The first book I read in 2010 was A Multi-Site Church Road Trip. This book is a follow up book to The Multi-Site Church Revolution, written by the same authors- Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird. The first book introduced the concept of a "multi-site church" as one church that meets in multiple locations. This second book shows that this movement has grown considerably in America in just a couple of years. This book introduces readers to churches that have grown by expanding to an additional location. One of the most surprising statistics I discovered in this book was that the number of multi-site churches grew from approximately 300 in 2003 to around 3,000 in 2009. This is a trend which appears to be "coming to an area near you."
There are some people who have a theological opposition to the concept of a multi-site church. But John Piper points out (on page 202) that the Bible does not forbid or mandate this type of approach. He continues by saying that his congregation has chosen to follow this model because they believe it will give them greater long-term effectiveness.
I am in favor of churches taking advantage of whatever opportunity God provides to them for sharing the gospel to more people. While this strategy won't be used by every church, we can rejoice to the extent that more people have the opportunity to hear the life-changing message of Jesus.
Hi Dave, Is not this concept a "reworking of an old idea?" The Episcopal Church, of which I am most familiar with, has a system, where a main church, say in Glens Falls, NY would open a mission church in a smaller,rural town (Hudson Falls) that it would provide ministers, money, etc to get up and spreading the GOOD NEWS. The difference I suppose would be that the mission church would hopefully grow and become independent. Church planting would be todays term I suppose. What is the authors difference between that term and multi-site? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteThey do differentiate between church planting and multi-site, but recognize that multi-site can be a strategy in church planting. So while the two might look identical, it is possible for an extention site to remain connected, or to branch off on its own. One of the keys is whether the leadership is there at the new location. Good point.
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