Multi-site Church Road Trip

Finding That Multi-site Smile

Posted by Geoff Surratt

Neil Cole, author of Organic Church and Organic Leadership, takes the multi-site movement to task in an article this week. Neil says, "I must be honest and confess that I have not been smiling at the spread of the multi-site phenomenon. I know some do it well, but many do not." I hate to see Neil not smiling, so I thought I'd try to answer a few of his objections. Please go read the article and then come back for my response.

I'll wait.

C'mon, you didn't read the whole article did you? Oh well, finish it after you read my post.

Here is my take on Neil's arguments.

First, multi-site is not church planting

This is one of the arguments against multi-site churches I hear the most. It seems to qualify as "real" a church plant must:

1. Have a leader who delivers a 30-60 minute speech every week
2. Not be tied to a larger organization
3. Rely only on their own resources

Failure to follow these three guidelines seems to mean your church doesn't count. I don't know if the lives that are changed, the disciples that are grown, the communities that are transformed count, or who exactly is doing the counting.

Almost all of the multi-site campuses that I've been around function like a free standing church except:

1. They often use the teaching of someone who stands in another room when he speaks
2. They share resources with likeminded congregations
3. Their pastors are accountable to other leaders. (Bishops, presbyters, regional pastors)

I don't understand why where a preacher stands, how a congregation shares resources and accountability for a pastor disqualify a church from being a church.

Second, multi-site churches don't develop leaders

Neil says, "[In a multi-site church] A strong leader is not as desired as a good manager in starting new campus sites." Seriously? I can't think of a church in America or around the world that isn't looking for strong leaders for campus pastors. This argument is a throwback to the idea that only those with strong teaching gifts make good leaders. I have no idea the Biblical or empirical evidence for this; even Paul said that he was a lousy speaker, but he was a phenomenal leader. Campus pastors who don't deliver a 30 minutes homily on Sunday often need to be STRONGER leaders than those who do. Without the bully pulpit it can be MORE challenging to lead, not less.

As for developing preachers, the church I grew up in only had one preacher. Occasionally we would have a speaker come from the outside and once a year one of the younger guys might speak, but that was it. At Seacoast we currently have six guys on our teaching team plus our campus pastors speak on a regular basis. We also have classes for speakers and a myriad of opportunities for teachers to develop their skills. I'm sure some multi-site churches don't develop preachers just like some organic churches don't develop disciples. The problem with blanket statements is that they cover up reality.

Third, multi-site churches are all about ego

Neil indicates that pastors of multi-site churches are primarily concerned with getting more butts in seats and bringing in more money in the offering plates. I have no doubt there are pastors in it for the money and the ego boost, the pastors I know are desperate to reach people with the Good News and help them grow up in their faith. Multi-site seems to be an effective way to fulfill that call on their lives.

One of our Seacoast campuses is located in the poorest, most dangerous neighborhood in Charleston. They have a free clinic, a food pantry, a Dream Closet, ESL classes, as well as a tutoring program. They also have services on Sunday and watch a video for the teaching. No one at that campus thinks their church is all about the preacher or the Benjamins; it's about the Gospel and it's about taking the Gospel to the people. We've just found an efficient way of doing exactly what Jesus told us to do, "to go into all the world and preach the Gospel."

I hope that makes Neil smile.

Multi-site Church Launch Changes

Leadership Network recently hosted Rich Birch  from Liquid Church as a resource for our Multi-site JumpStart Innovation Lab.  The churches that participated in this lab had all recently launched a new campus - from nine months to three weeks earlier.  Rich provided some excellent insights about organizational changes that have to happen as churches enter the multi-site church world. 

You can listen to the entire presentation here or check out the following notes.

According to Rich’s experience with both Liquid Church where he currently serves, The Meeting House where he formerly served and interaction with  churches he has served through Multi-Site Solutions, the following things must change as a church launches their first campus:

1.  They must move from staff driven to volunteer fueled.

2.  They must engage intentional leadership development instead of simple intuitive leadership development.

3.  They must distinguish between the nice to haves and the need to haves.

Three other random learnings (Rich’s words!) include:

1.  Multi-site should not be the sum of your vision.  Rather it should be a tool to aid the larger goal.

2.  Churches often take longer to think through “campus three” than “campus two.”

3.  Audit and adjust the eco-system – measure and compare campuses for growth and effectiveness of the parts and the whole.

