playing the games. You can’t get anywhere when people are playing games, the footing is soft...you can’t trust what people are saying to each other. Freedom comes when you don’t have to pretend anymore. It’s what Jesus meant when He said you can be free indeed. Cuz you can anticipate radically accepting love from each other--the freedom to no longer have to pretend. We hold that very highly here. If teachers come in and they try to be better than we know they really are we don’t let them teach anymore. If vocalists get up and they start singing songs that they don’t live out in their lives, we go.. you know what, it ain’t going to work. If it leads to truth telling, and confrontation, and sometimes having to do clean up and reconciliation its a lot better to go through the mess of that than to go on with masks on and all the pretending. Don’t you agree?” (Bill Hybels, “Vision Night,” 2003)

Bill Hybels, speaking to his congregation, said, “...In a survey you have said that you, and a lot of your friends, think maybe that all world religions are essentially the same. They are just overlays and all their doctrines are quite similar, and they all point the same directions, so what’s the big deal.. Why is it important to choose the right one if they are all basically the same. Instead of me preaching about it, we thought we’d bring experts from some of the major world religions and we would let them describe their beliefs and then we would let you, intelligent people, come to your own conclusions.” If you saw a variety, a lot of differences in these religions, you need to know the law of non-contradiction says, “Positions that are different from one another can not be equally true.” You’ve gotta figure out which you believe... on where you are going to drive that stake in the ground and say, on the evidence, on the search that I’ve done, this is what I believe....this is what I stake my life and my eternity on. We live in a very diverse world and we have to learn to get along with and respect and show deference and kindness to people who represent different religions and we have had a wonderful time.... with these brothers and sisters (panel of world faiths) who came to us to help us. I hope that as we leave that you will leave with the words of Jesus on your mind who said that the greatest of these, the highest kingdom law, or value, is the law of love...and while we may disagree about where it is where we drive our stake of conviction and belief we are called to be compassionate and understanding and respectful of those who believe differently. Do you agree with that statement? (“I Have a Friend Who....Thinks All Religions Are the Same..” Bill Hybels and guests Pt. 2, 2003 tape #0318).

Bill Hybels chose to interview President Clinton at Willow Creek because he is a leader, he was willing to talk about his successes and failures as a leader, and the congregation was going to learn from that. “…..when the day comes that you’re to proud to learn from someone’s mistakes, you’re just too proud…I think Christian leaders have to grow and grapple with how to respect people that we have vehement disagreements with…. somewhere along the way some of us have caved to a form of behavior that legalizes tearing people down, ridiculing people, believing the worst about people, rumor mongering, even hating. People who we have political differences with still matter to God.” Then Bill Hybels chose to berate and go into the details of some of the “Christians” who protested what he was doing, mimicking what he was just trying to correct in others. He continued, “GOD LOOKS AT IT HOLISTICALLY” and I thought that by having the president here we would no longer be able to theorize about these things…You’re going to have to look at a man and contend with your feelings… and…decide if you can agree to disagree with somebody….listen with ‘OPEN-MINDEDNESS.’”

In 1987, Bill Hybels mentor and inspiration, Robert Schuller, who believes that Christ is not the only way to heaven, said “it was time for the Protestants to go home to Rome.” Schuller also went to Rome to get the pope’s blessing before building his Crystal Cathedral. Scott Peck (frequently quoted at Willow) announced in 1983 that he had become a Christian, but his all-embracing definition of Christian included no statement of faith, and “millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, atheists, and agnostics.” (11/18/97 World ad)

The Hybels have shown approval and respect for the author of the book "Codependent No More," Melodie Beattie. In her two sequels, "Beyond Codependency" and "Codependent Guide to the Twelve Steps," she promotes humanistic psychology. In "Codependent No More" she strongly promotes and endorses Alcoholics Anonymous/12-step programs. Beattie strongly advocates and teaches her readers to seek any "Higher Power." Beattie also endorses and highly recommends reading "A Course In Miracles," which is full of New Age teaching and "was dictated by a spirit guide" (masquerading demon). It is published by the New Age organization Foundation for Inner Peace. Beattie also endorses the best selling New Age book in the U.S. "The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck. Hybels speaks favorably of M. Scott Peck a number of times in his books and in various articles as well.  

