Week 7 - Northcrest Community Church

northcrestchurch.com

Having lived so long within the bubble of a megachurch it is easy to lose perspective of how much of the Christian Church functions. Small, yet dedicated, communities are more the norm and yet the multi-site, or multi-thousand, communities are often the ones that get the attention. Northcrest Community Church is one of the many small but dedicated churches in Clark County. If you have ever been to the Living Bethlehem Village on Mill Plain during Christmas time then you know the church we are talking about. This is no small feat undertaken by a surprisingly small community of believers, truly a labor of love to the bigger community.

The auditorium is well lit with both natural and artificial light. Just in case you are wondering what the big deal is with the "natural light" thing, well I'll (Loren here) tell you. After years of attending church in a building that doesn't have any windows in the main auditorium, and the lighting is controlled up and down to "set the mood" throughout the service, it is easy to lose the perspective of an environment that isn't illuminated by halogen or florescent light. "Whatever!" you say. Well, truthfully I hadn't really given it any thought until our first visit way back on January 3rd. Partway through the service I realized that there hadn't been any "mood lighting" and began to look around, realizing that there were actually windows to the outside world. A small thing maybe, but I liked it.

Aside from the lighting, the auditorium was comfortable, seating about 90, with a stage for the music team of four instruments and two vocalists. Technology was used for the music lyrics and to show a couple of videos. Like with another visit no projection screen was used, just the back wall. There is something kind of aesthetically pleasing about not having either a blank screen staring at you or some kind of moving graphic filling the blank screen. Coffee, in a real mug, was available, along with a variety of baked goodies in a pink or heart-shaped motif in honor of Valentine's Day. We were encouraged to grab our treats and take them right to our seat to enjoy as the service got underway. Our interaction with others was minimal, we said "Hi/Bye" to the pastor on our way in and out, and visited with a long-time friend who attends NCC.

The service overall was simple and straightforward. The music consisted of a mix of traditional and contemporary songs. No time was devoted to the traditional meet-n-greet, but other than that very typical. The pastor opened his message with a couple of short videos, one to introduce the week's message based on the theme "The Story," and one that explains a current focus of Evangelical churches, that of being "Missional." 

The message was based on I Kings 18 where the prophet Elijah goes head to head with several hundred prophets of Baal. Kind of an unusual passage considering that it was Valentine's Day. Typically the message would be all about God's love for us, our lack of deserving it, and what it cost him, you know, a classic John 3:16 message.  Surprisingly the message was about God's love but with a twist. We were challenged to reconsider the purpose of the prophets in God's plan. As the pastor explained, often we think of the biblical prophets as those angry guys that go around preaching hell-fire and brimstone. Using examples from nearly all the major and minor prophets named in the old testament, he challenged us to view their lives and ministries as God's means of communicating his love for his people. An interesting twist and yet it rings true.

The pastor's missional spirit was evident in his teaching and NCC is located in an ideal place to have a real impact on their immediate neighbors. While it easy to think that bigger is better there are innumerable stories in church history where faithful, yet small, can have a lasting impact.