A guy approached me after one of the morning services last Sunday and told me that he'd been bumping around to different churches for a while, looking for a place to land. He said that he's been hesitant to land at NewPointe because, get this, "it's too big." He said, "I don't like big churches."
Interesting. "I don't like big churches." What?! Instead of me writing a response to this, let me share with you how one of my heroes, Andy Stanley responded to a blog that criticized his church for being too big:
You can read the original blog posting and all the discussion that led to Andy's response here.I’m writing to aplogize for the size of North Point Community Church. When six of us gathered to think through the idea of beginning a church we had no idea that it would become so large. For this growth I am truely sorry. I realize that the size is intimidating.
I have read the comments on this site and have decided to make some changes. To begin with I am going to spend time with each and every parisioner so that they can get to know me personally. Like many of you, I wouldn’t want to attend a church where I could not connect personally with the pastor. I’ve shared this with my wife and three kids. They are in complete agreement. So beginning next Sunday I will be at the back door to shake hands.
Secondly, I am going to suggest to our elders that we sell our three campuses, consolidate, and move the church into a much smaller building. Smaller space will mean smaller crowds. And aparently large crowds are unbiblical. I agree, the church should be no larger than 40 to 50 people. Most of whom are believers.
Regarding my shallow, simplistic preaching…for this I am truley sorry. I am doing the best I can. I know deeper is better. I’m just not deep. I’m not really sure what to do about that. These changes will take some time. Please be patient. If you have any helpful suggestions as to how I can transition North Point Community Church into a church made up of a handful of believers who enjoy deep preaching please let me know.
On a positive note, the 8,000 adults who meet in groups of 8 to 12 in homes throughout our community can continue to meet in spite of the fact that they will no longer be able to worship together.
Thank you for your valuable insights. And please accept my apology.
Andy Stanley
Pastor, North Point Community Church
Now, when you're in a conversation with a dude that's telling you that he doesn't know if he likes your church because it's too big, it's not like you can just tell him to go read what Andy Stanley has to say about that. So you know what I said to him?
I said, "Too big? Too big? How could it be too big? Hell's too big!"
He snickered (a little uncomfortably), but I think he got the point(e).
1 comments:
I attended NPC church again this past Sunday, after not having been there for several years. It's big, there's no doubt about it.
I argued with myself over whether or not Jesus would have liked this format and I came up with a couple of things:
1) Jesus often taught multitudes
2) After teaching multitudes, he needed to go into the wilderness to recuperate
So the question I asked as a follow up was, what did Jesus give the multitudes in these times? Well, we know he taught them; he healed some of them and with the help of a little boy, he fed them. But after that, he had to be alone.
So, even Jesus COULD do it, but it surely wasn't his medium of choice. So I'm wondering why then, do we, mere men, think we can pull off what Jesus couldn't or wasn't willing, to do?
I'm led back to the idea that while a church of this size may be reaching many, how many needs is it actually meeting? During our service, the early service, there was no call to receive Jesus as your savior. There was no prayer for the needy and the sick. All there was, was a pretty good concert performance, large plastic buckets sent around for donations, and 30 minutes of a pastor mostly describing his childhood experiences, all leading up to a very simple message. How many of those donations went to pay for the scads of police directing traffic, or the power for the light show over the band? And all the people volunteering to control traffic, and watch children and do all the other various things that are required to suppport the thousands of people sitting watching the pastor, what about them? Maybe just the idea of "belonging" to something is enough to sustain them. I don't know.
I get that the point here is to bring in the youth and if I were 16again, I'd be gung-ho for this. But I'm an adult now who thinks out these things and I just can't see this as a plus in the end.
But, different strokes for different folks.
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