In 1995 John Ortberg and Ruth Barton unveiled “spiritual formation” at WCCC. The following year John was responsible for the push for equality of women at WCCC; those in leadership positions had to submit "joyfully" to women in leadership. Ruth is a graduate of Wheaton College, recently served as president of the Chicago chapter of Christians for Biblical Equality.

The original leader of the women’s ministries at Willow Creek, Kathy Dice, had been let go after 911. She had been moved from her position to work on writing Bible studies and then was told they could not support her anymore. Aware of the liturgical influences, Kathy Dice recalled that sometimes they would just like to light a candle.

Candles offer a natural focus for psychic work in which gazing into the flame is considered one of the most spiritual forms of meditation. “The use of a mantra, or power word spoken softly can be used as you look into the flame. Although the word “Om” is said to be the sound of the universe that brought it into being, you can also use any rhythmic, resounding word as a focus. For the occultist, past-life work, astral projection and divination can all begin with the act of lighting a candle and then letting the feelings and images flow....you should have your arms resting comfortably in your lap with palms upwards. You will also then concentrate on your “breathing” to the point where you actually become your breathing as you focus on the candle and let its warm light fill your mind.” (Eason, Cassandra, “Candle Power,” Cassel & Co., 1999)

SIBYL TOWNER:  “Hungry Souls” website’s methodologies and ideologies were taught, and recommended in a mailer at the end of the 2003 spring women’s study “Practicing Your Faith” at Willow Creek.  Sibyl is heading up mentoring for women at WCCC and various other ministries there; also a trainer for the Hungry Souls Website with Karen Mains from Mainstay Ministries.
Women’s study February-May ’03 at Willow Creek; “Practicing Our Faith” by Dorothy C. Bass, endorsements:

1. “..remarkable...it includes some of the most insightful Christian voices of our time, but because its members prayed and talked and worked together to create this volume, modeling the way the church is meant to do its work.” PARKEY PALMER (mystic Quaker)
2. “..the essays challenge us to practice our faith with greater dedication and imagination. Drawing inspiration from Biblical tradition and from contemporary literature as well as their own experience…forge more deliberate and rewarding connections with ‘the sacred.”” Robert Wuthnow, Princeton U.
3. “ ..the inseparable domains of the Biblical and the mystical are precisely what we need as we prepare to enter the 21st century.” Maria Harris, author of Fashion me a People and Proclaim Jubilee!

p. xi “Practices are those shared activities that address fundamental human needs and that woven together, form a way of life. Reflecting on the practices as they have been shaped in the context of Christian faith leads us to encounter the possibility of a faithful way of life, one that is both attuned to present-day needs and taught by ‘ANCIENT WISDOM.’”

p. xii “We are guided by a variety of Christian models-the Black church, the Society of Jesus (JESUITS), the Society of Friends (QUAKERS), and young churches led by the apostle Paul-as we reflect on the importance of giving truthful testimony, making discerning choices, and shaping worthy communities.”

MINDY CALIGUIRE:  Mindy led the entire congregation at Willow Creek’s prayer night (winter 2003) for Iraq in a common New Age pose, instructing everyone to relax and extend their arms out and palms up. Bill Hybels praised her for “how deeply” she had just been praying (why does the "way" or "depth" matter in how she prays? The Pharisees were known for such displays.) He also let the congregation know that she was “very active” behind the scenes with the leadership in “spiritual formation.”

Mindy is the head of spiritual formation for the leadership at WCCC; she also teaches women’s classes at WCCC. She is involved with her husband Jeff in “Soul Care Communications,” an organization which fosters “inner growth” and has a special emphasis on journaling.

RUTH HALEY BARTON
http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/articles/jan02.htm “Mystics review their friend Ruth Barton”
http://www.shalem.org/mission.html Shalem’s Mission and History

Barton is a spiritual director, teacher and retreat leader trained through the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation(Tilden Edwards!) and the Pathways Center for Spiritual Leadership (Nashville, Tennessee). She is cofounder of The Transforming Center, a community of Christian men and women who shape and care for the souls of leaders--equipping them to guide their churches and organizations in becoming spiritually transforming communities that discern and do the will of God.

