It’s been a privilege to lead Connexus Community Church for five years now. We’re a North Point Partner church, which has not only given us a front-row seat to what’s happening at North Point but the chance to implement the ministry model in our own (Canadian) context.
As I’ve noted in this week’s posts about North Point, Andy is one of the most quoted leaders in the church today.
To wrap up this series, I want to look at 5 little talked-about insights I’ve discovered about North Point. Being a partner for 5 years and having been around North Point for 7 years, I think there are some secrets about North Point’s success that aren’t that well known.
Before we get to the list, if you’re a bit cynical about ‘successful’ churches, just watch some North Point baptism stories. Genuine life change is compelling. And if God uses you to transform over 30,000 lives, well, seriously, how can that be a bad thing?
From where I sit, there are at least five remarkable things about North Point many leaders don’t realize.
1. Healthy systems attract healthy people. I sincerely believe North Point is one of the healthiest organizations I’ve seen. That doesn’t mean there aren’t struggles (just read the beginning of Deep and Wide and you’ll realize Andy and the team have faced struggles as deep or deeper than any of us). Get behind the scenes and you find leaders who have a deep humility and a commitment to character development, emotional health and spiritual growth. Andy is committed to making North Point a healthy culture. And healthy systems have a way of attracting healthy people. It doesn’t mean their team doesn’t struggle. Their crises are not much different than yours, but they are relentlessly committed to working through them in a spiritually, emotionally and relationally healthy way.
2. Character lubricates the friction of leadership. Andy has written about this, and so many leaders at North Point lives this out. Friction is inevitable in leadership. Get a big church and your problems get even bigger. But character (solid character) lubricates the friction of leadership. When you are selecting team members, don’t compromise on character. You need people committed to getting better personally, not just professionally.
3. Strategy trumps vision. Yes, vision matters. And yes vision is everything. But have you noticed, everybody’s got vision? If vision alone was enough, every church would be having a huge impact. North Point is tenacious in its’ commitment to finding the best strategy to implement that vision. The strategy might be a bad word in some leadership circles, but here’s the truth: a bad strategy will kill a great vision. If vision is important, strategy is uber-important. Strategy trumps vision.
4. People’s gifts have a far greater impact when deployed strategically. Most leaders are tempted to allow every volunteer to launch a program or ministry they happen to be passionate about. So the more people you have, the more ministries you have – not a single one of them strategically aligned to serve the mission or vision of the church. North Point has been dogged in its determination to do a few strategic things well and stick to that, no matter how much pressure others put on them. So instead of having a thousand high capacity volunteers running in a thousand directions, you get a thousand high capacity volunteers running in one direction. Which do you think will have a greater impact? Exactly.
5. Great preaching alone isn’t the secret sauce. Most people will tell you that while Andy is renowned for his preaching, he’s even a better leader. I think the hard work Andy has done on staying emotionally and spiritually healthy, the way he has surrounded himself with great leaders (I outline how to do that here), and the relentless focus (and ability to say no) have proven to be some powerful factors in North Point’s effectiveness.
