Why start another church in an
area that already has them?
Click here for our answer
click here for an update on our newest locations:
- Woolwich (Swedesboro / Beckett)
- Washington Township / Deptford
click here for answers to frequently asked
questions about our next location
The Multi-Site Church
Some of the strengths of this new life form
One of the motivating goals of Discovery Church
is to plant 40 local churches in 20 years. While there are many ways to
accomplish this task we believe God's called us to be a multi-site organization
when it comes to planting churches in the Delaware
This technique is commonly called the "multi-site church planting
process" and it is a phenomenon that you will no doubt be hearing about in
the future. An estimated 1200 churches nationwide are experimenting with this
concept: one church (meaning one staff, one leadership team, one budget) meeting
in multiple locations, with the various sites developing unique personalities
yet sharing the same "brand identity" and DNA.
The benefits of a multi-site strategy are numerous but the most important are, 1) the church is not built on any one person and 2) since the sites are smaller than one "mega-church" it is easier not to get lost in the crowd. On the other hand, sharing budgets and staff means the resources are comparable to those of a mega-church (enabling more ministry) and people are doing the jobs God designed and gifted them to do. In short, ministry is increased.
A full description of the "multi-site strategy" is given below but
basically, here's how it works. There is one staff, one leadership team
and one budget for a certain number of sites in one geographical area.
Each of these geographical areas will have 4-6
“campuses.“ The campuses share resources and support ministries while teaching pastors and worship
teams rotate between locations. Each campus has a Campus Pastor who serves
as the "face with the place." The Campus Pastor hosts
the large group events and weekend services at the church campus, assists with
the administration of discipleship, equipping ministries and small group
ministries for that campus, and serves as the liaison to the larger community in
which the facility is located.
So what's the next step now that we have two campuses (Voorhees and Washington Twp). We will open a third campus in Woolwich Township in '07 and then start the preliminary prayer and Stage One plans for the fourth extension sites in the the Beckett and Moorestown areas. Wherever we end up, all our sites will be an exact copy of what we do in Voorhees and Washington Twp. on Sunday. Then, keep watching...eventually we want to see 40 of these campuses established in the next 20 years.
This strategy is not new or original. One leading example: Community
Christian Church, which was planted in Naperville , Illinois , in 1989. Its
vision: "Helping people find their way back to God." In 1998, it
launched a "south campus" twenty minutes away in a community center of
a new housing development. A third site is in Carillon, a nearby "active
adult lifestyle community" for those 55+.
Then in 2001, a struggling church in the town of Montgomery offered its building
and five acres in hopes that by making it a fourth campus of CCC that new life
would emerge. After six months of building rehab and enrolling about 100 new
leaders and artists as "/spiritual entrepreneurs," more than 600
people attended the inaugural celebration service there. Combined
attendance now averages over 3,000, and more sites are being considered. Dave
Ferguson, lead pastor of CCC, explains why he's convinced the multi-site
strategy is here to stay.
"Lyle Schaller describes, in his book "Discontinuity and Hope: Radical Change and the Path to the Future," what a long-time resident might say while showing a guest around town.
Yesterday. "That's the First National Bank at the corner of Main and
Washington, and directly across from it is First Church, where we have been
members since we moved here thirty years ago. The college is up on the hill,
our hospital is about a half mile to the west, and our doctor has his office
in that building over there."
Today. "That's the First National Bank, but I haven't been there for years.
We do all our banking at a branch supermarket where we buy groceries. We're members of First Church, but we go to their east-side campus, which is near our house. We have one congregation but three meeting places-a small one on the north side, the big one out where we live, and the old building downtown here. The old college on the hill is now a university. This is their main
campus, but they also offer classes at three other locations. We're members
of an HMO that has doctors in five locations, but my primary-care physician
is in a branch about a mile from where we live. I've never been in the main
hospital except to visit a couple of friends."
This illustrates the direction our world is going-our institutions are
growing larger and smaller simultaneously, blending the strength that size
offers with the comfort and convenience of smaller, closer venues. This is
one example of what Jim Collins in "Built to Last" called "the genius of the
AND," the paradoxical view that allows you to pursue both A and B
simultaneously.
While developing our multi-site church, we discovered eight other advantages
that all demonstrate the genius of principle we call "the AND."
Brand new AND trusted brandIt was a great day when Krispy Kreme doughnuts opened a store in our area.
I'd heard how good they were, but I never tasted one until one of their
stores opened nearby. The occasion was doubly exciting because it was brand
new store opening, and it was offering a brand I knew about and wanted to
try.
