Over the past few years, Willow Creek Community Church, one of the most influential churches in America and the world, has been doing research to discover which of its programs and activities are helping people to mature spiritually and which are not.

Recently Willow Creek released its findings, and senior pastor Bill Hybels described the findings as “earth shaking” and “mind blowing.” What did the findings reveal? One key revelation was this: increasing involvement in programs and activities does NOT predict whether people will mature spiritually.

That’s a huge revelation for Willow Creek because it has put most of its eggs (and many millions of dollars) into the program-driven church basket. Hybels called the findings the “wake-up call of his adult life.”

How will this research affect the Christian church in America and around the world? Who knows. I hope it leads to a focus on helping people to develop emotionally and spiritually in deeper and deeper ways. This could be a very positive step in the evolution of the Christian church.

To read more about the research findings and to view videos of Willow Creek pastors talking about the findings, visit ChristianityToday.com’s blog post, “Willow Creek Repents?”

For a couple months now I’ve had some desire to help start — or at least be a part of — a contemplative church (i.e., a church that takes a contemplative approach to connecting with God and each other). At the centering prayer workshop on Saturday, Father Justin told me about The Church of Conscious Harmony (CCH), a Christian contemplative church in Austin, TX. (Don’t let the name scare you!)

According to Father Justin, Father Thomas Keating (author of Open Mind, Open Heart and founder of Contemplative Outreach) consulted with the founders of CCH and helped them think through the concept of a contemplative church.

I’m excited this church exists! Unfortunately it’s the only Christian church I know of that’s taking a contemplative approach. If you know of more, please let me know.

While in Sedona, AZ, last month, on a Sunday morning, I attended the Sedona Interfaith Fellowship worship service at the Sedona Public Library. I had no idea what to expect. And, man, was I blown away by the beauty and intimacy of the service. Susan Perry, the pastor, did an amazing job of ushering me into experiencing God’s loving presence. She acted, in a sense, as a group spiritual director, and she led all 30 of us through a very contemplative service — a service mixed with song, meditation, chanting (like the monks) and silence. Perhaps I’ll post the service elements here on the blog so you get a detailed sense of what I’m talking about.

After the service, I went to lunch with Susan and about 15 members of the fellowship. Needless to say, I had some fascinating conversations about spiritual and emotional development. One sweet woman explained that Sedona seems to be a place where people are forced to face their internal “issues.” And, she said, they either face their issues (and the pain) or they leave Sedona. So I asked her if she’s been facing her issues and, if so, how she’s going about facing her issues. She smiled really big and said she thinks she’ll always be facing her issues (in other words, the transformational journey never ends). She then went on to explain that she went to a Shamanic counselor and did some past-life therapy; there was some deep unforgiveness in her soul that she wasn’t dealing with. She said she’s been healing and experiencing more freedom. “Great,” I said (as the words “past-life therapy” floated in my head). So that’s just a taste of the conversations I had with the group.

The next night I went to Susan’s house for dinner and conversation. (In the photo at left: Anna, Susan, John and I.) Susan’s fabulous; she feels like a kindred spirit; and she’s a really gifted spiritual leader. She told me her story and, eventually, about how she ended up starting and pastoring an interfaith fellowship. She’s a Christian, she has a huge heart for unity, and she loves helping those who have been wounded by religious experiences or communities to experience God’s healing, loving presence.  In fact, here’s the beautiful mission of Sedona Interfaith Fellowship:  To be an opening through which individuals may more deeply experience the presence of God.  To create this opening by drawing upon the wisdom and beauty of the world’s great spiritual traditions.

Susan actually graduated from an interfaith seminary, The New Seminary in New York. The seminary’s slogan is:  “Never instead of, always in addition to …”  She graduated in 1994 and started Sedona Interfaith Fellowship in 1996.

I’ll try to post more on this later.  Meanwhile, you may want to check out my photos of Sedona.

I’ve been having a wonderful time here in Denver connecting with friends (I’m tempted to stay!). It’s been especially great connecting with Megz, Sara and Dave, whom went through the internship program at Willow Creek with me. Because of these guys, Denver feels a little bit like home.

Megz, Sara and Dave recently started a “house church” with a few of their friends, and I was able to join their little gathering this past Sunday morning. I loved it. They asked me to lead them through a couple of spiritual exercises (which was a treat for me); using the spiritual exercises as a basis, we spent time sharing with each other; then we discussed a couple chapters from the book they’re reading, Paul’s Idea of Community by Robert Banks. It was a precious time together and certainly reminded me of the Arlington Heights house church gatherings.

