My family and I visited this church today (1/7/2024). We had high hopes for North Point and had heard great things about the teachings and the youth group.
I'll start by saying that I just read another review on another site that was posted around 5 months ago that stated all the things I came here to say, so I am saddened that the concerns I'm about to share seem to be the norm.
The first thing I noticed was that we seemed to be the only family holding our Bibles as we stood in the lobby. Not a single person that we could find brought a Bible with them. How can you learn and worship without your Bible? Unfortunately, the answer became all too clear as we got into the service.
Our first introduction to the worship was a very loud and flashy rendition of Journey's song Don't Stop Believing... Yes, the smell of wine and cheap perfume; the whole nine. The spinning disco lights were so blinding, even my 16-year-old son complained. The band was excellent, however. There was a lot of talent on that stage. But the next thing that concerned me was that the worshippers were'nt singing along to any of the songs, not even the "Christian" songs. They didn't appear to know the words, nor did we. The lead singer did a lot of beautiful adlibbing that made it difficult to follow along, and it felt more along the lines of attending a concert than joining in a worship services. That was disheartening.
The most concerning issue of all was the actual message itself. You can search their website and watch the recording and decide for yourself, but as we walked to our car, my daughter said, "Why do I feel like I just attended a Ted Talk rather than a church service?" She was right. The message was entitled "Who am I?" A better message might be "Who is God?" Without knowing who God is, you will never know who you are. The pastor talked about discovering oneself in a number of ways. He discussed how our identities could be tied to a relationship, a hobby, a job, etc. and gave ample scenarios (20 minutes or so worth) of how we might identify ourselves. Early in the message I could see how this might quickly tie into who we are in Christ, and every time I thought he was going to make that connection...he didn't. I glanced at my watch the first time he even mentioned the name of Jesus at all. It was 11:58 a.m. The service started at 11:00 and ended at noon. He gave our Lord and Savior a full 2 minutes, tossing in a couple of scriptures from Genesis for good measure. This is sadly the reason no one brought their Bible with them. There was no need when the only two verses discussed in the message were briefly provided on the giant screen.
If you're just looking for a strong group of people to fellowship and connect with, this might be a great church. But if you're looking for a church that will feed you God's truth through the study of scripture, BE WARNED this is probably not the place. The Gospel was not shared at all and if there were unbelievers or people hoping to learn more about what it means to be saved, they surely walked away confused, with more questions than answers. My fear is that this flock is being deceived with the wrong idea of what it means to be a true Christian, by repenting of their sins and following Christ.
I really hope these church leaders will re-evaluate their roles and purpose here. First and foremost, their goal should be to share the Gospel through the reading and studying of scripture (and by this, I mean more than throwing out a few verses), not trying to help their congregation maintain a better life through finding out who they are. The focus of any Bible-teaching message should never be ME. Church should encourage us to live out a holy life in order to glorify God, and the only way we can know how to do that is through studying His Word.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." Romans 1:16-17 read more