Multi-Site Church: When to Multi-Site

Here at Conversatio Morum we’ve been talking about the Multi-Site model of church. Today I want to drill down a bit on when you should move from a single campus to the multi-site model. The hope here is to help church’s that are considering going that route while also giving a push to the realization that this model isn’t for everyone, all the time. So here are some points about when you know it’s the right time.

1. When God has said so.
   1. No seriously. I’m always amazed at how often we (myself included) do things because it seems like a good idea at the time and in the circumstance without actually asking God first.
2. When you’re ready to invest significantly in, or think significantly about technology.
   1. A healthy view of, and the ability to think on a biblical level about, technology is so necessary in a multi-site environment that you should not consider moving forward without that.
   2. Even think about finding someone on your staff or from the outside who does this.
   3. If you want a good read on technology and how we, as Christians think about it, check out John Dyer’s From The Garden To The City here or read his blog here.
3. When you’re healthy.
   1. This is a combination of multiple things that all combine into one main question. Do you have a solid group of leaders (both paid and volunteer) who are committed to the vision of your church?
   2. Is there a clearly laid out track for leadership in the church?
   3. Are there leaders 2 and 3 generations below you who can multiply themselves and share vision?
4. When you’re main campus is reproducible
   1. Your worship events are simple and reproducible
5. When you know who you are
   1. not only in branding, but also in culture, each campus needs to communicate that you are One Church, in Many Locations

That’s about it for now. Next time around, we’ll deal more on the level of technology and helping think through it on some level. What about you? Has your church considered moving to Multi-Site? Have they already done so? Are there other things not mentioned here that should be? What have you learned from going multi-site?