After lunch, Dave, Sara, little Hayden and I went for a long walk around a huge park near their house — and we talked theology the whole time! I loved it! It was so life giving. Dave is earning his PhD in theology at the Iliff School of Theology — and he’s so passionate about the integration of theology and spirituality. I am, too. So I peppered Dave with questions, and he really helped me think through many issues. I’m becoming more and more convinced that theology plays a big role in the psychospiritual transformational journey. Here’s a simple example: If I view God as distant and cruel, I’m probably not going to move toward God, trust God or experience much intimacy with God — thus my relationship with God probably won’t grow and mature much and I probably won’t experience much internal transformation.

Anyway, I’m having a ball here. And it doesn’t hurt that Denver kicks ass! It’s definitely one of my top 3 favorite cities. To meet some of the Denver crew, check out my photos of them.

This past Sunday morning, as I was preparing a couple spiritual exercises to bring to my friends’ house church gathering here in Denver, I felt so tender toward the small group of friends (in photo at left) I used to gather with on Sunday mornings in Arlington Heights (A.H.). So I called Randy (my former roommate in A.H. and one of the house church crew), and it was great to connect for a few moments before he had to walk into the living room for the start of house church there.

Our Sunday morning gatherings (in A.H.) were deeply intimate and deeply transformational for me. The group loved me so well in the parts of me that need it most (my wounded and immature parts) — and as a result, those parts definitely healed more and matured more. My capacity to give and receive love increased. What a huge, huge gift! So, A.H. house church group (Amy, Curtis, Layne, Joleen, Randy), I just want to give you a smooch and say I love you tons and miss you tons already.

To meet this lovely (and totally sexy) group, check out my photos of them.

On Christmas Eve, the Daily Herald ran a front page story about house churches — “Can a Home Be a House of God?” — and our house church was featured.  Lisa Smith, the reporter, did a great job.

Also, you can view a photo slideshow produced by Rick, a Daily Herald photographer. 

Great news!  Pastor Pete Scazzero, author of The Emotionally Healthy Church and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, is offering a conference in March at his church in Queens, NY. 

According to the website, here’s the purpose of the conference:  “This conference is designed for men and women in leadership eager to be equipped in the application of emotional health and contemplative spirituality – beginning with themselves and then outward to their marriages and churches/ministries.”

For more info, check out the conference web site.  And definitely consider going — and definitely consider sending your “senior pastor”!

No doubt this conference will be highly experiential and, I’m willing to bet, deeply transformational for anyone who attends.  Said another way, it’ll kick ass.

By the title, I don’t mean to imply that Windsor Crossing’s staff has “arrived” — but the staff is intentionally journeying toward emotional health, and that’s a beautiful, powerful thing!

As you know, Randy and I met with 3 staff members at Windsor Crossing (WC) in St. Louis.  Thanks, Andy, Judy and Toby - I enjoyed our time together; you guys rock, and y’all are wonderfully goofy (see photo of Judy).  Here are a couple things that struck me from my conversations with the WC crew.

The senior pastor at WC believes strongly in bringing emotional health into the church — and that has made all the difference.  Andy and Judy couldn’t stress this enough!  Rule of thumb: If the senior pastor isn’t fully supportive of integrating emotional health, that initiative has little hope.  Question:  So how do we get more senior pastors to support and fight for integrating emotional health into the church? 

At WC, the whole staff is journeying toward emotional health — and they’re intentional about helping each other journey.  Here’s a practical example.  Engaging in conflict is hard; and conflict resolution is just as hard or harder.  But we can’t love each other well or grow deeply in intimacy or maturity without conflict and conflict resolution.  And, unfortunately, conflict is hard (most people fight or run) – it takes a certain amount of emotional health to do it well, with great love.  The staff at WC loves conflict — they move toward it, for the sake of love, growth and unity!

As a quick side note, something that’s unique about the WC staff is that several staff members, including the senior pastor, have masters degrees in counseling.  I’ll try to post more about WC soon!

Randy and I are passionate about bringing emotional health into the Church!  We want to help take discipleship to the H.N.L. (’hole ‘nother level).  So when our good friend Toby Simers told us that the church he works at in St. Louis, Windsor Crossing Community Church (WCCC), embraces emotional health and helps people grow healthier emotionally (as well as spiritually), we knew we had to visit!

What WCCC is doing is rare — unfortunately.  It’s been my experience that most churches separate out the “spiritual” aspects of who we are and focus only on those, ignoring the “emotional” aspects.  That’s a huge problem – because the reality is that it’s impossible to separate the spiritual aspects from the emotional aspects.  They’re connected; they affect each other.  My emotional immaturity limits my spiritual growth and maturity — limits my ability to love God, others and myself well.  I like the way Peter Scazzero, author of The Emotionally Healthy Church, puts it:  “It is not possible for a Christian to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.”   

Randy and I had the privilege of meeting and talking with a couple of WCCC staff members, Andy Sharpe and Judy West (posing with Randy in the photo above).  We talked about how WCCC lives and breathes emotionally healthy spirituality.  It was a fascinating and inspiring conversation!  I’ll share about it soon.