Much is being made of the fact that trend-setting Willow Creek Community Church has admitted it needs to rethink its approach to seeker-sensitive ministry.

The findings are detailed in a new book, "Reveal: Where Are You?" It was written by Executive Pastor Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, communications director for the suburban Chicago church.

"We made a mistake," Pastor Bill Hybels commented about the study behind the book. "What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and became Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’

"We should have gotten people (and) taught people how to read their Bible between services (and) how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."

"Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their Bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth," Christian radio talk show host Bob Burney wrote recently.

"If you simply want a crowd, the ‘seeker sensitive’ model produces results," Burney added. "If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust."

Burney’s column brought immediate response, much of it objecting to his characterizations.

"Evolution takes place in healthy ministries," wrote one observer. "Willow is not stating they do ministry wrong, just in order to continue to thrive they needed to look at the way they do things."

Said another, "This is completely twisting what Willow Creek said and has done…I used to attend…and was involved in a small group. There was a lot of teaching done on sanctification (and) Bible study. And it was impossible to attend a service… without hearing that you were headed straight to eternal hell unless you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior."

The lesson of this exchange is the wisdom of avoiding jumping to conclusions based on the barest of evidence.

While mulling over the reforms that may be needed at Willow Creek, consider the fascinating story that appeared last week in the New York Times.

It described how two Jewish men visited Saddleback Church back in the mid-1990s in hopes of understanding why the Southern California megachurch drew huge crowds.

"To put it bluntly, if there are thousands of people wanting to get in, I want to know what’s going on," Ron Wolfson told the Times. "I want to know what they’re doing that’s tapping these souls."

That set in motion a dozen years of interaction between Saddleback and a Jewish organization dedicated to revitalizing synagogues. The outgrowth: the latter has gatherings that include testimonies and praise songs, a sort of Jewish tent meeting.

So what’s the connection between Willow Creek and Saddleback? While the latter hasn’t been lumped in the same seeker sensitive mode, Rick Warren designed his church to meet needs expressed by non-believers in his community.

That opens it to the same criticisms aimed at Willow Creek, much of which may stem from the jealousy that greets megachurches of all stripes.

I believe that churches that attempt to engage the public in unconventional ways while remaining true to scripture should be applauded. Keeping up with society’s rapid changes is a challenge even giants like Wal-Mart struggle with, as chronicled in a story in last week’s Time magazine.

There may be missteps along the way, but as Saddleback’s experience shows, the world is watching what the Church does. Perhaps we should spend more time learning from each other, too.