We've found a similar dynamic with the multi-site church. It has the upside
of what used to be denominational loyalty, which was prominent in yesteryear
but now is found in congregational loyalty. The particular congregation is
the trusted brand, and the opening of a new site makes it brand new.
When we started our second site, we sent out 50,000 pieces of mail to
announce the opening. We had 465 attendees. When we launched our second
site, our south campus, the response was even better. We did similar
announcements and mailings, and we had 565 attend the first celebration
service. At least part of this improved response was due to the combination
of our being a trusted brand while offering something brand new.
Staff with generalists AND specialistsNew churches usually begin with one church planter, a
generalist who has to oversee everything. If there is a team, it might
include those over broad areas: a worship leader or perhaps a children's
pastor.
The multi-site church, however, allows you to start a new location with the
existing staff in place. Instead of hiring more generalists, you add
specialists such as technical arts, administrator, or director of creative
arts for children.
The big win is that now all locations have the benefit of the generalists,
and the added specialists! When we added our second site, we brought on
specialists like a teaching pastor, adult small groups pastor,
administrator, and a director of creative arts for children. When we started
a third site (at the active adult lifestyle community), we added a
specialist in the area of senior's ministry, and the whole church (every
location) benefited from the added expertise.
Last year at Carillon, for instance, we celebrated the baptisms of more than
a dozen people, all of them more than 70 years old.
Less cost AND greater impactFinancially, a new campus is tremendously cost effective. When we started
our north campus (our first) we spent lots of money on staff, equipment, and
marketing.
At our first celebration service, as mentioned, we had 465 attendees. Three
months later our attendance had leveled off at about 180, 80 percent of them
previously unchurched.
When we started our south campus (our second site), we spent less money,
added specialists to our existing staff team, and a similar marketing blitz.
We had 565 at the first service, but more importantly, after three months we
were averaging 360 at our south campus, again 80 percent unchurched.
Doing the math, that's 39 percent retention at our first location, and 64percent retention at our second location. Our second campus cost less money to
start, reached more people, and resulted in a greater retention. This is a
result our already having staff in place-music minister, small group
minister, and children's minister-who oversaw both locations. Our ministry
was a lot better organized than when we did our first plant.
New church vibe AND existing church punchLyle Schaller told us, "The most important thing you offer to this new work
is your church culture." At first I wasn't sure what he was talking about.
He meant expectations and excellence. We were able to launch the second site
with the same level of excellence that it took us eight years to achieve at
our north campus.
When we started the north campus, we did not even have a complete worship
team. The children's ministry consisted of volunteers from other churches
and students from a nearby Bible college. We had 35 people involved in small
groups.
When we started the second site, we had a full band, multi-media, drama, and
hospitality teams, and a full children's ministry staff. We had 10 leaders
waiting to start small groups-capacity for more than 100 ungrouped people.
One surprise was that excellence flows both ways. Innovations at the new
campus inspired improvements at our existing campus. For example, the
hospitality at south was much better than at north, so we made improvements
at both.
Move there AND stay hereGrowing churches and real estate have this in common: "location, location,
location." Many existing churches, particularly older churches, are located
in communities with little growth. These churches look across town where new
development is happening and they see the potential. Perhaps many of their
members are moving there.
Faced with this, they have two major options: sell the property they have
and move to the area where the growth is, or keep the site they have as well
as start another site where the growth is occurring.
That's what St. Paul's Church did in Aurora, Illinois, a community of over
100,000 people. The church was located in a rapidly changing neighborhood,
with a growing Hispanic population. The west side of town was where all the
rapid growth was.
After looking at their options, instead abandoning their existing site to
move to the booming west side, they "moved there and stayed here." They kept
a campus in the downtown neighborhood with an intentional outreach to the
growing Hispanic community, and they also launched a west campus in one of
the faster growing areas.
More need AND more supportAs we think about a new site, we lay out a matrix of blank index cards,
representing the positions we need to fill in order for us to launch. The
increased opportunities create a vacuum that challenges more people to step
in to serve in voluntary leadership roles in all areas, such as children's,
hospitality, and small groups.
On our very first Sunday at our new location, after the service was over,
people started stacking the chairs, unprompted by any announcement. They
could see the need and wanted to help. One man who helped was Bob, who had
never really plugged in at the first location. Soon he agreed to be a part
of the set-up and tear-down team. He clearly saw he was needed.
This, of course, is true of any new church start-up. What makes multi-site
unique is that the existing church already has coaches in place who are
there to support, encourage, and organize volunteers such as Bob. Having a
leader to care for them and train them makes volunteers more willing to
help.
