Multi-site Church Road Trip

Know Your Rib?

When people in the southeastern United States think of sticky fingers, their first thought is no longer the grimy hand of a messy toddler but rather ribs and barbeque. That’s because Sticky Fingers, a South Carolina–based barbeque chain, has established the reputation of having the best authentic Memphis-style ribs and barbecue in the South.

In my work of identifying resources to assist churches committed to multi-site, I came across this multi-unit restaurant. It seemed to face some of the same challenges multi-site churches face. After seeing a story about the growing chain on one of the national morning news shows, I picked up the phone and tracked down Jeff Goldstein, one of the founders of Sticky Fingers. I quickly learned how a lesson in running a successful barbeque restaurant could help churches understand their own DNA—that set of core beliefs and practices that must be transferred from site to site.

Jeff’s insight into site selection is to go where people ask you to come. In Sticky Fingers’ case, invitations are documented by the number of requests received via email. I learned his greatest insight, though, when I asked him about the source of Sticky Fingers’ success. Without hesitation he responded, “Know your rib!” He went on to say that unless they have that foundational element in place, all other decisions are without consequence. The greatest location and the best staff can’t cover for a poorly prepared rib.

What is your church’s “rib”—your DNA? What key component(s) must be transferred from site to site, from venue to venue, to ensure the effective development of a new location? Key to replication is a clear understanding of what is foundational and what stands at the periphery.  "Roll up your sleeves" and let's talk about it!

What does that mean?

Recently I decided to try out some "hip" lingo to impress some guests from the left coast and commented on the fact that something we were looking at was "ghetto". My hip-ness was met with uncomfortable silence. Finally one of the guests said, "By that I assume you mean bad?" Obviously my failure to define terms had led to confusion and embarrassment. (I'm not sure what the slang definition of ghetto is, I overheard one of my kids using it) To avoid confusion and embarrassment, let me share some of the definitions of multi-site terms from The Multi-site Church Revolution.

Multi-site church: Short for multiple-site church, or one church with multiple locations. A church is considered multi-site if it has more than one worship venue, more than one campus, or a combination of both.

Campus: Any location where a complete church ministry (i.e., adult worship, nursery, children’s programming) takes place. A multi-site church may have several campuses.

Branch or satellite: An off-site campus.

Venue: A location where a worship service for adults is held, such as a church’s fellowship hall, gym, or chapel. For example, Saddleback Church has one campus, but that campus has seven venues for adult worship.

Worship service: Christ-centered community that usually includes singing, praying, and preaching. It happens regularly, usually weekly. Also known as a celebration, service of divine worship, worship experience, and sometimes simply “church”

Strategic partner: At North Point Community Church in Atlanta, where this idea is most actively being pioneered, a strategic partner is a church that shares North Point’s mission, strategy, values, and beliefs but remains a separate entity.

Are there multi-site terms we've missed? How would you change the definitions we've included? Now do you think I'm hip?

National Community Church

LeadershipJournal.net has an interesting article on National Community Church in which Pastor Mark Batterson explains the rationale for doing church in a theater:

"Union Station is the most visited destination in the nation's capitol," Batterson says. "We've got our own subway stop, bus stop, train stop and parking garage. We've got forty food court restaurants right outside our meeting site. The theaters give us multiple meeting rooms with comfortable seats and screens" (which, he says, function as "modern-day stained glass, similar to how medieval churches used pictures to tell the gospel story"). The church even plays with its setting, using popcorn boxes to receive the offering.

"What more accessible and visible location could we want?" Batterson says. "I can't imagine a better place to reach the unchurched and dechurched in D.C."

The location removes an obstacle to anyone intimidated or threatened by a church building. The congregation is 75 percent unchurched and dechurched; 80 percent are single; and 80 percent are in their twenties.

The location fits well with the church's core values, which include "expect the unexpected" and "playing it safe is risky." Referring to Paul's dialogues at Mars Hill in Acts 17:16, Batterson says, "Too many churches are boycotting the Areopagus. If Paul hadn't been willing to go there, Dionysius and Damaris wouldn't have their names written in Book of Life!"

(Read the rest of the article here)

Mark has discovered what multi-site churches across the country are discovering; when you can pour your resources into people rather than buildings the results are exponential. If you are interested in doing church in a theater, don't miss National Community's Buzz conference coming in May.

Multi-site Campuses Reproducing New Campuses!

Just got the latest edition of Community Christian Church's New Thing News and, as usual, they have some exciting stuff happening including the opening of campus #8 in the Pilsen area of Chicago AND some of their campuses are now beginning to multiply.  This team has reproducing leadership and artists happening!  Check it out at http://www.newthing.org/NewThingNews/DF2006Jan.htm

Multi-site Coast to Coast Conference

The 2006 Multi-site Coast-to-Coast Conference is coming May 8th & 9th to Seacoast Church in Charleston, South Carolina. This conference brings together some of the top multi-site churches in America including North Coast in San Diego, Community Christian in Chicago and Seacoast. The 2005 conference sold out a month in advance, so if you plan to go you need to register soon. You can learn more and register at www.multi-site.org.

