Willow Creek Association – International Ministries

How It All Began

God makes no small plans. He may start small—a mustard seed, a widow’s mite—but in His hands unexpected things happen. Big things.

That’s what happended in 1975 when Bill Hybels and a small group of young people felt called by God to start a different kind of church where people far from God could come with their messy lives and not feel judged while God cleaned them up. It would be a place that more fully unleashed the arts in service to the Kingdom. Sermons would be intentionally crafted to connect the Bible to daily problems. Believers would be released to serve according to their spiritual gifts. The poor and needy would find a friend.

They never imagined, though, that God might use them to mentor and encourage churches around the world. Building a fully functioning Acts 2 church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago seemed challenge enough.

But Then, God Makes No Small Plans

As word of Willow Creek’s ministry impact spread outside its walls, church leaders around the world began asking the church for help in translating its programs and initiatives into something that could be used in their own churches.

By 1990, the idea bubbled up among Willow Creek leaders to create a separate not-for-profit organization to serve other churches. The management team assumed they would get such an organization up and running and then spin it off to stand on its own.

Visit Willow Creek Association’s – International website at http://www.willowcreek.com/international/