More outreach AND more maturityWhile people will drive long distances to join the weekly celebration
service at a large church, if they live more than 20 minutes away (minutes NOT miles), their
ability to serve and to invite friends is diminished.
Tim and Lynne were nominally involved, falling short of our goal of being
"3-C Christ Followers," which we define as being faithful to celebrate
(worship), connect (small group) and contribute (time and resources). When
we started a new site within walking distance of their house, however,
everything seemed to change. Now Tim and Lynne made our celebration services
a regular part of their week. They not only connected with a small group,
but they both are now leading groups. And they began to contribute
financially and evangelistically in ways they never had before.Homogenous AND Heterogeneous
I love the multi-campus church because it holds the potential to eliminate the struggle over the homogenous principle. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Aurora, Illinois is a multi-campus church. This old downtown church used the multi-campus approach as away to remain in the heart of a changing urban center while at the same time move toward the growing fringe. The multi-site church allows people to come and worship with a group of people a lot like them, but still be a part of a church the has a diverse ethnic and socio-economic population. The multi-site church allows people to worship in a context that is culturally relevant and still be a part of a church that gives us a glimpse of Heaven.
The multi-campus church allows the seeker to clear the ecclesiastical hurdle of jumping from unchurched to churched and then later clear the sociological hurdle, whether it is ethnic or economical next. This allows us to reach more people within a homogenous setting but still over time allow them to be a part of heterogeneous church that represents the dream of God.
In short, the multi-site church reaches out to make both more Christians and
more mature Christians."
Dave Ferguson is lead pastor at Community Christian Church in Naperville,
Romeoville, and Montgomery, Illinois.
For more information about their Multi-Site Church Conference, visit
www.newthing.org.
Inside the Mind of a Multi-Site Pastor
Follow-up questions and answers with Dave Ferguson, lead pastor of
Community Christian Church.
Did you start out planning to lead a multi-site church?
Not exactly. From the beginning we dreamed that our church would (1)
make an impact, (2) be a reproducing church, and (3) if it wasn't
presumptuous, that a movement would come out of this.
When did you actually decide to go multi-site?
Peter Drucker says many decisions are "not so much made as they become
apparent." That was true of us.
A real estate developer in our church was planning a community twenty
minutes south of us. He wanted a church in the area, and he asked if we
would move our congregation there. After praying it through, we concluded,
"What if we just started another location down there?"
So has launching new sites become contagious?
Actually, we saw what this did for our leadership development. We were
forced to develop "spiritual entrepreneurs" who would see this as a
missional opportunity. It gave people the motivation and opportunity to grow
as never before. We saw leaders being multiplied. It was great.
What kind of person is cut out to lead a multi-site church?
You have to have a heart for developing other teachers, artists, and
leaders. You've got to love multiplying your team. We have an entrepreneuria
l kind of culture. And you've got to enjoy that.
The Emerging Multi-Site Movementby Warren Bird
The Spring 2003 issue of Leadership Journal announced that "the multi-site
church is a phenomenon that you will no doubt be hearing about in the
future."1 Church consultant Lyle Schaller says "the success of . . .
multi-site ventures has changed the context for ministry."2
The core idea of multi-site is simple: "one church meeting in many
locations," as Elmer Towns describes it in Ten of Today's Most Innovative
Churches.3 These alternate venues go by a wide variety of names including
digital church, extension sites, video-café congregations, multiple
campuses, and satellite ministries. A church becomes multi-site by extending
itself to more than one location: across town, across the state, and/or
literally around the world. In short, the multi-site movement is about a new
way of re-assigning the physical boundaries of a church.
Greg Ligon, director of Multi-site Leadership Communities for Leadership
Network, believes at least 1,000 churches across North America could
currently be described as multi-site, with many more considering the
concept.
Multi-site congregations occur in all sizes, with many off-site campuses
averaging under 100 in weekly worship. Although megachurches with
multiple-location strategies garner the most media attention, multi-site
isn't solely a megachurch phenomenon. Multi-site churches can be found
across the size spectrum, with churches in the 250 to 500 attendance range
as a frequent multi-site sponsor.
Motive Is Usually Outreach, Yet Rarely a Growth StrategyBill Easum and Dave Travis observe that the genius of multi-site is not that
it grows a church, but it keeps it growing. In their new book, Beyond the
Box: Innovative Churches that Work, they comment, "The key to understanding
the multi-site movement is to remember that fulfilling the Great Commission
drives these congregations, not a growth strategy."4
In short, multi-site is a means toward an end, not an end goal in itself.
Many churches do generate growth through multi-site, but just as
importantly, multi-site keeps them from capping the growth they're
experiencing.
