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.
Posts
