Who We Are

The Willow Creek Association (WCA) is a not-for-profit organization that exists to maximize the life-transformation effectiveness of local churches. We do this by stirring up and calling out the core leadership of churches around the world, encouraging them to follow their "holy discontent" as they build life-changing communities of faith.

At the core of the ministry is deeply held belief that God's ordained plan to redeem and restore this world for Christ is through the church. We hold a deep belief that if you change a church leader, you can change a church, and if enough churches start changing, you can change an entire region, country, and eventually the world.

Over the past 17 years, the WCA has developed a respected history of excellence and innovation in serving local churches and their leaders. In that time, the WCA has inspired and trained more than one million church leaders and has created and distributed millions of church resources into tens of thousands of churches representing more than 90 denominations. WCA leadership training events are now held in more than 250 cities in 50 countries each year.

Statement of Faith

  • The Bible is God's unique revelation to people. It is the inspired, infallible Word of God, and the supreme and final authority on all matters upon which it teaches. No other writings are vested with such divine authority.
  • There is only one God, creator of heaven and earth, who exists eternally as three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God yet each personally distinct from the other.
  • All people are created in God's image and matter deeply to Him. Central to the message of the Bible is that God loves people, and invites them to live in communion with Himself and in community with each other.
  • Apart from Jesus Christ, all people are spiritually lost and, because of sin, deserve the judgment of God. However, God gives salvation and eternal life to anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ and in His sacrifice on his or her behalf. Salvation cannot be earned through personal goodness or human effort. It is a gift that must be received by humble repentance and faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross.
  • Jesus Christ, second Person of the Trinity, was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless human life, willingly took upon Himself all of our sins, died and rose again bodily, and is at the right hand of the Father as our advocate and mediator. Some day, He will return to consummate history and to fulfill the eternal plan of God.
  • The Holy Spirit, third Person of the Trinity, convicts the world of sin and draws people to Christ. He also indwells all believers. He is available to empower them to lead Christ-like lives, and gives them spiritual gifts with which to serve the church and reach out to a lost and needy world.
  • Death seals the eternal destiny of each person. At the final judgment, unbelievers will be separated from God into condemnation. Believers will be received into God's loving presence and rewarded for their faithfulness to Him in this life.
  • All believers are members of the body of Christ, the one true church universal. Spiritual unity is to be expressed among Christians by acceptance and love of one another across ethnic, cultural, socio-economic, national, generational, gender, and denominational lines.
  • The local church is a congregation of believers who gather for worship, prayer, instruction, encouragement, mutual accountability, and community with each other. Through it, believers invest time, energy, and resources to fulfill the Great Commission - reaching lost people and growing them into fully devoted followers of Christ.