I’ve been on staff with 3 multisite churches (you can read more in my bio), and there’s one thing that I’ve experienced. No one does it the same. While there are several principles that seem to be universally true across the board, the way they’re applied is unique to the context.
So here is where I need your input.
I’m the Church Multiplication Specialist at LifeWay. What that means is that I’m leading the initiative to develop resources for all things related to church multiplication – that means everything to do with church planting and multisite.
So what’s your wish list? What are your most pressing questions regarding multisite ministry? What do you want to learn about? And who do you want to learn from?
–> Please leave your comments below, or tweet them to @danielsangi
If you’re interested in what we already have to offer for multisite ministry via our leading online learning platform, Ministry Grid, read this list.
-
Multisite Potholes – Jim Tomberlin
- Overview of the Multisite Movement
- Lack of a Unified and Compelling Vision (9:17)
- Under Delivering the Campus Experience (10:49)
- Launching Too Close or Too Far (5:21)
- Launching Too Soon with Too Few (7:05)
- Confusing Multisiting with Church Planting (6:50)
- Underestimating the Importance of the Campus Pastor (5:47)
- Not Embracing the Paradigm Shift (9:12)
The Six P’s of Going Multisite – Jim Tomberlin- Overview of Going Multisite (8:14)
- Purpose: Why to Go Multisite (7:23)
- Programming: Reproducing Our Church Across Multiple Campuses (11:46)
- Place: Where Will We Meet (9:36)
- Pastor: Who Will Lead (6:23)
- People: Who Will Launch the Campus (11:27)
- Provision: How Much Will It Cost (8:00)
Multisite Launch Manual – Ethan Welch- Multisite Launch Manual Overview (5:02)
- Preliminary Questions About Multisites (7:53)
- Multisite Location (4:43)
- Multisite Facility (8:17)
- Multisite Staffing (8:07)
- Multisite Launch Timelines, Part 1 (5:45)
- Multisite Launch Timelines, Part 2 (8:24)
- Multisite Launched: What Now? (5:58)
Becoming a Multisite Church – Geoff Surratt- Becoming a Multisite Church: Could It Work? (10:46)
- What Do We Reproduce in Becoming a Multisite Church? (12:00)
- Funding the Vision of Becoming a Multisite Church (14:48)
- Developing Leaders for a Multisite Church (16:04)
- Getting Started as a Multisite Church
- Launching as a Multisite Church, Part 1 (19:33)
- Launching as a Multisite Church, Part 2 (19:41)
- The DNA of a Multisite Church (11:56)
- Staffing Structure and Finances for Multisite Churches (12:26)
Overview of the Multisite Church Movement – Geoff Surratt- Multisite Church Movement Models (12:44)
- The Multisite Church Movement in Community Transformation (11:08)
- Variety, Rural, Global Trends in the Multisite Church Movement (11:49)
- Internet Campuses the Multisite Church Movement (11:07)
What’s Next as a Multisite Church? – Geoff Surratt- Continue the Growth as a Multisite Church (9:24)
- Developing Campus Pastors as a Multisite Church (13:56)
- Church Mergers as a Multisite Church (10:57)
- Trends in Multisite Churches (16:51)
Small Groups in a Multisite Setting – Jeff Galley- Defining Your Structure and Approach for Multisite Small Groups (11:12)
- Ten Functions for the Central Small Groups Team (9:05)
- Six Areas of Focus for Local Campus or Satellite Location (7:30)
- Staff Selection and Development for Multisite Small Groups (8:16)
So what’s your wish list? What are your most pressing questions regarding multisite ministry? What do you want to learn about? And who do you want to learn from?
Thanks, Daniel…
The questions I get asked most often by my pastors are from those wanting to launch into it, and those skeptical about it.
From those wanting to learn how to launch into it:
-how do I find the right skill set for a campus pastor?
-when is it right/wrong for the preaching pastor to be present at video campus?
-how much authority/autonomy should a campus have in how it runs the service to be distinctive?
-how much authority/autonomy should a campus have in running other ministries beyond the service?
-what are the key skills in getting better a preaching so a video campus is not alienated?
-which churches are innovating the best right now in terms of multi-site?
From those skeptical about it (I don’t agree with the implied critiques here, but it’s what I hear from some):
-doesn’t this just create other churches that are more centrally controlled? Isn’t that selfish? Why not plant?
-is this just another way for mega-churches to move into new territory and expand to take away even more members from smaller churches?
-don’t we limit our development of other preachers when we scale up so large with multi-site so that campus pastors are not learning to preach well to a crowd?
For myself I hope that you all feature some of what is happening where my Wesleyan friends at 12Stone are blowing up in Atlanta–as they launched FIVE CAMPUSES the SAME SUNDAY!
more info:
http://www.wesleyan.org/2996/12stone-church-launches-five-new-campuses-this-sunday
Hey David. I deeply appreciate the thought and time that you put into this. I have added these to my list and will strive to provide easily accessible answers to all of these questions by the leading experts 🙂 And 12 Stone is totally knocking it out of the park!!! I’m scheduled to talk to them very soon 🙂
good, Daniel. great to hear. pushed you toward 12stone twice in one week. 🙂 they do a lot of things well there.
Celebrate Church in Sioux Falls, SD is doing some interesting multi-site stuff in that less populated place–reaching smaller communities with sites. Also New Hope Church in the Carolinas is very fast growing with a multi-site model. (Both those are from our crew too.)
