The Scot McKnight & David Fitch Smackdown

They were both on WMBI, Moody radio today.  I didn't get a chance to listen to the morning conversation, but I did get a chance to listen in on this afternoon's.  Good stuff from two men who care about each other, Christ's church, and the mission of the church.  David asked Scot the question about what does it mean for a church to take satisfaction surveys.  Scot responded that it doesn't have to be an either/or.  As teachers (both are teachers) Scot said, we are interested in the student's assessment. 

In one sense, Scot raises a good point about assessment.

David though, I think continues to drive home an ecclesisastical point about the nature of the church.  Assessments are one thing; but inherent in the consumerist model Willow Creek has self-consciously chosen, satisfaction surveys are useful and necessary to keep on shaping and molding the product or service for the desires of the consumer.  One of the current impasses imo, between Scot and David is that "assessment" doesn't have the same feel or meaning to it, when it is in a self-consciously chosen model to meet the immediate desires of the participants.  Take another survey 5 years from now, with different results, and leadership will say, they've made a mistake.

Using Scot's analogy of assessment, it seems to me that an assessment of a college professor at the end of a semester has a much different meaning and application than a customer satisfaction survey from a marketing company.  As much as I respect and love Scot, I think there is a difference of persusasion (the kind that Scot sees as valuable and useful and attributes to Willow Creek) and a whole philosophy of ministry driven by an attraction to the marketing philosophy from the very start. David's point, if I understand him right, is not only that this study substantiates what critics of Willow Creek have been saying all along, but that they very fact they took this survey continues to reveal their ministry is ingrained in the consumerist philosophy and approach.  It is this philosophy of marketing that continues to shape the way they perform the gospel--and the subsequent spiritual formation-- rather than the gospel shaping the way they perform the philosophy of persusasion.  The gospel is in both approaches--but one bears fruit and formation moving in one direction while the other bears fruit and formation going in another.