strategy

9 Reasons Every Church Leader Needs to Learn From North Point

North Point Community Church is one of the largest and most influential churches in the country. From my perspective, you need to be to learning from this church regardless of what you think about their theological convictions. Here are some reasons you need to pay attention to North Point:

  • northpointRelentless Focus // The leadership team at North Point is focused on reaching people who don’t normally attend church. It’s breathtaking. Spend a little time with them and you will see it permeates everything they do. What is your church relentlessly focused on?
  • Family Ministry // North Point is the clear leader in showing that children’s and family ministry can be significant growth engines for a church. Even if you are a complete pagan you’d love to bring your kids to their environments … that’s the point. How does your church intentionally focus on passing the message of Jesus on to the next generation?
  • Open Handed // The culture of North Point has spun off or been involved in cultivating some of the most innovative ministries in the country. (Orange, Catalyst, BigStuf, Strategic Partners, Passion, The Rocket Company, and the list goes on.) Rather than try to do all this stuff in house they’ve been open to let those ministries flourish exterior to the church but still support them. Is your leadership culture releasing people to pursue their God given vision or just trying to keep people in your piece of the kingdom?
  • Teaching // Andy is one the best communicators in the world. (Period.) How are you working to improve your communication of the message God has given you?
  • Learning Organization // North Point is constantly looking to learn from other churches and organizations. In fact, if you talk with any of their leaders for a while you will get the impression they are trying to learn from you. They are fundamentally humble in their outlook … it’s attractive. How is your team learning from others? 
  • Passion City Church // One of Andy’s best friends and former staff members launched a church a stones throw away. Watching North Point leaders publicly support this new church was so good for the kingdom. What are you doing to encourage other churches in your community? (Even if it means people will leave your church to go there?)
  • Small is the New Big // The best place to grow in your Christian life is in relationship with other believers. North Point is focused on moving people out of lines (big audiences) and into circles (small groups). Their key metric is people is groups. I’ve yet to see anyone do it better. Do you really believe that people grow in small groups? 
  • Worship with Guests in Mind // Singing on Sunday mornings is done in such a way to be cognizant of the fact that guests are in the room. Rather and “worshipy worship” that makes people who haven’t decided to follow Jesus feel weird, the music teams at North Point work to include people regardless of where they are at on their spiritual journey. Even if you don’t agree with their position … how are your crafting your worship experiencing with intention rather than by accident?
  • Normal People // I’ve had the privilege to interacting with leadership teams of some of the best churches in the country. The North Point team is made up of normal people sold out on their mission. Some times I get the impression that church leaders see themselves as super human but the team at North Point are just normal people. Gives me confidence that maybe God could use me to do something big in my community. Do people like being around you and your leadership?

What are some churches that you’ve learned a lot from? I’d love to hear about it!

If you aren’t familiar with North Point check out this video to give you a sense of their approach.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/60688281]

8 Comments

  1. Good stuff, Rich. Right now I’ve been learning a lot from ROCKHARBOR Church in California. With respect to family and children’s ministries, those guys are kicking it. I’ve also been lookaing to Crossroads in Ohio lately. I love their dedication to excellence in children’s ministry.

  2. north Point does an amazing job of doing what they do. They always keep church attractional to people who do not like church. Consistently evaluating everything they do. I have never seen a team of people so focused on the verbiage they use. Big Fan of NP

  3. “Relentless Focus with a leadership team focused on getting those that don’t attend church to attend church.”

    From what I understand the ministry of Jesus was held outside the temple walls. Unless that was a mistake. But then again Jesus never came up with plans for getting people into the temple walls.

    If ‘temple’ is a distracting word maybe we should use the word shelter. Peter used the word ‘shelter’ during the transfiguration. But Jesus took a pass on that as well.

    So why do we promote the opposite of what Jesus did? Maybe its relentless focus worthy of the same praise we give God. Or maybe its the strategy required to sustain a 501(c)3 organization.

    If it be the former let us give God all the glory. If it be the later lets not dress it up in sheep clothing.

    1. Atticus,

      Great corrective comments for sure. I can understand how you feel. In fact others have felt the same way as you in the past. But I think if you journeyed for a while with this site you’d see that we advocate church leaders working to have their people “get out of their seats and into the streets” on a fairly regular basis.

      So how can you offer some constructive ideas on how to do that … to get our thoughts on how we move people out to the streets in the way Jesus did?

      – Rich

  4. Amen & amen. NorthPoint has had an enormous impact on me personally and has been the model for our church plant of 5 years. They have even allowed us to peek behind the curtain and they are just as you say. Love NP!!!!W

  5. So you’re saying we need to taylor or “worship experience” as not to offend or make someone uncomfortable?
    Wow. I kinda thought our worship was for The Lord and Him alone? Since when was it supposed to depend on whos watching?

    Yeah, i’ll pass on this church if this is really what you teach…

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Rich Birch
Rich Birch is one of the early multi-site church pioneers in North America. He led the charge in helping The Meeting House in Toronto to become the leading multi-site church in Canada with over 5,000+ people in 18 locations. In addition, he served on the leadership team of Connexus Church in Ontario, a North Point Community Church Strategic Partner. He has also been a part of the lead team at Liquid Church - a 5 location multisite church serving the Manhattan facing suburbs of New Jersey. Liquid is known for it’s innovative approach to outreach and community impact. Rich is passionate about helping churches reach more people, more quickly through excellent execution.His latest book Church Growth Flywheel: 5 Practical Systems to Drive Growth at Your Church is an Amazon bestseller and is design to help your church reach more people in your community.