Church Planting Franchise Style (Part 3)

The question I raised with a previous post "why would or should I or anyone else for that matter get angry about Northpoint franchising itself and placing its product only in large metro areas so that people are changed" hopefully and prayerfully will be answered below. I would also like to raise one more question at the end of this post that may or rather will definitely suprise those of you who know me and/or have read much at all of this blog.

I'm not angry that Northpoint wants to plant a ton of churches.

I'm not mad at the fact they are only targeting major metro areas either.

I am distubred by the language one of their own church plants uses to describe their church planting philosophy using terms such as "franchise, brand, company, our customers, raving fans," and thus one of the reasons I obviously am not a fan of their methods. It is not disturbing because those particular words are part of some evil satanic incantation. They are disturbing because of the connotations these words have in relation to a church or church planting. It seems the Gospel has become a commodity to be peddled rather than the instrument for the life change that the Northpoint folks desire. But then again if you were to read the post you won't find one mention of the Gospel at all. Sure you'll find a desire that their "customers" buy into life change. But instead of the Holy Spirit working with the Word, and through the Word, and never against the Word which all points to the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God unto salvation (they call it lifechange) Northpoint's philosophy is to win their "customers" with environments. Environments? Yes environments. There's no mentioning of that boring ole played out Gospel, but you sure can find interesting, helpful, and irresistible environments to promote life change in the Northpoint franchises-just what consumers need. But is it what sinners need?

Another reason I get angry and frustrated is the cow dung you can read straight from the horse's mouth as it were. They offer lip service in regards to not wanting to promote Andy, but I'm not drinking the Northpoint Kool-aid. If you did happen to read #4 under Questions from Potential Staff I hope that you ask yourself just what is being promoted. Is it Andy? Is it Andy's gift? Is it Jesus? Is it the Gospel? I think the answer is obvious.

The last thing that I want to comment on is the dichotomy they place between communication and leadership. Cumberland's lead pastor says this "NP churches no longer fight that leadership battle. We can find leaders to do both lead AND teach. We purposefully separate "communication" from "leadership". We don't feel biblically, or from a church leadership standpoint, that they necessarily have to be one in the same." So the Biblical example is that of the Apostle encouraging a shy, timid, cowardly man to find someone else to make up where he lacked and to find all the men that were skilled in the precise areas he was insufficient and use them instead. Or rather the Biblical example is that of the Apostle boasting in his weakness because grace is sufficient; Christ's power is made perfect in weakness. Or maybe my ESV is jacked up and I'm reading it wrong. And please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not naive enough to think that one man can pastor a church as effectively as a plurality of leaders. I understand that we all have areas where we lack and God uses other men and women as means to fill those holes so our ministries are made more complete. I'm simply arguing that there's no need for the distinction or rather separation between communication and leadership in a pastoral role especially when that distinction is more aligned with a business model than a Biblical model.


To put it all together, the franchise church isn't what necessarily gets me red faced. It is the promotion of man over God, experience over truth, environment over supernatural sovereign grace, and methods and strategies over the life changing freedom and adoption in Christ through the power of the Gospel that perfectly and eternally saves.


Here's my point. And no I'm not going to use the old cliche "what you win them with is what you win them to" although I think it is certainly fitting. The heart of the matter, and the answer to question at hand, and really the bottom line of the old cliche just quoted is theology. These examples I hope serve as a reminder to how crucial and foundational theology is. From your theology flows your ideas, methods, and strategies into whatever goals/ends you may have. So if you have a high view of man guess who you're going to promote and prop up. And if you have a low view of scripture and the gospel guess what you're going to use in their place...environments and productions. The reason followers of Christ should rail against methods and philosophies like this is because it ultimately denies Him, His work, His saving grace, and His glory.

This may surprise some of you. In the next post I want to answer the question "Why I am glad Northpoint is planting churches?" And then the last post in this series I will take a look at some of the other church planting organizations, and why I think they are a much better model.

Church Planting Franchise Style

For the past several days I've been doing some reading and thinking about church planting. But be forewarned and note that I have not read best-selling books on this subject, nor have I formally interviewed any church planters. Essentially all I have read is the ministry philosophy and general information behind a few church planting organizations, and I have talked with a couple friends who know more and have some experience in church planting. I'm not an expert, nor do I claim to be. I just have been rolling these things around in my head for a few days and wanted to share some thoughts.

Specifically the one church planting organization that sparked my interest in church planting philosophy is northpointpartners.org. This is Andy Stanley's church planting division from his organization known and branded as Northpoint Community Church. After reading through their faqs and some blog posts from one of their "strategic partners" "lead pastor" I'll be honest and say that I became a tad angry.

This is childish and immature right? There was no reason to be upset and there is no reason to be upset now. After all, lives are being changed and people reached- approximately 30,000 at all of the campuses and strategic partner locations each week. They are "winning" and successful. "I’ve found a model and a set of systems I believe in, I fit in and I chose to commit myself to....and I'm going with that."As the "lead pastor" from Cumberland says in this blog post "I’ve found a model and a set of systems I believe in, I fit in and I chose to commit myself to....and I'm going with that." And "... are we seeing people becoming more intimate with God? Are we seeing believers in our churches connect more meaningfully and regularly with other believers? Are they changing and maturing to be more like Jesus? Are we seeing the committed core in our churches leveraging their influence in the lives of those aren't in church anywhere and are disconnected from God? Are they strategically and boldly inviting their friends and neighbors into the right environments we are creating together, so that they can discover the life-changing message of Jesus Christ?"

So why would or should I or anyone else for that matter get angry about Northpoint franchising itself and placing its product only in large metro areas so that people are changed?

The answer to that question at least from my perspective will be forthcoming...until then though does anyone else have any thoughts/comments/rants/praises on church planting in general or the above example specifically?