What are you learning from new campus launches?  Would love to get your comments.

Greg Ligon

 

twitter - @gregligon

email – [email protected]

Missional Meets Multi-Site

One of the things that excites me about what God is doing is in the interface between missional models for church and multi-site strategies.  In Leadership Network’s interaction with both multi-site churches and externally focused churches, we are seeing more and more overlap.  Multi-site churches are reaching out to their community by using campuses to establish missional presence in neighborhoods.  On the flip side of the coin - externally focused churches are experiencing the “birth” of worshipping campuses in the areas of the city where they are serving the needs of the people they encounter.

I recently had the opportunity to interview two churches that model this growing trend. Two very different churches, each multisite, describe missional ways they’re making a difference in people’s lives in their respective communities. Each church found and met a need, doing so in a way that opens the door to spiritual conversations - one through hurricane relief and another through an aquatics center in partnership with their city.

Check out the podcast of my discussion with David DeGarmo, Multisite Director, Church of the King, in greater New Orleans, LA and Crull Chambless, Executive Pastor, Harvest Church, Billings, MT here.

Is your church engaging missional/multi-site synergies?  If so, or you know of another church that is, share the story via twitter (@gregligon) or email me.

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

twitter - @gregligon

email – [email protected]

Steering Through Chaos – Great New Book by Multi-site Church Leader @scottwilson7

My colleague @chris_willard and I (@gregligon) have spent the last couple of years journeying with churches that are experiencing exponential growth.  Pretty much every conversation is punctuated with two common themes – incredible leadership and “pain.”  The leadership is likely not surprising to anyone who understands organizational growth.  But the pain theme may seem foreign to those who have not been a part of leading or serving in a rapidly growing church.

Unfortunately the pain sometimes is demonstrated through broken marriages or movement away from a ministry calling.  In other cases it’s simply pain expressed in the question, “How can I faithfully lead, serve and love this church which God has called me to and now on most days feels like a “rocket ride?”

When I first met @scottwilson7 and the team at The Oaks Fellowship, they were asking the questions and riding the rocket.  In the pages of Scott’s new book, Steering Through Chaos,   you will find the story of a leader and church who have embraced the pain and in a healthy manner have successfully navigated the rocket trajectory and speed of change.

And through their story, you will see yours and be equipped with language and tools to steer through whatever chaos your church may be facing, 

Hear more from Scott here -

Scott Wilson and The Oaks Fellowship – real deal!

Steering through Chaos – great book!

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

Church Planting in the World of Facebook

The following is from a press release the church generated. . . .

Florida Congregation Plants Church in the “Nation” of Facebook

Northland brings live worship to the social networking site's 400 million-plus residents.

03.10.2010 – ORLANDO, FLA. — If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world behind China (1.33 billion) and India (1.17 billion), and followed by the U.S. (307 million). Now, a new church is being planted in the “nation” of Facebook, bringing live worship to its 400 million-plus residents.

On Sunday morning, Northland, A Church Distributed will officially open the doors to its new Facebook app, which will allow worshipers to invite their Facebook friends to go to church with them—without leaving the familiar Facebook environment. Plus, even when live worship isn't happening, the opportunity for worship is readily available because the previous week's service will be posted and available for viewing 24 hours a day.

“We encourage people to be the church everywhere, every day, so it just makes sense to put resources out there that will help people to be that church,” explains Nathan Clark, Northland’s director of digital innovation.

With a congregation of 12,000 worshipers meeting throughout Metro Orlando and worldwide via interactive webcast, Northland first began taking church out of the building in 2001 via “distributed sites”—live, two-way video connections between locations. Northland now operates four of these sites in Central Florida.

 
The church started webcasting live services in January 2006 and, 18 months later, launched an interactive webstream of its services that includes immediate access to an online pastor and the ability to chat instantly with other worshipers. Approximately 2,000 people use this venue each weekend.

On July 4, 2009, the church launched an iPhone Web app—offering not just videos of past services, but the ability to join live services as they are happening over 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Additionally, 200 of Northland’s congregants now serve as online missionaries, replying to emails from thousands of seekers around the world.

Now, every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m. EST, Northland’s live services will also be accessible on Facebook. Clark says the motivation behind this new tool is to “take the church where people live.” According to Facebook.com, the average user has 130 Facebook friends and spends more than 55 minutes per day on the site.