Educated at Wheaton College and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Barton has served on the staff at several different churches, including Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. She co-authored with John Ortberg "An Ordinary Day With Jesus;" presented spiritual formation in 1995 with John Ortberg at WCCC; President of Chicago chapter of Christians for Biblical Equality; spiritual formation minister at WCCC. Ruth is a spiritual formation speaker for NAPCE pastors conferences. At the conferences, one-on-one spiritual directors and training are offered (This is clearly Occultic—a Christian does not seek a "director" when relating with God.)

“Since our opening 20 years ago, Hearts & Minds has emphasized a selection of contemplative writers, spiritual and devotional classics and has attempted to foster an appreciation for Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant mystics ...Some mystics, as most of us know, tend to so emphasize the ecstatic spiritual experience that they seem disinterested in ordinary life....So, we struggle: just how does all this deeper spiritual language translate into daily life? And does it empower us for a life of thoughtful discipleship in the modern world, or does it lead us to retreat into what is sometimes called “navel-gazing”?”......“pray the ordinary” as Foster puts it, and find that rhythm of a balanced journey inward and outward.....it will serve as a helpful follow up for those using An Ordinary Day With Jesus, by considering the significant work of Dallas Willard, Eugene Peterson and that postmodern evangelist Len Sweet’s powerful invitation to “mezzuzah your universe.” http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/articles/jan02.htm

RECOMMENDED AUTHOR: RICHARD FOSTER

Foster is being promoted in thought and books at Willow Creek. Foster’s book “Spiritual Classics” is currently stocked under classics at the Willow Creek bookstore. In his book, Thomas Merton has a chapter and there are not only discussions on the meaning of “silence,” but, on page 128, Quaker founder George Fox’s experience with “hearing a voice” is detailed. Foster is a mystic Quaker and a psychologist at Fuller Seminary. Along with William L. Vasivig Foster directs the Renovare movement. In his book, "Celebration of Discipline," instruction is offered using guided imagery in occult practices of visualization, meditation, and astral travel. In the forward to the book, "Power Healing" by John Wimber, Foster endorses Wimber’s apostolic role and claims that the author speaks with confidence as one who is living out of the divine center. The Eastern mysticism term, "divine center," means God is a universal consciousness, residing within everyone, guiding them on the path to evolutionary perfection. In a similar manner Quaker Quietists believe "God is within." Renovare is an ecumenical movement that disregards doctrine.

In 1991 Foster’s second “National Conference on Personal Spiritual Renewal of Christian Leaders” had more than one thousand pastors and leaders in attendance, the directors praised occultist/psychiatrist Carl Jung as a great psychiatrist emphasized personal renewal through ‘meditative prayer’ involving ‘centering down’ to become quiet and passive, then used guided imagery and visualization of Christ. Foster called for unity in the body of Christ through the ‘five streams of Christianity,' the contemplative, the holiness, the charismatic, social justice and the evangelical.


RECOMMENDED AUTHOR: TILDEN EDWARDS
http://www.shalem.org/
http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1994/v51-1-article11.htm “ yoga….”

Tilden Edwards is also supported and his name is referred to in the books used in the women’s classes. He is an Episcopal priest and founder and director of the Shalem Institute For Spiritual Formation(Ruth Barton). You can purchase his book “Spiritual Friend” in Willow Creek’s bookstore. Edwards describes in his book, "Spiritual Friend," Paulist Press, 1980, pp. 210-212, a time of grouping together of the Catholics and Protestants. He calls this grouping a reconstellated understanding of direction in which no one is thoroughly confident and that it is a humble sense of equality. He writes of a dimension of charisma that can only be attended as an unfolding process and how the program can provide launching, sensitising, and securing platforms, yet they are only puny in comparison to the spirit’s movement in the person when the time has come. Future "spiritual friends" were to be selected mainly from those who have a B.A. or equivalent and express commitment to Truth through a particular major religious tradition and at the same time are open to learning from other traditions. In 1978 they had about 50 people apply for their first program. He was disappointed with having no black applicants. They chose a group of almost equal numbers of men and women and of Roman Catholics and Protestants, and a good mix of parish clergy, religious community members, chaplains, seminary faculty, advanced students, formation directors, and laity working in various church and community situations.

