...making disciples with passion for God's glory.
1. Our Purpose
North Park Church is a community of believers in Christ with a purpose. We exist in order to “make disciples with passion for God’s glory.” A “disciple” is a person who is becoming more like Jesus in heart, mind, message and actions. We are a disciple-making church.
When we use the expression, “God’s glory,” we are saying that we want to give God the recognition, the credit, the honor, and the worship that He deserves.
When we say that we “make disciples with PASSION for God’s glory,” we are saying that the most exciting, engaging, and energizing experience anyone can have (i.e. passion) is to know, honor, worship, and serve this great God.
We believe that since this is the reason we have been made by God, then we will find our greatest enjoyment and satisfaction in life when we make Jesus Christ our greatest delight. As one theologian has expressed it, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him” (John Piper).
2. Our Past
Our congregation was formed in 1982 when a faithful group of like-minded followers of Christ met together to form North Park Evangelical Presbyterian Church (NPC for short). We purchased the old North Park Sportsman’s Club property, 12 beautiful acres adjacent to North Park . Since then, God has enabled us to build a new worship center in 1991, and a new education building in 2003.
3. Our Denomination
We are happy to be affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, an exciting denomination of some 180 congregations that was founded in 1981.
The title "Evangelical" means that we are serious about reaching out to others and telling them the good news about Jesus Christ.
The word "Presbyterian” describes both how we are internally governed (by a body of elders elected by the congregation along with our pastors) and what we doctrinally believe.
The word “Church” refers not to our building but to the people of God. We recognize that there are other fine denominations and congregations in the North Hills of Pittsburgh , but we are also grateful for our rich heritage and the foundation and direction that it gives us.
4. Ministry Areas
Our three highest priorities are to be Biblical, relevant and nurturing. To be Biblical means that we believe God speaks to us through the Bible and addresses every area of our lives in ways that are both humbling and exciting. Our teaching in Sunday school, adult classes, and mid-week gatherings are not subject to the whim of changing human opinion, but built on the solid rock of the Scripture.
Our pastors are committed to bring Sunday morning messages that are based solidly on Scripture and can be applied to practical, everyday life.
Our attempt to be relevant means that we are not slaves to any one program or strategy for ministry. Our programs are not written in stone because we are a congregation that is not static, but dynamic. We are not tied to our past, but rather open as to how God would lead us to develop new ministries to meet the needs of those He brings to us.
To nurture means to care for and provide, and that is what we seek to do for those in our fellowship. We especially want to nurture families, marriages, and the many children you see in our midst. In addition to building strong families, we want to be a family to those who need one.
As we “make disciples with a passion for God’s glory,” we have five ministry areas, all of which are biblical and all of which are worthy of our best and balanced effort.
We make disciples through the worship of God. Worshiping God is a way of life, but we also value Sunday morning worship as God’s people come together as a church family to give Him the glory that is due Him.
We make disciples through instruction, and offer a wide variety of learning opportunities.
We make disciples through community, and we believe that small groups are the most effective means to connect people with one another in meaningful and encouraging relationships.
We make disciples through service, and encourage all our members to discover the gifts and abilities that God has given them, and then to use those to serve God and others.
We make disciples through outreach, and are committed to local, national and international efforts to communicate the Gospel in word and deeds, as well as world missions. Nearly one-fourth of our entire budget is spent on extending the gospel beyond the four walls of NPC. We are also committed to local church planting, having birthed a daughter congregation on the North Side of Pittsburgh (New Hope Church) and more recently, Gateway Community EPC, in Slippery Rock, PA.
5. Our People
Most of our congregation live in the North Hills, but we do have people who attend from other places in Western Pennsylvania. We come from all walks of life: young and old, married, single, divorced, widowed; retired, unemployed, working class, business executives, and others! Our folks also come from many different church backgrounds (the majority of our members do not have a Presbyterian heritage) and some have no church background at all. Our variety contributes to our strength, and does not weaken our purpose. We have an expression that well summarizes our attempt to experience unity in our diversity.
In essentials, Unity;
In non-essentials, Liberty;
In all things, Charity.