Why We're Not Emergent

There is a fairly new book entitled Why I'm Not Emergent by Two Guys Who Should Be that my pastor/father-in-law passed to me a couple of weeks ago.

I have been slowly reading the book-as if there was any other way I read- and it has been very interesting. It is a mix of sound teaching and information alongside entertaining story telling in regards to the Emergent conversation or movement.

Between Two Worlds has posted some excerpts from a review of this book from Kristen Scharold. You can read the full review here. The conclusion of the review is below along with the most memorable quote from Kristen's review. Enjoy.

"In the end, the authors of Why We’re Not Emergent are not making a case for a new kind of Christianity. They are not trying lure emergent Christians into their fold with a hipper take on things. "We want a story with a climax...And if that story comes with a Guinness and some Coldplay, great. If not, no big deal."They are simply trying to replace the errors of the emergent church—which is, nonetheless, making important contributions to evangelicalism—with scripturally sound theology.

And it should not be so counterintuitive that young evangelicals such as myself prefer theology rooted in tradition to a spirituality waffling in relativism. We want a story with a climax so profound that it leaves us worshiping God, not reducing him to fit into our cultural paradigm. And if that story comes with a Guinness and some Coldplay, great. If not, no big deal."

New Links in the Blogroll

I have added two new links in my blogroll. One is called Contend Earnestly. There is a ton of useful information there. Check it out.

The other if for no other reason than its name alone has been placed in my blogroll. The name of it is Poop is Emergent Too. I'll just go ahead and say that you're probably not going to be as blessed and edified choosing this one over Contend Earnestly. However, if you dig deep enough you can certainly glean some blessings and insights from these guys along with a few laughs. Here is an excerpt from a Benny Hinn post. He references a quote of Benny's in which he has this comment about it. Classic stuff.



"Benny Hinn cracks me up…in a strange sort of way…My favorite part is..where he says he is talking to Jesus, but he is not sure if it is true or not. As if Jesus has a credibility problem. (Come on Jesus, don’t lie to me…) Oh Benny, you are funny, but you should live it up now, cause as I understand it hell is hot."

Truth & Presentation

At Between Two Worlds Abraham Piper of 22Words and the Desiring God Blog writes a guest post dealing with ways in which to improve your blog. It is very helpful, and I'm glad God has gifted such men as Abraham to have the kind of voice and talent he has and use it for God's glory. I wish I had that type of gift. But I don't use the gifts God has given me now so...I digress.

Anyway, he makes an interesting statement very early in that post noted below. A statement I totally disagree with as I'm sure you have already guessed.

"Truth needs to be proclaimed, but trueness alone doesn’t make what I have to say worth saying. I need to say true things well...Falsehood well said, doesn’t serve readers. It won’t lead people toward what is worthwhile because it’s, well, false. Truth poorly said is similarly unhelpful. It won’t lead people toward what is worthwhile, because it’s unclear or boring.""Truth needs to be proclaimed, but trueness alone doesn’t make what I have to say worth saying. I need to say true things well"

Keep in mind that I know the context of the quote is about improving your blog and that I'm not interested in nitpicking every sentence. I just want to point out something I feel is dangerous in the Church which is clearly seen in the quote above. It is that presentation tends to take precedence over truth.

So where do we draw the line between our blogs and our lives? That sounds a little dramatic I know. But in all seriousness do we draw a line or not? Specifically I have in mind the Gospel when I ask this question as it relates to the way we do church and evangelism. I guess what I'm getting at is that if we concern ourselves more with presentation then will we give enough time, attention, and prayer to the truth? At the heart of the matter I guess is the importance of truth. And not just 2+2=4. I'm talking about universal, absolute, all eternity hangs in the balance kind of truth. I've already admitted to being dramatic so I might as well keep it going right?

Take for example this article. Basically this is a critique and suggestion article on how christians can better witness to atheists. He has some very interesting thoughts such as the technique some christians use to witness is similar to email spam. He also points out that the techniques used by christians to sell their product are also very similar to the very annoying techniques the cult-like business Amway uses. One of his examples you see below.

This=Human Spam

Now I think that example is actually pretty funny. There is definitely some truth to that as there is also with what Abraham suggested. I guess the whole reason for this post is that I have been thinking for a long time and probably will for a long time about how to have a balanced approach to Truth & Presentation.

My concern is that too many christians are focused more on presentation than on truth. It is not that I think presentation isn't important. It is that truth is the most important. And it is the foundation for presentation. The truth is what gives your presentation value, not the other way around. Or at least that is the idea I get when I read Paul's words to the Corinthians in chapter 2. I love the Piper's and their gifts that the Lord has blessed the Church with for His glory. And I also realize that Piper's suggestion is in the context of blogging, but I wanted to point out that if we take that suggestion into evangelism then we end up trying to raise the dead with techniques and programs rather than the life giving truth of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Spurgeon Quote

I don't just like Spurgeon because he enjoyed a fine hand rolled cigar quite often. He could craft a sermon the way a sculptor chisels out a masterpiece. To be sure this was the work of the Spirit in him, and I'm thankful that the Lord saw fit to use him in such a mighty way both past and present. As people even today are being blessed and shaped through his ministry, I thought it appropriate to post this quote. A few days ago I was struggling to articulate the reason for suffering and why it is necessary and good for those who believe in Christ. So below is a quote from the Morning and Evening Readings of Spurgeon for this morning of March 4.

"If none of God’s saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say, “Still will I trust in the Lord;” when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel. God’s grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring—that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as he is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it is a calm night—I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the Spirit’s work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The master-works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, stedfast, unmoveable,—
“Calm mid the bewildering cry,
Confident of victory.”
He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for his failing you, never dream of it—hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end."