What to Expect

The teaching, preaching, and study of the Bible drives what we do at the North Side. We also deeply desire and feel the need to grow as a praying church. We want to build a community in which the content of prayer is for gospel and heart issues, not just circumstantial issues. Jesus identifies prayer as the first and most important part of the “greater work” that his disciples do (John 14:12-14).

We long to be a church where the mind of Christ is present in our midst. Christians often fall into partisan patterns of thinking, and we would be deceiving ourselves to believe that we escape that temptation. However, we are deeply convinced that biblical Christianity doesn’t belong to any one culture, nation, or political party. Biblical Christians should never be predictably partisan but rigorously biblical. We must nurture the mind of Christ through careful biblical and theological reflection lest our minds become more cultured than Christian.

In Scripture we see the origins of the mission of God’s people in the world, that “you will be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2). We want to bless the world and our city, in particular, in meaningful ways, to love our neighbors and seek their good without expecting anything in return.

We want to be a church for families, singles, and couples without kids. Evangelical church culture often normalizes traditional family structures, but we want everyone to feel equally at home here. We also want to be a church for strugglers. You don’t have to be perfect, mentally healthy, or relationally healthy to be comfortable at the North Side.

We desire to become a place where inviting someone to church, a Community Group, or another church event is the most natural thing in the world. 1 Corinthians 14:23 assumes that those who do not share our faith will be among us. We want to welcome them and show them the Jesus that we have come to know. We believe this means embracing new rhythms of hospitality. It will also mean embracing the mission of the gospel in new ways.

We believe in beautiful, gospel-shaped music and liturgy that serves as a means of growing us in grace. Beauty is also attractive. We strive to be a church that enjoys and elevates the beauty of our God in all of life.

God’s grace isn’t just for the past when we were first converted nor just for the future so that we go to heaven when we die. Grace matters right now, and we want to work out how the grace of justification, adoption, and sanctification plays out in our day-to-day walk with Christ. Grace is comprehensive.

Moreover, the comprehensiveness of grace propels us in a comprehensive response. Romans 12:1-3 says that because of grace, we are to be living sacrifices to Christ, and there is no corner of the human person that escapes this sacrificial transformation.