T H E P A R I S H P A P E R
I D E A S A N D I N S I G H T S F O R A C T I V E C O N G R E G A T I O N S
Coeditors: Herb Miller, Lyle Schaller, Cynthia Woolever - www.TheParishPaper.com
June 2009 - Volume 17, Number 6 Cynthia Woolever
Until three years ago, John and Mary did not attend
church. Now, they are active members who rarely miss
worship. But John and Mary have never set foot inside their
church’s main sanctuary! They worship at one of its other
locations, five miles away.
What is a multi-site church? The congregation conducts
worship at some combination of the following locations:
• More than one place in the building. Many multisite
churches offer services in their gym or fellowship hall.
They video-cast the sermons (live or recorded). The worship
style often differs from the worship style in the central
sanctuary.
• More than one campus. When multi-site churches
conduct services elsewhere, “off campus,” the most common
setting is a school. But these congregations also hold
services in movie theaters, shopping malls, industrial parks,
office buildings, restaurants, YMCAs, retirement centers,
and prison chapels.
What happens and who leads? The majority of multisite
congregations present the same worship content—led
by the same ministerial team—in all services, at all sites.
Other multi-site churches offer the same content in each
service, with different staff members leading at each location.
In still other multi-site churches, worship differs in both
content and leadership at each location.
A study of 1,000 multi-site churches in forty-nine states
gives insight into this growing movement.1 The majority of
these churches schedule worship at two campuses and offer
three types of services. Since becoming multi-site, these
surveyed churches report an average of 33 percent growth
in attendance, with a yearly average growth rate of 13 percent.
What Works?
Frequently observed components of multi-site churches:
“Live” worship leader and music. Many of these
churches use video technology for the preaching component
but not for the music and other worship elements. Parishioners
feel comfortable inviting friends to hear a videodelivered
sermon. But “live and present” worship leaders
and musicians are absolute essentials.
One Congregation: Many Locations
Proactive outreach. Two out of three multi-site churches
list “evangelistic outreach” as their primary reason for adding
locations. Another closely related motivation: “to bring
our church closer to a target area.” Few leaders said that a
lack of space motivated them to create multi-site services.
Additional worship sites are more about mission than space.
Metropolitan location. Multi-site churches usually begin
in suburban and urban areas—with a few notable exceptions.
Based in Draper, Utah, South Mountain Community
Church started its first additional site in a community of
28,000 where no Christian church existed.
Reaching new populations. About one-half of the surveyed
multi-site churches report a different racial-ethnic
make-up of worshipers at the original site than at their one
or more other locations. Many of the new sites and venues
introduce other diversity factors: socio-economic differences
(three out of four churches), age differences (two out of
three churches), marital status differences (37 percent of
churches), and language differences (22 percent of
churches).
Copyright © 2009 by Cynthia Woolever
www.TheParishPaper.com
In addition to its traditional Sunday morning worship, an
urban Kentucky church offers a Wednesday-noon service
in the fellowship hall. Followed by a volunteer-served meal,
the average attendance exceeds the Sunday-morning attendance.
The two services attract vastly dissimilar populations.
Mid-week worshipers come from nearby treatment
facilities, group housing, and low-income families.
On-site pastor and experienced leadership. Alternate
sites need a “face of the place” who provides leadership,
pastoral care, and connections. Many multi-site churches
said that not sending an experienced pastor to start the new
site was their biggest mistake. And most of these churches
advised that multi-site success depends on “getting the right
people on the bus”—skilled and mature lay leaders working
alongside the new site’s pastor.
Some multi-site churches warn against establishing an
alternative site to rescue a declining church—leaving the
same people driving the bus. A new site must not be a
merger—you must replace the old ministry. As one leader
stated, “If we don’t take an adequately trained, prepared,
called core group, ... we’re only adding a ventilator to prolong
life, rather than experiencing a resurrection.” Effective
multi-site churches manage ministries, not museums.
Intentional leadership development. Multi-site congregations
require premeditated leader reproduction. Keeping
the new leadership pipeline loaded is a priority. Pastor
Michael Trostrud said, “Apprentice and delegate. (1) I do it,
you watch. (2) We do it together. (3) You do it, I watch. (4)
You do it.”
Site-specific children and youth ministries. More is
needed than merely replicating worship services at new sites.
Eventually, these new locations must organize ministries for
nursery/preschool, elementary-age children, and youth. Multisite
churches unprepared to offer children and youth ministries
say that many families left as a result.
Unified mission and identity. Multi-site churches work
hard at being one church with a shared vision, mission, and
purpose. Regular meetings of all campus pastors and staff
refuel the fire of shared vision. Some churches use the same
or a similar name at each location to reinforce their “we are
one church” identity.
Most importantly, multi-site churches operate from a singular
infrastructure. One board and one budget running the
multiple sites provide unified decision-making.
Surprising Outcomes
The most-cited surprise is the increased number of people
willing to serve at new sites. Pastor Peter Couser asserts,
“The very act of sending out new sites can invigorate the
evangelistic vision of the sending location.”
Other multi-site surprises:
• Growth rates at the new sites match or exceed attendance
growth at the original location
• Extremely positive response to video-delivered sermons
• Re-engaging people who can now attend closer to
their neighborhood
• Unexpected leadership development—“seeing previously
uncommitted members from our first campus
become highly involved in significant leadership
at the new campus”
• The emergence of excellence-centers, where all
locations learn from other sites’ successes
• The original location continues to experience the
highest volume of visitors
• Implementing a multi-site church strategy differs
from starting a new church
• Clergy see themselves as apostles, not pastors
• Shift in thinking from a singular purpose of “caring
for our church community” to a more balanced, bifold
emphasis of “caring for mission and our church
community”
Multi-site churches are not merely congregations that
do ministry in several locations. They are congregations with
transformed thinking about what God calls them to do.
What questions lead to multi-site church ministry?
Your church may already have one toe in the multi-church
pond. For example, a Vermont congregation holds weekly
services at a nearby state prison. Those worshipers never
attend services at the central site.
Think of a fifteen-minute drive from your church. Ask
questions to discover groups to which you can reach out:
• Special population groups. Could we be the church
for a specific age, language, or shared-life-experience (affinity)
group? Could we be the church for community newcomers,
people without transportation, low-income families,
treatment facility residents, or persons with disabilities?
Could we take our church to them?
• Specific geographic areas. Could we be the church
for a rural county, an isolated neighborhood, a retail zone, a
state park, or a medical complex?
Multi-site churches use the word “campus” to describe
their congregations’ many sites and venues. Perhaps they
know that “campus” is Latin for “field.” Echoing the Apostle
John, these leaders call out to us: “Look at the fields! They
are ripe for harvest.”2
1 Warren Bird, “Survey of 1,000 Multi-Site Churches: A Dozen
of the Most Significant Findings” (2004); Stephen Shields, “2007
Survey of 1,000 Multi-Site Churches: Latest Insights on a Growing
Movement” (www.leadnet.org); and Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon,
and Warren Bird, The Multi-site Church Revolution: Being
One Church in Many Locations (Zondervan, 2006).
2 John 4:35 (New International Version).

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