A little help from my friends...

I will be speaking at a national conference on multi-site churches in Chicago next month.  (This is not a shameless promotion of the conference...I think it is full.) 

I need your help.  Frankly, I don't just want to be a cheerleader for multi-site...so it would help me if you could take a minute and help me reflect on what needs to be communicated on the topic:

1. What are the questions, hot buttons, concerns, issues concerning multi-site?
2. If you were coming...what would you want to hear from me specifically?

Thanks,

Greg

Comments

[Tiffany Martschink]

Having a mulit campus church is a good meathod of promoting community. One may not want to drive a distance (ie Summerville to Mt Pleasant) to go to a church - as great as the church may be. But if one can be apart of it with others in the area, in a sense can enlarge the community in Charleston. I also believe on the flip side, if God has gifted a person in an area (ie musician) but Longpoint is fully equiped with musicians, I can use my gifts/ talents with the church I'm apart of, but in a different location. I'm still apart of the same church, using the gifts God's given me, but in a different location. Just two ways the motto "One church, many locations" is working.

[Jim Coman]

Greg,
My guess would be that the general concern's of people regarding a multi campus church would be the same as that of larger churches in general, like the size of Seacoast. If I were a member of a church considering it, I would want to make sure that as a church we are still able to "touch" everyone as much as possible. We do that at Seacoast with among other things: 1.small groups, 2.Pastors at each location and different service that can create that warm, family style atmosphere, 3. Awesome volunteers that reach out to members and guests before, during, and after each service 4. Occassionally promoting projects like 40 Days...that get the whole church,collectively involved.
Obviously, people are responsible for making this happen, but the attitude comes from you and all of the church leadership, and by creating that culture, we are able to make it work.
Sorry if this is a little away from what you were looking for.

[Ben Boles]

The thoughts that have gone through my head about multi-site churches are why not plant a church instead and use the same resource you would use to use the site as a multi-site? You are still impacting the kingdom but in a few years could move those financial resources to a new site and start all over again. Are multi-site churches this generation's denominations? Growing a church in a city is one thing, offering different types of services (gen-x, emerging, traditional, Spanish or Koren) but are multi-site churches that are offering services in cities other than the original just doing it to grow?

I think that Seacoast is doing a great job reaching people and building a community and I enjoyed the service I attended in Savannah but think there questions that need to be asked about the multi-site movement.

[Chris Cree]

One of the questions I’d have if I were looking at it from the outside would be how do you effectively communicate and generate that sense of connectedness with the more distant campuses both at the pastor level and in the seats? What have been some of the communication challenges with the “One Church, Many Locations…” approach to keeping the further campuses feeling part of the one church and how have they been overcome?

The one argument I see again and again against multi-site is that the model discourages leadership development. From inside Seacoast that seems like a ridiculous thing to say. I’ve not seen many organizations that are better at raising up leaders than Seacoast.

[Josh Sargent]

1. When should someone start a multi-site church?
2. How large, healthy should a church be before starting a multi-site?
3. Be honest, what are the few negatives of a mulit-site?
4. What should I be warned of before starting a multi-site?

[Chris Marsden]

The idea of multi-siteing has been a debate in my mind for a couple of years. My comments turn into a rather long blog post on my website, rather than a quick question. Part of me likes the idea (or at least wants to like the idea), but most of me sees issues of self motivation, rather than kingdom motivation.
Chris<><

[Terry Storch]

Greg,

What are the questions?
1) Why are you launching a multi site? - In my opinion you really need to have a great anwser to this question. I am now seeing so many people jumping on the "band wagon, and they really don't have a true need for it.
2) The three phases. Pre-Launch, Launch, and Long Term. Each are uniquely different and how to you approach each?

Hotbuttons?
1) What is your plan? -You must have a plan of action to act on. This stuff is not easy, but is it not rocket science either. I think you need a plan, but don't over think it either like some big churches I know.
2) What does success look like?

Issues?
1) How do you staff them?
2) How do you structure your church to succeed?
3) How do you budget?
4) How do you control quality?
5) How do you create a re-usable models to birth more campuses?

Greg, that what I have off the top of my head! Hope it is what you were looking for.

[Elle]

Here are my questions that I would like you to comment on, if I were at the conference:

1) How do you foster and nurture community? This seems to be the biggest weakness for those of us who believe community is the heart of a church.

Small groups haven't been as successful as they could be at some of the Seacoast campuses and other multi-site churches I am familiar with.

(Yes, we have 40 Days going, but we'll have to see if the small groups survive long term at some campuses. I hope they do!)

2) Are small groups the answer to solving the lack of community problem? If so, how do you think they should be implemented?

It seems to me that small groups cannot be the total answer to community in multi-site churches. Some people can't find a group that meets on their day off or in their area. In every church, multi-site or traditional, some small groups don't want to add members. Maybe this is ok?

I see a reoccuring problem---attenders and new members tend to be put off when they hear people wax eloquently about how great their small group is and long their small group has been in existence. Then, when they find out that the group doesn't want any new members, they are put off.