Tilden claimed it was unfortunate that they had no apprenticeship to a master because we still live in a relatively masterless time and trainees at least need to be with someone who is their director, who can help them attend to the Master of Loving Truth within. He described the training as a mid-wife, attending the birth of deeper spiritual sight through cleansing, aligning, and resting. This faithfully appropriated integrative sight is what "makes" a good spiritual director. It is not the accumulation of knowledge. It is the nakedness of sight. The program can be taken for graduate academic credit...some are taking it as part of academic doctoral programs in Christian Spirituality at Catholic University..and some as part of master of divinity programs. (pp. 210-212, Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend, Paulist Press, 1980,).

In a wise introduction to A New Christian Yoga, Tilden Edwards, Executive Director of The Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Washington, D.C., explains: Many Christians today, from monks to lay people to clergy, find themselves turning to hatha yoga as a way of more fully living out an incarnational Christian faith. That faith has valued the human body as a precious divine gift worthy of Christ. For a variety of unfortunate historical reasons, however, it has never, in practice, paid systematic, positive attention to the body in spiritual formation. To the degree Christ asks us to see and share his inspirited body as itself a sign of God's loving presence with us, we could say that the body itself is a sacramental reality. "This is my body-take and eat-"; incorporate into yourself my body-spirit, reveal God in your whole being. http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1994/v51-1-article11.htm


RECOMMENDED AUTHOR: MYSTIC QUAKER PARKER PALMER

http://csf.colorado.edu/sine/transcripts/palmer.html “Discovering the ‘sacred’”

The soul: “It is like a wild animal: tough, self-sufficient, resilient, but also exceedingly shy…if we are willing to go into the woods and sit quietly at the base of a tree, that wild animal will, after a few hours, reveal itself to you.” Parker Palmer is also enthusiastically endorsed and quoted by Sibyl in her mentoring classes. Parker is also a Quaker. He, not unlike the Dalia Lama, believes that a life illuminated by spirit and infused with soul will transform education. “As we go into these five days together, let us remember one thing about the soul. It is like a wild animal: tough, self-sufficient, resilient, but also exceedingly shy…if we are willing to go into the woods and sit quietly at the base of a tree, that wild animal will, after a few hours, reveal itself to you. And out of the corner of your eye, you will glimpse something of the wild preciousness that this conference is looking for. I ask for guidance for myself and, as Quakers say, hold the entire conference in the light, to be here, to be present to each other in the right spirit, speaking our truth gently and simply…ground in our own experience and expanded by experiences that are not yet ours. Compassionate toward that which we do not yet understand, not only as a kindness to others but for the sake of our growth and our students and the transformation of education. Amen.” Notice his talk follows the Dalai Lama at a recent conference.


RECOMMENDED READING: IGNATIUS LOYOLA

“Around 1550 the Jesuits began infiltrating every religion and denomination to destroy them for the mother church.” Loyola was responsible for torturing and killing Protestants in the Counter Reformation. He was the first general of the Jesuit army. He wrote spiritual exercises and, with the Jesuits, they would meditate and put themselves into a trance and levitate. The Jesuits were known for being the most cruel order of priests in what became what was known as the bloodiest time in the history of mankind. The Catholic Church was convinced that it was the kingdom of God on earth and saw the Protestant Reformation as a threat. It determined to regain what it had lost and to put the whole world under its religious domination once and for all. After spending time healing a broken leg and reading about pious Roman saints, Loyola felt inadequate. He confessed his sins for three days at a shrine of the Virgin Mary. His conscience troubled him yet he choose to earn his salvation by obedient service to the pope rather than except Christ’s free offer of salvation. The Jesuits believed that to kill or torture is justifiable if it is done for the cause of the church. Around 1550 the Jesuits began infiltrating every religion and denomination to destroy them for the mother church. Later they started their own schools, colleges, and universities. They saw education, not unlike the Dalia Lama, Parker Palmer, or Tilden Edwards, as a way to serve the church by strengthening people who were already members and reclaiming those who had become Protestants. This agenda is sounding very familiar lately.

