Sunday at North Point Church

We have a group of 14 people participating in SUNDAYS AT NORTH POINT. We began at 9 a.m. - and spend an hour touring several of the environments - middle school, elementary, preschool, nursery. They have three Sunday morning worship times - 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. We will attend the 12:45 service. The church has an amazing commitment to providing environments for all ages that connect with folks who may have no Christian background. One of the most exciting sights was when we were in the large group session of fifth graders during the 11 a.m. hour - there were maybe 150 fifth graders sitting on the floor and listening in rapt attention to the teaching on wisdom! Wow! You can browse some of their links on the site above to get a feel for it.

At the 12:45 service - we enjoyed the worship time and the message presented by the preacher of the day. Andy Stanley is the lead pastor for North Point, and I really enjoy his messages. Today's preacher was Joel Thomas, director of their singles ministries. You can find some North Point messages at this site.

Joel did a very vivid portrayal of the dilemma we face in Christianity. After we carefully explain that Christianity is not about "rules and regulations," we still see some passages that make it sound like just that. (He focused on the list of the "works of the flesh" and the "fruit of the Spirit" in Galatians 5...sounds a lot like do's and don'ts to most of us.)

He said many of us still think of God as a referee - ready to blow the whistle on us at any point. In reality, God is our cheerleader - these lists represent the fact that he believes in us. How awesome it would be if we saw God as our cheerleader - and if, likewise, we would act more like cheerleaders and less like referees in our dealings with others!

Following lunch, BILLY PHENIX - was our presenter for the learning session at 2:30 p.m. He is actually on staff at the Buckhead campus - part of North Point’s multi-campus strategy. He spent time going over in detail the strategies behind the things they do at North Point. His teaching was VERY important, because what North Point wants is NOT that other churches copy their methods - but to look behind them to the principles they use for developing an effective fruitful church. That is also helpful for us, as we realize that a successful, fruitful church in Bellville will look somewhat different from a successful, fruitful church in suburban Atlanta.

Here is a summary of what he covered, along with some notes from my perspective!

MISSION/STRATEGY. “Our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by creating environments where people are encouraged and equipped to pursue intimacy with God, community with insiders, and influence with outsiders.” He noted that the “hard part” of a mission statement is the “how.” For North Point, it is creating attractive, irresistible environments. (We saw that in the attention to detail in the way rooms are furnished, especially for the children and teens.) “It is God’s responsibility to change lives. We can’t do that. But it is our responsibility to create great environments. That is something we can do!”

The environments at North Point come in three types, analogous to the parts of a home - the foyer, the living room, and the kitchen. The foyer is where you greet your guests. The living room is where you sit down to spend time together. Sitting around in the kitchen is where you spend time with those you are closest to. Each ministry at North Point (including kids and students) can be compared to one of these three environments.

Sunday morning service is a “foyer” environment for North Point. Some Christians criticize their Sunday service for not going deep and deeper. That is intentional. It is targeted toward the first-time guest, to simply make them want to return.

The living room environments are targeted environments, where people begin to connect.

The kitchen environments are “closed,” where life change is the desired outcome.

New programming is not added unless it can contribute at one of these three points. As a result, there are many activities that North Point just does not do. (If we did all these things, we would not be able to do them well. By focusing on a few things, we can do them well.)

As a result, they think in terms of “steps,” not programs. It should be very obvious what my step should be. In many churches, it is not at all clear. “We have narrowed the focus, doing fewer things in order to make a greater impact.”

Too many churches are like Ryan’s or Golden Corral - offering a lot of stuff that doesn’t necessarily make sense as a whole!

We also try to be very focused on our teaching. All Scripture is equally inspired, but not all Scripture is equally important or applicable. We “teach less for more.”

Every leader is challenged to “replace yourself.” As a leader, you are expected to “hand off your responsibilities,” thus insuring constant recruiting.

There was much more, but it gives you a flavor of what we did!

Tomorrow our team divides up into various breakout sessions, so we will learn more about the specific areas.