Not sure how you solve this...but seems like you could keep adding people and then spin off.

Maybe I don't understand the purpose of small groups. All this to say, discuss the role of small groups--positive and negative...and what are the ways a multi-site church can build community at the far-flung sites?)

3) How do you develop leaders?

4) How do multi-site churches respond to personal needs/crises in members lives? A traditional church has groups that provide meals, visit people in the hospital, leaders/pastors on call, sit with you after a death in your family, rejoice in births, good outcomes for surgery, etc.

(My experience with multi-site churches is that this doesn't happen well at most of the campuses. "On paper", the small groups are suppose to do it.)

5) How do you educate the youth and children? Seems to me that multi-sites don't do the best job of transmitting the faith. I know Sunday School and Discipleship Training are oh, so boring, but we need something substantial to replace them.

Oh, everyone has "fun" at children and youth church, but are the children and youth being discipled and growing? I doubt this can happen just on Sundays and once a month.

6) How do you know when it is time to launch another campus? I think multi-sites are a terrific idea.

You reach more people for Christ is the #1 reason. If you have a church that is filling a need for people who are unchurched in a community...why not try to fill it?

Also, Seacoast and other multi-site churches tend to attract people from long distances. Planting campuses in those areas make alot of sense! I bet a lot of those campuses end up with people who wouldn't be going to church some place in their local area. It makes sense to have them do ministry work in their own backyards.

I know some people might see multi-site church planting as a way to revive a slow growing church. How does a church know when and why to church plant a new site?

7) Do you think by separating people into different age groups all the time is a good idea? How does this foster community? How do the young people learn from their elders who are walking the walk? Sometimes I miss seeing all age groups worshipping together.

8) Tell me the negatives about multi-site campuses and how you think churches can overcome them. Please don't gloss over this part. People need to know what they are getting into. You may get lots of great ideas, too, to solve some of the negatives. : )

[heather]

If I were attending this conference with you, I would want to hear you say that you didn't have a clue what to do when we received the news that we couldn't expand on the orignial site. I would want to hear you say that we fasted as a congregation, we prayed and brainstormed. We wanted what God wanted, and in time, He gave us the idea to go "multi-site".
In short, it's all about Him, not us and how clever we are.

[Susan Antonelli]

Hi-
Pros of multi-site:
1- Many more can benefit from the teaching of a talented and annointed leader (or set of leaders) who are gifted speakers. (That is not just for the benefit of your ego. It's true!)There are many excellent pastors who find weekly speaking a struggle but excel in other areas, such as management, shepherding the "flock", training leaders, etc. Sadly, those churches often have limited growth because THE WEEKLY SERMON is so critical. Multi-site churches allow people to specialize in their strengths.
2- When resources are pooled, you can offer so much more. Example: Wando High is a very large school, and so can offer many things that smaller schools just can't pull off, such as pre-engineering programs, classes in culinary arts and restaurant management, etc. Thus more needs are met. The same thing happens at Seacoast. If someone can't find a place to fit into at Seacoast, then they aren't looking!
Negs:
1- Just like at a big school, you have to work extra hard to prevent people from feeling like a cog in the machine. You have to find creative ways to make sure that each individual feels personally recognized and valued. Not easy. This is even more critical at a big church with multiple sites because when people have a spiritual crisis, they need someone in a leadership role's attention. Certainly you can't make all the hospital visits, home calls, etc. that people at Seacoast need- it's impossible. But there has to be some mechanism in place to handle those needs, especially if someone hasn't bought into the small group concept.
2- I think one major issue for a multi-site planter, or regular church planter, is the issue of staffing. I have seen this in some of Seacoast's new sites. Often you have volunteers who are trying to do the jobs that paid staff are doing at the "main campus." Children's ministry is the perfect example. It is critical that a program like that is of a very high quality right from the start, but it's hard to actually pull off when you are working with volunteers who have jobs, families, etc. It's especially hard to make it as good as what's going on at the "main campus." So, that's a challenge that a planting pastor will face.

*I must say that reading through all the potential problems makes me realize how well Seacoast has done. You all have really defied some nasty odds. It's such a GREAT church, and just keeps getting better! Best wishes on your talk at the conference. I know going to Chicago is a real trial for you. ;-)
Susan

[Jim Mueller]

Hey Greg

Just discovered your blog... good stuff. And, thank you for the link.

Jim Mueller
www.Growthtrac.com

[Michael Rew]

I think a multisite church could work in one city (and suburban regions of that city). In the New Testament, even Jesus Christ referred to churches by city. Expanding it beyond the reach of what locals would consider the city could confuse local identity and local mission purposes.

I think having a pastor of pastors could be a strength of multisite churches. But placing too much emphasis on the most senior of senior pastor, on his ministry, his books, his ideas, could work against what God wants to do with the pastoral team of the satellite campuses.

[Matt Payne]

I will be at the conference and will be bringing the director of our church planting association. He tends to feel that multi-site is INSTEAD of church planting. I would like for you guys to talk about how it is BOTH reproducing campuses and starting new churches.