QUAKER INFLUENCE: GEORGE FOX

http://www.georgefox.edu/acedemics/undergrad/cresdesc/rel.html  Quakers are frequently quoted amongst leaders in the women's ministry at Willow Creek. As we research the founder of Quakerism we can see the connections. George Fox was the founder of Quakerism. He was described as an inward and serious child. He was kept away from playing with other children since he was different and quite withdrawn. His mother encouraged him to spend many hours of solitary meditating and Bible reading. When his mother died he continued on in his "religious struggles" with great loss. After seeking a pilgrimage for anyone who could answer his spiritual yearnings he had a religious experience where he actually heard a voice (?)say: "There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition." Fox concluded that Jesus Christ was the "Light within" that everyone had the potential to experience. Fox believed, not unlike Gilbert Belizekian, that there was "that of God" in all men and that we are all a "holy community" where no one has dominance over another and where there is no reason for war.Like Gilbert Belizekian, Fox pushed a strong egalitarian movement and set up women preachers as he twisted Scripture to make sense of his “experiences” and explain his unscriptural choices. Quaker women sought equality from their beginnings and had women teachers and circuit preachers known to abandon their large families at the start. In some of their earlier travels they appeared to enjoy arguing with young theologians and even went to such extremes as walking through the streets naked to oppose hypocrisy. Their acts were considered to be under the direct leading of the Holy Spirit. Some of their experiences were described as response to falling deeply in love and they would follow whatever the Spirit wanted. The nickname “Quaker” came from the shaking aroused by inner struggles of individuals facing their inner motives “under the Light” in the Quaker meetings. They believe they have revived true Christianity and all other religions are false.

Margaret Fell, wife of George Fox, instructed to “let the Eternal Light search you…for this …will rise up and lay you open…naked and bare before the Lord. …Keep down your Minds that questions and stumbles at the power of God. Puritan Francis Higginson writes during the summer of 1652: Groups met in homes or on crags sometimes a hundred or two hundred in a swarm…..and continue all night long. They have no singing of psalms, no reading or exposition of Holy Scripture, no administration of sacraments…. Their speaker for the most part uses the posture of standing, or sitting with his hat on, his countenance severe, his face downward, his eyes fixed mostly towards the earth, his hands and fingers expanded, continually striking gently on his breast, …his voice low, his sentences incoherent…Some stand in the market place…and cry “Repent, repent, woe, woe, the judge of the world has come.” They exhort people to mind the Light within, to hearken to the voice and follow the guide within them, to dwell within…The priests of the world (they say) do deceive them, ….they speak of living under the cross, and against pride in apparel and covetousness. (The Quakers by Hugh Barbour and J. William Frost, Greenwood Press, 1988, Westport, CT.)

In 1648 Fox stood up and opposed a meeting of Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and Anglicans when a woman was silenced and not allowed to speak in the church. Fox said that because the church is a spiritual household in which Christ is the head that women may be allowed to prophecy and speak. In 1656 he wrote a tract where he explained that he thought that people respond "to a certain measure" of their attained Light of the teaching of Christ in their heart. He taught that 1 and 2 Timothy, where Paul writes that women are to keep silent in churches, is only Paul’s "attained level of knowledge on the subject."

In his second tract he believed Paul was merely speaking to a particular group of unsaved women who had not been raised to that "certain level of understanding" so he didn’t actually condemn the preaching of all women.  Fox continued to write and defend women and stated that the Holy Spirit is available to everyone and no one had the right to stop it. (like Bill Hybels in his membership book p. 119 where he states divisions and hierarchies will not be tolerated). As his followers turned to him for advice and counsel (instead of the Scriptures), Fox was compelled to bring others to the liberating experience he knew and to also confound false teachings.

In 1654 pairs of those who "had received the calling from the Quaker light" set out to reach all parts of England. At a gathering at a rented hall in a tavern in London, and at an orchard in Bristol: John Audland, who very much trembled, stood up, full of dread and shining brightness on his countenance, lifted up his voice as a trumpet, and said, "I proclaim spiritual war with the inhabitants of the earth who are in separation from God." Some fell on the ground, others crying out under the sense of the opening of their spiritual states. ("The Story of Quaker Women in America" by Margaret Hope Bacon, Harper & Row Publishers, 1986)

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