Multi-site Church Road Trip

Online Multi-site Campuses Gaining Speed

The last several weeks I have been touching base with a number of churches that have been involved with Leadership Network's Multi-site Churches Leadership Communities.  As pioneers in this growing movement, they are learning all kinds of things and engaging in what I call "serial innovation."  One of the areas that really seems to be gaining steam is the development of online campuses.  Check out this article and video clip about the work that Seacoast Church is doing in this area.

You can also learn more about what is happening in this digital part of the revolution at . . .

LifeChurch.tv

Northland

McLean Bible Church

and more on Seacoast.

Who are some of the other innovators in this area in your network?  Let us hear from you.

Southern Baptist Multi-site Buzz

Jeremy Roberts, Staff Pastor at Prestonwood Baptist, and guest columnist for the Southern Baptist blog - SBC Outpost has seemingly struck a nerve.  An original post on August 7 has already drawn well over 100 comments.  To see what it is all about and to add your two cents go to SBC Outpost.

Many of the comments are related to megachurches so you might also want to check out Beyond Megachurch Myths, the conversation and information regarding our latest book with Jossey Bass.

Book excerpt on Pastors.com

  Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox reprinted an excerpt from The Multi-site Church Revolution this week. You can read the entire article here at pastors.com. If you don't already get the Ministry Toolbox you can subscribe here. It is one of the best free resources on the internet for anyone who is involved in ministry. (And not just because they quoted our book. But it helped)

Theater Church Survey Released!

Late last week I noted that Warren Bird was releasing a recent survey that the team at Leadership Network completed on churches that use movie theaters.  You can download it from here.  Tell us what you think?

Strategic Partners

North Point is scheduled to open its third location, Browns Bridge Community Church, this Spring.  In addition to adding multiple sites, the team at North Point is pioneering a strategic partner model that creates opportunity for churches to benefit from and leverage the programming developed by the North Point team.

In a recent edition of Vision Magazine, this model was reviewed.  Following are a few excerpts.

“They’re partners with us in our model but they’re completely different 501© 3 organizations with their own elders and their own systems of government,” Lane explains. “A strategic partner will look and feel very similar to North Point. They’ll use Andy on video; they’ll use some of our same termoniology with KidStuf and Waumba Land.” A strategic partner agrees to use Andy’s messages at least half the time. . . . There are currently 6 such partnerships: 4 in Georgia, one in Alabama, and one in Michigan. Only one of them was an existing church. . . . To become a strategic partner they require an existing church to shut down for 3 months, send their staff to train at North Point, and then reopen with new enthusiasm.” p.29, Vision, Easter 2006, Vol 4. #1.

What do you think about this model?  Do you know of others that are using it?

Reaching New Audiences

The Community Christian Church - Pilsen campus is reaching a totally new demographic from the early campus launches in the Chicagoland area.  Read the following Chicago Tribune story to understand how it was birthed and the exciting impact it is having. 

Community Christian Church - Pilsen

Pilsen church opens, born of faith, music

By Tonya Maxwell
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 27, 2006

The mountain has moved in Pilsen.

For months, three Protestant pastors have been using mesmerizing jazz fusion beats to capture the imaginations of Pilsen residents. They beat bongos and thumped bass at the tiny Cafe Mestizo on Ashland Avenue, creating camaraderie in music.

But always these young men of God had a plan for creating camaraderie in Christ though an informal, music-laden church service.

On Sunday, those pastors--Eli Orozco, Tony Escobar and Sam Menesses--saw their grassroots efforts rewarded with the opening of Community Christian Church in Pilsen. The church is the eighth house of worship in Community Christian's Chicago-area network, based in Naperville, but it's the first to offer a Spanish-language service.

It has taken root in a heavily Catholic community, a move some see as a challenge to the older institution. Others view Pilsen as welcoming of different faiths.

"The biggest mountain moved is people took a risk to check it out," Escobar said after the service, referring to the Sunday sermon about Matthew 17:20, which says that even with the faith of a mustard seed, one can move a mountain.

In the Spanish-language service, parishioners heard campus pastor Orozco deliver that message in person. In the second, an English-language service, attendees watched the message delivered by a pastor via DVD. In the kid's services, led by children's program director Escobar, youngsters talked about the mountains in their own lives.

"Today, we're overwhelmed," Escobar, 25, said. "The most emotional thing is seeing other people help us from the other [Community Christian] campuses. I didn't expect so much support behind us."