 
“At Northland, we often talk about the need to take the church to the people, versus asking them to come to us. For us, it was a wakeup call to realize that we were doing precisely that online—asking people to come to our website for worship. Why require a virtual commute over to our website when you can have church where people are?”

Ultimately, though, Northland hopes online worshipers will join a community with other believers ... or start one. To that end, the church is providing tools for online worshipers to start “simple churches” in their homes at doingchurchsimply.com.

Clark concludes, “The point of being a Christian is to bear the image and good news of Christ everywhere. We hope this new Facebook app will help.”
To try the new app, visit apps.facebook.com/northlandchurch.

For more information, contact Robert Andrescik at [email protected] or 407-949-7147.

Potter’s House Goes Multi-Site

In early 2010, Dallas-based Bishop T.D. Jakes opened a second congregation of The Potter's House in Fort Worth, featuring a live praise worship team and a simulcast of Jakes' Sunday sermons from the 30,000-member Dallas church. The satellite congregation of The Potter's House has been meeting at the Fort Worth Convention Center, with an average attendance of about 1,000

Last week, a Denver megachurch changed its name to The Potter's House with the blessing of Jakes. The Potter's House Church of Denver, formerly Heritage Christian Center, is now being led by the Rev. Chris Hill. He's a protégé of Jakes and former youth pastor and associate pastor of The Potter's House in Dallas. However, The Potter's House Church of Denver remains separately incorporated and governed. Jakes will not be appearing there regularly, in person or by satellite broadcast.

"We'll be in close relationship, but it'll run independently," said Zunoraine Holmes, chief of communications for The Potter's House in Dallas, told the Dallas Morning News.

"I'm excited about this time of expansion in our ministry," Jakes said, according to the same report. "It allows us to transcend our church walls and touch the needs of the people. Historically, people were expected to come to the church, but we are now taking the church to the people."

posted by Warren Bird, Ph.D., co-author with Geoff Surratt and Greg Ligon of Multi-Site Church Revolution and Multi-Site Church Roadtrip. Warren also blogs on Leadership Network’s Learnings and Books.

Redeemer’s Tim Keller on Multi-Site

Dr. Tim Keller is founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. The church was launched in 1989 and it went multi-site in 2000. Its long-range vision is “to have three strong congregations serving a total of 9,000-10,000 people, worshipping at 7-9 locations and 12 or more services around the city, drawing many more un-churched people into a relationship with God, and with a reputation for serving and loving those in the city who don't share our beliefs as well as loving those who do.”

Redeemer recently renamed its church planting center Redeemer City to City. One of the the re-launched website’s first posts was from Tim Keller on reasons the church went multi-site: why – and why not. The full article is here. Excerpts are below.

Recently Redeemer was featured prominently in a USA Today article about multi-site churches. Outside of the fact that Redeemer doesn't 'do video,' the differences between our approach and others were not referred to. . . . In much discussion online after the article, it was clear that all multi-site churches were being lumped together. . . . For the sake of clarity, it might be helpful to know these facts about why and how Redeemer does the multi-site.

1. First, we did not go to multi-site because it was more economical or efficient for us. When we began meeting at multiple sites ten years ago, we were already holding a morning and an evening service at a single site that was quite large. It would have been much more cost-effective to multiply to four or five services in that single location. Moving to other sites meant greatly increased costs for rent, for children's ministries, for music and many other things.

2. Second, we did not go to multi-site to quickly reach more people. The auditorium where we began meeting 10 years ago seats over 2,000 people, and other spaces that size are not available. The spaces we have rented in other parts of the city are far smaller. If we had stayed in that space and multiplied services there, we would have reached greater numbers more swiftly.

So what were the reasons that we adopted the multi-site model?

1. First, we sent our services out into different locations so that people could worship closer to where they lived. People can become more deeply involved in the community and can more easily bring friends if they attend services in their neighborhood. This was an 'anti-megachurch' move, since huge churches create a large body of commuters who travel long distances to attend church. We wanted to resist this tendency and root people more in their locales.

2. Second, the multi-site model is a transition design for us. Redeemer has a timetable for turning each site into a congregation in its own neighborhood, with its own pastoral leadership. . . . We will then transition from a 'multi-site' to a 'collegiate' model. Though still under one unified board of elders, each church will have its own pastoral team, elder team, and set of lay leaders.

