Willow Creek Community Church is shuttering its Chicago campus in light of the congregation’s inability to afford its mortgage.
The downtown Chicago location had been one of seven campuses that Willow Creek operates in the Chicago area. Senior Pastor Dave Dummitt revealed that the campus would be closing via video announcement.
“I think most of you know that we are one church in multiple locations around the city,” Dummitt said. “And I wanted to come to you with an update about our downtown Chicago location.”
Dummitt went on to explain that the campus had for years met in a rented theater before opening a permanent facility in April 2018 after a successful capital campaign. At the time, Dummitt said, the church had pledges to fund “almost the entirety” of the project.
“But since then, since 2018, Willow at large and Willow Chicago went through some pretty significant changes,” Dummitt said.
The “significant changes” to which Dummitt referred center on the abrupt resignation of Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of Willow Creek, also in April 2018. Hybels had planned to retire in October of that year but stepped down after allegations of sexual misconduct were made public.
Following Hybel’s resignation, his planned successors briefly assumed their roles. Heather Larson became the church’s lead pastor, with Steve Carter becoming lead teaching pastor.
However, Carter resigned in August 2018 in light of the fact that the church’s elder board sided with Hybels, who denied the truth of the allegations against him. That same month, Willow Creek announced that an independent third party would conduct an investigation into Hybel’s past actions and the church’s response. Within days of that announcement, Larson and the entire elder board announced their resignations.
Steve Gillen, who had been pastor of the church’s Long Shore campus, became the interim pastor. In April 2020, Dave Dummitt was named the church’s new senior pastor.
The average weekly attendance of Willow Creek is currently estimated at 7,740, down from 21,000 prior to Hybel’s resignation. The steep drop-off in attendance has contributed to financial challenges for the church.
“While Chicago was a growing congregation, we’re faced with an unsustainable financial scenario,” Dummitt said.