Services are being held in the gymnasium of J.C. Orozco Academy, a kindergarten through 8th grade school at Damen Avenue and 18th Street. The service emphasizes upbeat music, mostly Christian, but on Sunday, it left room for a live rendition of Eric Clapton's "Change the World."

The music appealed to Cynthia Hurtado, 24, but the Lombard resident said it is the message that most resonated with her. She converted from Catholicism years ago, in search of a more personal faith with Christ, she said.

"There wasn't any hope in the other church. There wasn't any explanation of faith, but here they explain the Bible," said Hurtado, who came to the church with her father. "My mom criticized us for coming here. She said if we are so good, then why is there no change in us? But she doesn't see that our faith is stronger, that we are closer to God."

She had attended Naperville's Community Christian Church in the past and found a stronger faith there. Juan Diego Ortiz, a lifelong Catholic of Chicago, said he came to the service Sunday after receiving a flier about the grand opening.

Ortiz came with his grandson, Emmanuel Martinez, 18; Ortiz said he wanted to find a more vibrant place of worship his whole family could enjoy.

"All I want to is to have peace and feel good," he said, unsure if his wife, a devout Catholic, might visit with him in the future. "It's not better than the Catholic Church. I know God is the same."

Pastor Felipe Vaglienty of St. Ann Catholic Church agrees with the sentiment. Located just a few blocks away, St. Ann's offers Catholic masses in Polish, Spanish and English.

The new church poses no threat to the Catholic faithful, he said, noting that the neighborhood already had a Lutheran church and a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall, he said.

"In the community that I serve here, most of the people are very Roman Catholic and from my knowledge and of the community, I don't feel threatened by this," he said. "We have here in this country freedom of religion. It's an American value, and it's something to be respected."

Multi-Mega?

Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research just released a new study that indicates many of the most widely held beliefs about megachurches couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I was fascinated by the study because members of my team were working on it ... and after all, Leadership Network has historically been about building peer networks for connection of leaders ... many from megachurches.

But I was especially intrigued by the stats on multi-site in mega-churches - over 50% of mega-churches either have, or plan to have, in the very near future at least two distinct campuses.  God is indeed up to something!

Check out the complete report at  Leadership Network.  You can also listen to a podcast with the authors that discusses the following 11 myths at Leadership Network MegaChurch Podcast. 

MYTH #1: All megachurches are alike.
REALITY: They differ in growth rates, size and emphasis.

MYTH #2: All megachurches are equally good at being big.
REALITY: Some clearly understand how to function as a large institution, but others flounder.

MYTH #3: There is an over-emphasis on money in the megachurches.
REALITY: The data disputes this.

MYTH #4: Megachurches exist for spectator worship and are not serious about Christianity.
REALITY: Megachurches generally have high spiritual expectations and serious orthodox beliefs.

MYTH #5: Megachurches are not deeply involved in social ministry.
REALITY: Considerable ministry is taking place at and through these churches.

MYTH #6: All megachurches are pawns of or powerbrokers to George Bush and the Republican Party.
REALITY: The vast majority of megachurches are not politically active.

MYTH #7: All megachurches have huge sanctuaries and enormous campuses.
REALITY: Megachurches make widespread use of multiple worship services over several days, multiple venues and even multiple campuses.

MYTH #8: All megachurches are nondenominational.
REALITY: The vast majority belong to some denomination.

MYTH #9: All megachurches are homogeneous congregations with little diversity.
REALITY: A large and growing number are multi-ethnic and intentionally so.

MYTH #10: Megachurches grow primarily because of great programming.
REALITY: Megachurches grow because excited attendees tell their friends.

MYTH #11: The megachurch phenomenon is on the decline.
REALITY: The data suggests that many more megachurches are on the way.

Multi-sites as Branches?

Dave Ferguson of Community Christian Church has written an excellent article on the multi-site movement for BuildingChurchLeaders.com. He compares the rise of the multi-site church to the change in commerce we've seen in America during the last 50 years:

Remember the days when your bank had only one location and not multiple branches? Back then you could say, "I'm going to the bank" and everyone knew that you meant the bank at the corner of Elm and Main. Remember the days when your hospital had one facility and not multiple locations? You could tell people, "I'm having some tests at the hospital" and everyone knew you meant the hospital facility downtown. Remember the days when colleges had only one campus? If you told someone, "I'm taking classes at the state college," they knew not only the college, but also what town you were talking about.

Now, banks, hospitals, and colleges serve their communities with multiple facilities in various locations. And we can add to that list churches. There are now at least 1,500 multi-site churches in the United States. No longer does a church have to have only one branch, one location, or one campus.

What are the long term implications, good and bad, of Dave's analogy?