Comments posted to the blog as of 3/3/10 include these responses from Tim Keller:

Tim Keller

One of the original reasons for going to multi-site was so Redeemer would not be so dependent on the rental of one single building. So we saw the multi-site as a way of becoming less building-centric.

 

Tim Keller

Thanks for all the comments! Replies:

* We do not really have the resources to build something of our own in Manhattan. The costs of facilities are enormous here--we could not afford to go out and buy or build enough facilities for all our people to meet in. I think that for urban congregations like ours it is best to have a 'mixed' portfolio--some owned or long-term leases, and some rented.

* The collegiate model is attractive to leaders who like team ministry and collegiality, and yet who want to be entrepreneurial as well. The collegiate model means the 'lead pastors' of each congregation will have to work closer together than they otherwise would. It means taking much more counsel before making moves.

* 'Why not move right from multi-site to particularize'? The first answer is that the collegiate stage helps keep the congregations more on the same page in ministry vision for a longer time. While the churches will eventually particularize, by that time they will have had a number of years in which they have had to work together. This will make it more likely that the churches' 'DNA' likeness to one another will last for generations. It makes long-term unity more likely. The second answer is that the collegiate model enables the pastors and leaders of each congregation to get much more help from me and from other senior leaders. They will be in a formal mentoring relationship with us for several years. It makes it more certain that the ministry wisdom of the founding generation of leaders is passed on.

* As I said above, the multi-site approach is definitely draining. It is not as 'efficient' as staying in one location. It requires more money, staff, and (most crucially) more volunteer lay leaders. Each time we moved to a new stage in our multi-site we did a campaign to raise the money (and the awareness and the commitment) to do it. You need to 'stockpile' the resources and be sure you have enough before you go in that direction.

* Up until now in our multi-site model we have kept everything very centralized. All the ministries are largely run 'from the center.' While we have some staff that are assigned to certain sites, the director of each ministry (music, children's, small groups, artists) is over all sites. This is the reason why up until now it has not been difficult to manage all the sites through one Session [our governance structure]. In the future, when we move to a collegiate model, the elders will have to be divided into what would formally be called Session-commissions for each local site. A commission is authorized by the full Session to (in some issues, like discipline and membership) act for the entire body, with routine reports about its actions going into the minutes of the larger body.

posted by Warren Bird, Ph.D., co-author with Geoff Surratt and Greg Ligon of Multi-Site Church Revolution and Multi-Site Church Roadtrip. Warren also blogs on Leadership Network’s Learnings and Books.

Campus Pastor Job Description

One of the requests I get frequently is for Seacoast's Campus Pastor job description. We are constantly tweaking, but here is our latest version. Hope this is helpful:

http://bit.ly/bHR3wv

Multi-Site Interview with Alex McManus

Check out this blog radio interview: http://bit.ly/cTMa9a.

During the 35 minute conversation, host Alex McManus interviews Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon and Warren Bird, co-authors of Multi-Site Church Revolution and Multi-Site Church Roadtrip on current developments in multi-site, especially related to church planting.

Rick Warren on Biblical Basis of Multi-Site Church

If you missed Rick Warren’s recent RADICALIS conference, Christian Post reporter Lillian Kwon wrote a great summary of one of his segments. Her article is entitled “Rick Warren: Megachurches, Multi-Site Venues Are Biblical”

Here’s the link to her complete article, and here’s an excerpt:

Where did the more than 100,000 people attending the first church in Jerusalem meet? Warren posed to pastors at the "Radicalis" conference.

They met in temple courts (plural emphasized) and from house to house, he said, citing the New Testament book of Acts.

"They met in different courts," Warren underlined. "Notice: one church, multiple locations. One church, multiple venues."

"That's a biblical concept," he stressed.

Saddleback Community Church in southern California currently has 12 "temple courts," eight of which are on the Lake Forest campus and four of which are in other cities. Rather than build one large temple court, or a stadium to fit the some 22,000 weekly attendees, Warren chose to have a campus with multiple smaller buildings and several separate campuses, in keeping with the standard set by the first church.

Plus, it's better stewardship, he said.

"I'm not interested in building a stadium. A building that's that big is used once a week and sits empty [the rest of the week]," he said. "You need to understand this, pastor: nobody really likes big churches. The only people who like big churches are pastors because we like to preach to a large crowd. People don't go to church because of size. They put up with size in order to get the benefits."

posted by Warren Bird, Ph.D., research director, Leadership Network, www.leadnet.org