If you are still using this feed you have probably wondered where we went. Well, we moved several months ago and forgot to tell you. To catch up you'll want to do a couple of things.
Sorry we left you behind, we were so excited about the new campus we forgot about the faithful members. See you at the new feed.
A while back we introduced you to a new blog for kids created by the Community Christian Church team. In recent days the gang at CCC have launched two new blogs - one for multi-site student ministry and one for multi-site arts ministry. Hope you'll join these conversations as well.
How do you reach the people in your city with one church when your city encompasses the largest land mass of any US city? That's the challenge that Celebration Church faced when they decided to go multi-site. Celebration currently has three locations and will soon launch a fourth. For now, Celebration is NOT cramped for space at the original campus like many churches that adopt this approach. Instead they are driven by a vision to reach their entire city and realize that can't be done through a single location. Celebration currently serves 5000 people in 7 services with 3 venues at 3 sites. Important to note - conversion growth at the satellite campuses is higher than the original campus. So indeed, they are reaching the masses not just consolidating them!
Another of the churches that is participating in the fifth group of the Multi-site Churches Leadership Community is RiverTree Christian Church in Massillon, OH. At our recent meeting, the staff at RiverTree was only joking a little when they said that their multi-site strategy was predicated on the fact that people won't drive to another part of the city to attend church if it means crossing over into rival football territory. Of course real football fans totally get that. RiverTree's original campus provides apostolic oversite for the movement of mid-size faith communities they plan to multiply throughout their region using video venues. Currently, RiverTree serves 2600 people in 5 services with 2 venues at 2 sites. Written on the whiteboard next to their church name - "We want to make it hard to go to hell in Ohio!" You go RiverTree!
Others talk about "boundaries" that define areas of their community - in Charleston at Seacoast it is the bridges that cross from one area of town to another; in Denver at Pathways, Ron Johnson speaks of distinct neighborhoods that have differing needs and therefore differing styles of ministry that can be addressed through use of a multi-site program.
How and why does it work in your world?
We recently got this question from one of the folks that attended the recent Multi-Site Coast to Coast Conference. "The one thing we had trouble getting a feel for was track records for traditional churches going multi site. We are 175 years old and many in the church are very set in their ways. However, we really feel the Lord pulling us into multi site. Is there any information out there for established, traditional churches that will give us a true insight to what we may be headed for?
Our thoughts:
1. Draw from your heritage as you pitch multi-site. For example, one of the United Methodist endorsements of the Multi-site Church Revolution (opening page) makes an analogy between what John Wesley did in taking the church to the people and what multi-site represents. Another quote in the book by Craig Groeschel, who grew up Methodist, likens horseback circuit riders of yesteryear to video "closed circuit" riders of today.
2. Emphasize what will not change. For many people, changed is spelled L-O-S-S. There is understandable fear of what will be taken away. You can give many assurances that will help people know that they will not lose certain relationships and patterns that are meaningful to them.
3. Invite the existing congregation to have first-hand involvement in the excitement of the new. Don't position your multi-site initiatives as being disconnected from your existing ministries. The closer you bring your existing leaders to the front lines, the more sense of ownership they'll sense.
4. Tell stories of traditional churches that went multi-site with success For example, retell the touching story from the book about the United Methodist Church in Sedalia, Missouri. We purposely told many stories of established, denominational churches in the book to affirm that established, traditional churches can become multi-site with good success.
5. Go forward only as fast as you can go on your knees in prayer. People want to have confidence that they are not going ahead of God. Don't wait for unanimous consensus, but do enlist your opinion leaders to be primary prayer champions of your multi-site dream.
These were our thoughts. What advice would you offer?
This interview Download multi_site_or_church_planting.mp3 contains a short dialog with two long-time leaders at Community Christian Church, based in Naperville, IL(www.communitychristian.org). Troy McMahon, campus pastor and Jon Ferguson, community pastor and teacher, are also both involved in the Community Christian-sponsored New Thing network (www.newthing.org) whose mission is to be a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches relentlessly dedicated to helping people find their way back to God. Their answer to whether multi-site is better than more traditional approaches of church planting is to argue for a both-and strategy. Leadership Network’s Dave Travis conducts the interview. Jon Ferguson speaks first.
Length – 3:20
A friend forwarded this to me - Honda's latest online advertisement for the Accord. Pretty amazing stuff! Only took 606 takes, $6M and 3 months day and night to complete! And you thought launching a new campus was hard! Enjoy!
Dennis Choy, Technical Production Pastor at North Coast Church, Vista, CA (www.northcoastchurch.com), was one of the experts present at the May 2006 Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference held at Seacoast Church (www.seacoast.org). In this interview Download dennis_choy_on_going_video.mp3 he fields questions about how to enter the world of video – everything from price ranges to types of equipment needed (camera, mixer, recording deck, cabels, tripods, etc). He also comments on implications of high-definition format. He is interviewed by John Laster of Rochester Church, Dryden, MI and Leadership Network’s Dave Travis, who emcees the interview. Length - 8:47
At a recent Leadership Network Multi-site Churches Leadership COmmunity, we listened in as one of the Mars Hill Church in Seattle staffers told the story – “We’ve been at it for 9 years as a church and in the early years, we were multi site. Then we bought an old warehouse building, rehab’d it and thought we were good for a while. Once we moved into the new space, new growth quickly outstripped our building and parking capacity. So now we’re multi site again. We currently do 7 services in 2 locations for 4500 people. We had double the anticipated number of people show up at our first service at our second location. Just recently, Mars Hill was given another building for free, although it needs renovating before we can use it. Given where we’ve been and where we seem to be going, we have 2 big questions: 1) when and where is the right time to start a new site? 2) how do we make sure the impact we have on the community fits with our vision?”
What are the questions that you and your team face?
You can learn more about the Mars Hill story by reading Confessions of a Reformission Rev by lead pastor, Mark Driscoll.