Churches that use a multi-site approach tend to evolve into it, rather than
starting with it. Typical is the 25-year-old Chartwell Baptist Church, in a
suburb of Toronto, Ontario, where Peter Roebbelen is pastor
(www.chartwellchurch.org).
"We backed into multi-site," says Roebbelen. "It's not something we
intentionally tried to do. It was more like a disruptive moment where we
faced a problem and saw an opportunity." In essence, their problem became an
opportunity.
For Chartwell, the initial motivation was to accommodate growth. "We needed
to go to a third service, but we wanted to do it during the optimal
Sunday-morning time." So, Chartwell began experimenting with the use of
additional campuses. That was 1993. Ten years later, Chartwell offers 6
Saturday-night or Sunday-morning services on 4 campuses. By early 2003, more
than 1,000 regularly attended one of the Chartwell congregations, and yet,
the main church's seating capacity was 260--and still is--consistent with
their particular strategy of creating a sense of relational intimacy within
each local worship setting.
Trigger Event Varies, Most Often a Space IssueAccording to Leadership Network's surveys, the most-cited trigger reason for
launching multiple campuses or multiple venues is lack-of-space issues.
These range from a lack of seats or parking spots at optimal service times
to zoning/building restrictions on future growth. The second most-often
cited trigger reason is a vision to impact through "more" instead of
"bigger"-i.e., a desire to avoid certain downsides of megachurches.
One example is Seacoast Church (www.seacoast.org) near Charleston, S.C.
Their primary trigger for going multi-site was lack of space; but they faced
other motivators too. The town had shut down any expansion hopes, so they
became really imaginative about how to use existing spaces: college
campuses, theaters, closed churches, and warehouses. It currently worships
5,500 total in 10 services on 5 campuses.
Additional Resources Are EmergingApril 2002 saw the launch of a Multi-Site Leadership Community involving 12
pacesetting churches from the U.S. and Canada. With help from
www.wildworksgroup.com, which designed a creative, interactive learning
process, these innovative churches formed a peer community of innovators
working together toward a significant leap in achieving their multi-site
goals. For a summary of findings from this gathering, go to
www.leadnet.org/resources/resources.asp and select the "Extending Your
Church" multi-site report.
Interest was so strong among additional churches that a second Multi-site
Leadership Community will be launched in November, and a third in 2004. For
more details, contact greg.ligon@leadnet.org.
Also, several church websites provide extensive sections of Frequently Asked
Questions about multi-site issues. Three of the best examples are:
a.. North Coast Church, Vista, CA, lists its FAQ section at
www.videocafes.org.b.. Willow Creek Community Church, S. Barrington, IL, has FAQ sections on
each of its regional campuses. Go to www.WillowCreek.org and click the
sections (currently at lower left) for the various regional campuses.c.. Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN, models how they presented
the multi-site idea to their congregation at
www.bbcmpls.org/goingwogoing.htm.
Endnotes:
1 See the opening sentence, written by the editors, to this article:
Ferguson, Dave. "The Multi-Site Church: Some of the Strengths of This New
Life Form," Leadership Journal, Spring 2003, 81. It may be found online at
www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/
2 Schaller, Lyle E. Discontinuity and Hope: Radical Change and the Path to
the Future. Nashville: Abingdon, 1999, 176. See also Schaller, Lyle E. The
Very Large Church: New Rules for Leaders. Nashville: Abingdon, 2000,
110-112, 135-136, 192-194; Schaller, Lyle E. Innovations in Ministry,
chapter 6 "Off-Campus Ministries" and chapter 8 "The Multi-Site Option,"
Nashville: Abingdon, 1994, 86-97, 112-133; Schaller, Lyle E. Forty-Four
Questions for Church Planters, chapter 4 "The Multi-Site Option," Nashville:
Abingdon, 1991, 56-58.
3 Towns, Elmer. Ten of Today's Most Innovative Churches, Regal, 1990, 239.
Although the book is out of print, it is available at www.elmertowns.com,
currently at no charge.
4 Easum, Bill, and Travis, Dave, Beyond the Box: Innovative Churches that
Work. Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, 2003, 85.
Other articles / links:
http://205.158.228.210/articles.htm
http://www.leadnet.org/resources/resources.asp
http://www.newlifeministries-nlm.org/contents-cp.htm#Multi-site
http://www.next-wave.org/aug00/And.htm
Churches:
http://www.thecity.org/satellite/belltown/
http://www.communitychristian.orghttp://www.heartland.cc/index.html
http://www.seacoast.org/
Conferences:
www.newthing.org.
http://www.northcoastchurch1.com/home.htm