In A Nutshell: A medium-sized non-denominational family church with really good preaching.
Church Overview
Affiliation - None
Attendance - 300 people, but expected to grow
Demographics - Mostly white, multi-generational with a lot of families and kids.
Adult Bible Fellowship (Sunday School)
Walking into the church and asking someone about what Sunday School offerings they had, I was basically just told to go to one because the other ones didn't really fit. It wasn't before long that I realized that all of the Sunday School classes are split up based on age group, which is something that I haven't really expected or experienced before. I attended the "College and Career" group, which is basically for young, unmarried people that either just started working or were still in college. Doing some other research online, it seems like this kind of Sunday School model is actually common to the non-denominational churches in the area. I'm not really sure if I like it, as I find that it would probably be harder to meet and get to know the adults in the church, but it was nice to be able to meet some of the other young people. Other than me, there were four other young adults (three girls and one guy), and a middle-aged couple who led the class. The class was supposed to be studying Philippians, but we actually spent most of the time just talking about the church and its mission because I had asked about it (and because the teacher thought it would be a good idea to refresh everyone's memory on it). When we finally got to the Bible study, it wasn't much of a study - we just read the passage, and the teacher spent around 10 minutes talking about it and gave us some application, and we closed in prayer. I'm not sure if the lack of discussion was because of the amount of time we spent talking about the church or if it was the usual for the class, but I'll just need to go back and see.
Sunday Service
According to the young adults I sat with, this Sunday Service was completely unique and not how they normally did things. It was a communion service (they do their communions on the last Sunday of every month), so things were bound to be a little different. The sanctuary itself was undergoing renovation and expansion that should be completed in the next month, expanding the sanctuary from a capacity of around 300 people to one of around 600 people. Because of this, the sanctuary smelled a little like Home Depot, and didn't have much of the simple decoration that I've become accustomed to in even a Protestant church.
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| Probably my favorite bulletin cover so far |
The worship experience this Sunday was insane. It was new and traditional and awesome and unfamiliar all in one. What the worship pastor basically did this Sunday was he used the different elements of traditional worship services such as Scripture readings (both old and new testaments), responsive readings, and hymns to tell the story of the life of Christ. Starting with the birth of Christ, we listened to, read, and sang about Jesus' life, teaching, ministry, crucifixion and death, and resurrection. The songs that were sung were all hymns and very traditional but were for the most part familiar hymns. The worship style, which was never done before according to the people I was sitting with, was absolutely unique and amazing. I don't know if I would be able to take it if we did it every week, but I really enjoyed it this one time that we did it this way.
The Sermon
The sermon, which you can listen to here, wasn't the usual style because it was communion, so it was much more brief than it normally would have been (or so I'm told). I had previously listened to one of their sermons online and was impressed with the depth and seriousness of the preacher, which is something that I've been longing for here in Fort Wayne. Pastor Scott, the preaching (and lead) pastor of the church is easily the best preacher that I've personally seen so far, both in skill and in depth. At first, I was sort of disappointed that Pastor Scott wasn't going to give a more traditional kind of sermon, but the talk he gave was actually quite good. He spoke on the word "good", and gave a somewhat more application-level (but Scripture-drenched) sermon. He then did this awesome, one-time, unique thing that he had never done before - he had the entire congregation stand up and read a passage of Scripture in their own translations. This meant that there were ESV's, NIV's, KJV's, and whatever other translations being read together. It was this perfect unity of harmony and diversity. It was awesome to hear sections as we read aloud that diverted in translations and the parts that were in complete unity. I actually got chills from how awesome it was after we did the reading. Like the worship, this probably isn't something that I would want to do every week (and they almost certainly won't), but I really enjoyed the opportunity that I had to participate in these unique worship styles.
Reflection
What I liked
Preaching - As I mentioned before, the preaching here is definitely a key strength of the church, and I probably enjoyed the preaching here more than any other church I visited. Pastor Scott definitely knows what he's talking about, and he wraps it all in a gospel-centered message devoid of much of the moralism that has so infected many of our churches today.
Young Adults- While there really isn't a huge group of young adults at this church, there's definitely more young adults than in any other church I visited. The college and career group seems to have a lot of committed members so there seems to be a potential to serve and to be a part of a good community.
Growing Church - Unlike every other church that I visited, Northpark seemed to be the only church to really be growing. Not only was the sanctuary packed Sunday morning, they are undergoing construction to expand it. Obviously, size often doesn't mean much for judging the quality of a church, but in this case, it is encouraging to see a Bible-preaching church growing.
Close to home - My biggest concern for joining St. Andrew EPC was the distance, but Northpark is actually really close to my apartment, which would make it possible for me to do stuff at the church during the week and it should make serving at the church much easier. In addition, the mission of the church and the ministries and charities that the church partners with
in the area would also be reasonably close to my apartment.
What I didn't like as much
"Adult Bible Fellowship" model- I love meeting young adults, but after thinking about it, I don't know if I like the model of grouping Sunday School classes by age. I find that it would be hard to really get to know the adults of the church. Maybe I've just gotten used to being one of the only young adults and only having adults to talk to in the churches I've visited in Fort Wayne, but I wish I got more of a chance to interact with the adults of the church. I think this sort of model is good for family churches (also like MCCC), where young parents and young married couples could get a chance to hear the advice of those in similar situations. However, I feel like this "life" kind of stuff is best done in cell groups during the week, and for me, Sunday School has always been less application-based but more about teaching Scripture.
Unsure of potential to serve - Being a bigger church with more resources, it seems like Northpark probably has "everything figured out." However, I would still like to be able to contribute to the body if I came here, and I'm not sure how I would be able to do that here. Again, I think that it might just be that I got so used to visiting small churches that were super excited to see me because in all honesty, the situation I would have at Northpark would probably be a similar situation to what I would face if I continued attending either Knox or MCCC. It is definitely good that the church doesn't "need" me (I don't think any church really does, anyways), but I would still like an opportunity to serve.
The Verdict
Northpark Community Church offers what has been weaker in many of the churches that I've visited - a young adult group and great preaching. I'm excited at the possibility of joining in on the church's mission for the community and serving in a growing church community. On the other hand, I didn't really enjoy the Sunday School class very much, which to me is the strength of St. Andrew EPC, so I have a big decision to make! For now, I think I will attend both St. Andrew and Northpark on alternating weeks to get a better feel of the church so I can make a better decision.
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