The most fascinating one of ours to me is an explosively growing native american house-church movement that is really just an adaptation of multi-site models. The pastor, Larry Salway, is a native Lakota, and the church (He Sapa) now has more than 6,000 in its house churches using his video teachings. This kind of thing isn’t focused on by the church growth world much (you won’t find a native church in an Outreach Magazine list anytime soon), but is a great example of using technology to spread the message of Jesus Christ in innovative ways.
Larry is on our General Board, so technically he is my boss’s boss… wrote about him a bit here a few years ago:
http://www.daviddrury.com/2013/07/18/a-word-from-a-different-kind-of-megachurch-pastor-larry-salway-on-native-protocol-and-respect/
Wow. That’s fascinating David. So encouraging to hear that about Larry and the ministry he’s doing!
As a Campus Pastor of a 5 month old campus, here’s what I would find helpful.
– What different social media plans are being used among different multisite models?
– What are multisite churches doing (who don’t have an Andy Stanley or Chris Hodges) regarding teaching options? Video, live person, 1 week delay, teaching team, etc.
– For those of us using a live streaming service (and after launching realized our location has Wi-Fi speed limitations)…what new and innovative internet options are out there?
– For the teaching pastor (on video)…tools on how to change the message delivery to be more suitable for multiple campuses. Things to stop saying vs. things to say differently.
As for who I’d like to hear/learn from:
– Tomberlin and Surratt are always great. Mac Lake, Warren Bird, Tony Morgan, and Pete Wilson would also be good. Additionally, I really think hearing from a few of the tens of thousands of ‘No-Name’ campus pastors out there who are doing things well could be huge. I know there are CPs who don’t have 15k Twitter followers or 3-5 best-selling books on the topic, but who are willing to share some amazing stories, experiences, failures, and discoveries with the rest of us. Tap into THOSE leaders and I guarantee you will never run dry on insightful content.
I hope this helps. Let me know if I can help out in any other way.
Hey Brent,
I appreciate your thoughts and questions on this topic!! I will work hard to get them answered for you 🙂
This:
“- For the teaching pastor (on video)…tools on how to change the message delivery to be more suitable for multiple campuses. Things to stop saying vs. things to say differently.”
Is sometimes hard for even the best large church pastors to learn. I’ve seen some amazing preachers struggle to learn these skills for a few years getting used to it.
Tell me about it! Especially if you’re doing a week delay. The message really needs to be less about current events.
Hi Daniel. Thanks for this. I’m currently a youth pastor as a multi-site church. Here are some of the things/questions I have asked (and in some cases continue to ask) over time:
1. Identity – what is the central identity of the community & where is there room (or what are the boundaries) to develop unique identity that is site specific?
2. Gathering vs. scattered – what are best practices to developing a gathering/scattered rhythm between sites?
3. Communication – what needs to be built in terms of better communication streams between campuses?
4. Metrics – what are the best ways to evaluate site specific success? What are the overall (organization wide) metrics of success?
5. Celebration – How, what, where and when do we celebrate the success of unique sites?
6. Trust – What are the best practices to build a culture of team instead of a culture of competition between sites?
These are wonderful insider-informed questions from the trenches of multi-site churches. Excellent, Jason!
This is gold Jason. I appreciate your questions!!
Here are some of the pain points we hear/address from our Multisite Churches
-Technical Expertise.
I often see that MS churches launch their campuses with little to no technical experts. A lot of Multisite churches are depending on technology to be the avenue of communication, but they are not properly resourcing that initiative. Video streaming, internet access for children’s check-in, running complex technical systems for the worship center, & multiple children’s venues with technology. There is often a guy on the team that was a number two or three at the launching campus, and he ends up in charge of the MS. Often it’s a huge opportunity for that person to step up and lead, but they are usually under-resourced. The Launching campus will often have 4-5 paid staff members to accomplish all the technical needs, and to guarantee excellence. Often, the MS will just get the one staff member, many times not even full time. The uphill battle against that poor tech guy is daunting. I would love to see churches do a much better job of accurately
resourcing their MS with the technical experts that it will require.
-Identity Crises
How do you work around ‘identity’ crises through all campuses? For example content created at a ‘central campus’ often doesn’t translate in a campus even a few minutes away. This also includes worship culture.
-Similarly, what is the method of defining whether the church is called to be a multisite church or a church with multisites. The difference being, how much of the main campus get’s taken to the satellite campuses. Or is the church unique in each location changing the identity to reach the community they are in. Thus solving the statement “this is how we do things at the . . .campus.” Effectively communicating the vision so God’s message is effectively communicated.
In addition, the volunteer teams being empowered to take that vision and message to the campuses yet feel connected to the main campus as well. Uniqueness to serve their local community, connection to communicate a common vision and message.
-How do you keep volunteers after the ‘shine’ of the new campus wears off? (To push 12 Stone along with David, this church has one of the best volunteer crews I’ve ever worked with. I had a team at all 5 campuses for training and every one of them came back from the weekend saying the same thing.)
-When we, Portable Church Industries, show up to consult with many multisite churches, it is discovered that leaders that were put in charge have been working in their own silos (for quite a while) and were duplicating many efforts (and causing extra stress). This is easily avoidable, and could be a good topic for one of your posts.
Those are a few stated (or observed) painpoints we have seen while working with multisite churches.
Hope this helps!
Kevin, I appreciate your insight! Especially the ones in regards to the tech side of things. Having served on staff in a central role, as well as a campus pastor, I understand just how much of a pain point a lack of tech resources can be! And how that can really derail the campus off of their mission.