Andy Stanley and Northpoint Community Church

Dear Pastors

Andy Stanley and Northpoint Community Church

A couple of weeks ago I attended a one day seminar with Andy (and Sandra) Stanley speaking all day. It was hosted by the Irresistible Church Network – Australasia (ICN) It truly was a fabulous day. So encouraging yet challenging at the same time.

I have a long held deep respect for Andy Stanley and Northpoint Community Church. I have had the privilege of visiting Northpoint and meeting with some of their ministry leaders and one of their Elders. That then lead to me inviting three of their senior team for a visit to NZ in 2018.

I just love the way that Andy has thought long and hard about making church attendance AND involvement as easy as possible for non-church people. His book ‘Deep and Wide’ first published in 2011 was an incredibly inspiring read…….well it was for me. It reminded me then (and did again recently at the seminar) that churches can be both theologically deep for believers and attractively wide for those far from faith. Andy makes a compelling case that the church’s mission is to reach people who are not currently attending, and that effective ministry requires intentional environments that remove unnecessary barriers to belief while remaining faithful to biblical truth. He challenges traditional “church-for-church people” models and encourages leaders to design services, language, and structures around unchurched people. The book (and the recent seminar) balances evangelistic passion with discipleship depth, calling churches to grow wide through outreach and deep through spiritual formation.

A key text for Northpoint and ICN is Acts 15:19 where Apostle James says at the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council:- “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God”. It’s worth reading the entire passage again with this thought in mind. It is frightening quite frankly how we have taken things on board and do certain things and say certain things that when looked at closely have become rather ‘odd’ practises and thereby ‘barriers to entry’ for non-church people to attend our local churches.

Here are a few other points Andy shared at the seminar that I think serve as a great reminder:-

• Everything we do is to teach ALL that Jesus commanded.
• It’s easy to be biblical but not Christlike.
• The natural pull of the church is toward ‘insiders’.
• Reaching will be a priority over keeping.
• Create well crafted services 3-4 times a year that are ‘come and sit with me’ services.

Needless to say, I highly recommend all pastors read ‘Deep and Wide’. And my hope and prayer is that we may all figure out how to ‘not make it difficult’ for non-attending people to attend our churches.

Before I go a couple of items worth mentioning:-

1. Laidlaw College (Centre for Church Leadership) has launched a brand new Pastoral Leadership offering starting next year. More info Laidlaw College - Laidlaw College
2. Perhaps one of the greatest concerns these days amongst parents, school teachers, mental health workers and others is the negative impacts of social media on young lives. To that end I highly recommend this (new-ish) organisation. It’s called B416 and has in a relatively short space of time gathered an impressive group of parents, public health experts, TECH EXPERTS and community leaders working together to raise the age of social media to 16. They are united by a shared mission to protect childhood and support families. I think it is a cause we might all consider supporting. It certainly would be good if you can let the parents of young teenagers in your church know that this resource is available.

Blessings
Alan