Those people whose needs are met by the anchor stores have several choices in one convenient place and are in no way put out by all of the specialty shops that have no personal appeal to them. However, while initially they have no interest, they eventually discover them as a great source for meeting their more specific needs.
On the contrary, those people who have more unique needs, interests, or wants, come to the mall because of the specialty shops, but many of them eventually begin enjoying and frequenting the anchor stores as well. For those people who are not naturally drawn to the mall to shop, there are a host of diverse activities, displays and events sponsored by the mall in order to attract them. Though having nothing to do with the real purpose of the mall, these novelties draw people in and provide the opportunity for them to find something that they cannot live without.
We see NorthRidge as that kind of place, only for the purpose of meeting spiritual needs. It is our desire to provide availability and easy access to ministries designed for every spiritual need and want a person has at every stage of spiritual development, from unbelieving to mature believer. As well, we want to have something for every kind of person God has placed in our surrounding communities. We want the doors to discovering, developing and experiencing the Christian life to be open to our community in every direction and in every conceivable way.
In order to remove as many human barriers to spiritual discovery and growth as possible, we will seek to provide our ministries at times and in settings that are attractive, convenient and desirable. Since many people are not naturally drawn to Christ and His Church, we will provide a diversity of seemingly unrelated activities and events that will initially attract them to our ministry. In so doing, they will have the opportunity of hearing and responding to the eternal truth that they so desperately need in a non-threatening and personally enjoyable setting.
In order to meet our communities general spiritual needs, we will provide large anchor ministries of worship, fellowship, instruction, stewardship and evangelism in a way that draws and generally satisfies the majority of people. These anchors will include such ministries as our Weekend Services, seminars, women's and men's events, etc.
However, because life change happens best in small groups and because of the vast diversity of people and needs in our world today, we will provide a myriad of smaller ministries as well. These will be targeted to special groups of people with unique needs and wants that must be met if they are going to discover, develop and experience the abundant life of faith that Jesus died to give them. So, like a shopping mall, we will be both large and small at the same time.
We see ourselves as a church that, through diversity, innovation, size, total member involvement, flexibility, understanding of present cultural and community needs, love and acceptance, concern for quality and excellence, and commitment to truth, can meet the spiritual needs of people in all of life's varying circumstances in an exciting, relevant and enjoyable way.