Heaven Scent

Posted by Warren Bird

I enjoy learning from churches through their websites. Long gone is the day when churches offer one "take it or leave it" choice: one 10:00 a.m. service. In fact, according to the largest-ever study of U.S. congregations, conducted back in 2001, the majority of churches are already doing multiple services, a first step toward becoming multi-site. Specifically, "two thirds of congregations offer more than one worship service in a typical week." Woolever, Cynthia, and Deborah Bruce. A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2002, 31.

Even within each worship service, churches are showing wonderful creativity in making the Gospel accessible to as many different people as possible.

For example look at John Piper's church, Bethelehem Baptist in Minneapolis, where they offer this sensitive innovation at their Downtown campus (they have currently have three campuses):

Scent - Free Worship: There is a small group of people that worship with us who have allergies and experience extreme sensitivity to odors from construction, perfumes, strong deodorant and fragrances. To minister to these individals and allow them to worship at Bethlehem alongside us, we have set aside room 111 as a scent-free space during our Downtown Campus 9:45am service each Sunday. A link to the service, an adjacent bathroom and separate entrance are provided.

Our sanctuary is often filled to capacity. One person's perfume or cologne can negatively affect another sitting nearby if the scent is too strong. In a spirit of putting the needs of others above our own, we ask everyone who attends our 9:45am worship service at the Downtown Campus to please refrain from wearing perfume or cologne. We also request that everyone who has an allergy or who may be bothered by a scent to please attend the 9:45 service at the Downtown Campus.

What adaptations are you making, from a big-screen TV monitor in your cry-room to unusual touches similar to Bethlehem's scent-free worship?

Good Reads

Here are a couple of books we're reading.

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

The book is based on outsourcing and globalization, but there are implications for the world of multi-site through the idea of projects being managed and executed in multiple locations by multiple teams.

Here’s a quote from the Amazon review – “What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet.”

Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll

Mark is lead pastor for Mars Hill Fellowship in Seattle, WA.  They have recently decided to go multi-site and Mark’s book Radical Reformission and the follow-up title, Confessions of a Reformissional Rev., are great resources for laying the groundwork for multi-site as an authentic way to impact the culture for Christ.

From the back cover – “Reformation is the continual reforming of the mission of the church to enhance God’s command to reach out to others in a way that acknowledges the unique times and locations of daily life. This engaging book blends the integrity of respected theoreticians with the witty and practical insights of a pastor. It calls for a movement of missionaries to seek the lost across the street as well as across the globe.”

A new kind of multi-site

Multi-site is more than a mega-church launching new campuses. As described in the following article, two churches in the Kansas City area merged into one multi-site church.

Churches merge apart in multicampus solution

By MELODEE HALL BLOBAUM

The Kansas City Star

One congregation was feeling the pinch of a landlocked location on Antioch Road.

The other was longing for the amenities that come with more members.

So they joined forces in a merger that crosses the state line and expands opportunities.

Members of Legacy Christian Church, formed by the merger of Johnson County Christian Church in Overland Park and Cedar Creek Christian Church in Lee’s Summit, worshipped for the first time this weekend under their new name.

But they did it in two locations, and will continue to do so, joining thousands of one-church, multiple-site congregations nationwide.

The Overland Park congregation had nearly doubled to 1,100 weekend worshippers since the Rev. Reggie Epps became its senior pastor in 2001.

“We were getting ready to do a relocation, but all of us were somewhat troubled about abandoning the community where the church had been for more than 30 years,” Epps said.

So the congregation’s strategy shifted from relocating to becoming a multicampus church. The church purchased land at 175th Street and Hedge Lane near Gardner with plans to ease into ministry there.

Meanwhile, Cedar Creek was feeling a pinch, too. But it was from the limited ministries it could provide with about 100 members, said founding pastor Chad Earhart.

Earhart knew about Epps’ plans from regular lunch meetings. So he called his colleague up and asked if the Overland Park congregation would consider Lee’s Summit in its multisite plan.

After studying the idea, Johnson County Christian Church thought it sounded good.

“The whole prospect of us being able to provide ministry services to the broader area within Kansas City has been a vision of ours for a very long time,” said board member Tim Wilks of Shawnee.

Just one problem: The geographic name wouldn’t work across the state line.

So the two congregations agreed on Legacy Christian, a name that they say captures their combined 43 years of ministry and propels them into the future.

The one-church-in-multiple-sites concept has caught on in the United States over the past few years. In 1999, about 100 churches had more than one campus. By 2004, that had grown to more than 1,000.

Colonial Presbyterian Church pioneered the concept locally in 1997, when it began offering worship services both in Johnson County and at the established church at 9400 Wornall Road, Kansas City. In 2002, the congregation dedicated the first building on its 127-acre Johnson County campus at 12501 W. 137th St.

Greg Ligon of the Leadership Network, a Texas-based organization that links church leaders across the nation, said the concept is popular among churches large and small. Some congregations have even extended their reach to metropolitan areas hundreds of miles away. Life Church in Edmond, Okla., for example, has campuses as far away as Mesa, Ariz.

What are the pros, cons and pitfalls of this approach to multi-site?