The multisite movement has taken the world by storm! In fact, the multisite model has already multiplied and revitalized thousands of churches in the United States. And, this method has only increased in number since then.

With that in mind, here are seven reasons why multisite churches are no longer the exception but the norm.

1. They enable untapped talent to emerge

Mobilizing a team of volunteers is essential for the running of any growing church. Launching a multisite campus encourages greater involvement of people in various growth, outreach and service capacities. In fact, studies indicate thatlay participation increased in 88% of multisite churches!

You might just find the least likely church members taking on unexpected responsibilities and ownership at your new campus. Are you ready to tap into the hidden talent of your church community?

2. They improve the stewardship of resources

The multisite strategy is a more financially responsible to growth than a huge building.

Yes, indeed! Why spend millions on a bigger building, when launching a new campus allows you to reach a lot more people? It’s little wonder that 52% of multisite campuses launch in rented spaces.In addition, a multisite church model fosters a culture of generosity and giving among the different campuses. Is your church channeling its resources to areas that matter?

3. They enjoy the benefits of both big and small churches

According to Dave Ferguson,Community Christian Church, “Multisite is a proactive strategy for reaching more people, not just a reactive response to more crowding.”In essence, a multisite church grows bigger, by growing smaller!

Multisite churches enjoy the benefits of larger churches, including a wider support system and network, while retaining the close community environment of a small church. Therefore, a multisite church offers the best of both worlds, doesn’t it?

4. They help struggling churches thrive

Did you know that merging with a multisite church is seen as one of the best strategies for the health and survival of struggling churches? That’s why many churches facing a slow yet steady decline choose to be adopted by multisite churches and re-emerge as new sites.

The multisite church model, therefore, is a practical solution for struggling churches. Do you agree that merging with a multisite campus is a good strategy for churches to transition from surviving to thriving?

5. They create a platform for intentional leadership development

Building up and releasing leaders is a key responsibility of any healthy and God-centered church. However, this is easier said than done! In fact, developing leaders sometimes takes a backseat in many churches. However, it is not so in the case of multisite churches! Churches with multiple campuses are compelled to raise and release leaders.

In fact, most multisite churches have a formal leadership development process. No wonder that multisite campuses seem to do a better job at raising leaders from within their congregations. Does your church have a formal leadership development process in place?

6. They protect against a cult of personality

Critics of the multisite church movement have argued against the dangers of putting the senior or lead pastor as the common denominator in the“one church, many campuses” equation. However, J.D. Greear, pastor of Summit Church, says that multisite churches actually protect against the cult of personality.

Multisite campuses facilitate the exposure of their congregations to several Spirit-filled leaders whom they can look to for leadership and ministry. Such leaders are available to offer advice and minister to the community on a one-to-one basis. On the other hand, the presence of the lead pastor at a single-site church is often seen as necessary for any matter at hand.

7. They foster an effective evangelistic strategy

Did you know that the biggest reason for churches to go multisite is evangelistic outreach? According to pastor and businessman Dr. Steve Greene, no other approach to evangelism has witnessed such a high percentage of growth as the multisite church. The Leadership Network study also revealed that most multisite churches have grown since starting a campus!

The multisite model tends to spread healthy churches to more diverse communities. As a result, such campuses reach more people than single-site churches can. This is one of the greatest advantages of the multisite church strategy.

Is your church ready to leverage these amazing benefits of the multisite church movement?

If you are planning to launch your next campus soon – we can help you launch smoothly! Our experts at Portable Church have helped many multisite churches successfully launch their new campuses in all kinds of portable locations.

What’s more, we take care of the entire transition process – right from consultation and finding the right venue to providing equipment and training volunteers.

Give us a call today at 800.939.7722, and we’ll help you launch strong!

We also have an amazing FREE resource for you. The 7 Lessons From Multisite Church Leaders Micro-Course features short video interviews with experienced multisite church leaders.Get this awesome FREE resource today!

Sustain Multisite Momentum

by Portable Church Industries: In our last blog post, we talked about different ways to launch new multisite campuses and how we advocate for a healthy balance of these 5 different ways. Portability is an incredible and underused tool, however, we know that portability isn’t always the best solution to a new campus need. There are churches who are only launching permanent facilities and are having great success. There are also churches who are only launching in portable environments are also having great success. But we are finding more and more churches getting stuck due to money and time.

The reason we think a mix is so important for the church is that an imbalanced church can experience speed bumps in launching new campuses including hindered growth momentum. Every new campus has to land in someplace and space and in that process every church walks the balance of creating an effective, cost-efficient, and time-efficient campus. With that, every church has a pain point of debt and lethargy they are willing to live with. And if both of those are things you strongly want to avoid, developing sites for new campuses can be much too expensive and too slow.

When a church wants to multisite they have to decide where and what community they want to land in. It’s going to be one of the 5. Every church has to go through and process each of the different ways and an imbalance of those types will slow momentum. For example, if a church only does permanent facilities they know they are going to launch at a much slower rate.

Enter portability! Because all 4 of the other ways to launch new campuses are more expensive and more time consuming, portability is an option that more and more multisite churches are stepping into. Portability allows multisite churches to keep investing in new communities while maintaining the other types of facilities they already have.

Portability can address these 3 issues for multisite churches

1. Money

Let’s acknowledge that most leaders painfully understand the expenses involved in developing new sites for new campuses:  Land cost, building costs, equipment costs, cost of raising money, cost of debt service, and then ongoing maintenance. One of the key reasons we advocate for a balanced portfolio of property types is because of the burden debt and raising money places on ministry.  There are less expensive ways ministry can be done and done well – The most economically-minded way (almost always) to launch in a new community is through a portable campus.  And it can be leveraged in a way to launch and grow into whatever the next type of facility could potentially be.

The difference is a low 6 figures for portability and mid 7 figures for permanent. The Facility Cost Comparison Matrix talks about these financial pieces and breaks down each of the different campus types and we recommend every church executive team to go through this exercise.

2. Time

Raising money, designing & developing out any kind of facilities for the purpose of ministry takes significant time.  Here are the main ways portability is faster than any of the other options:

• From the time you decide to launch to the day you have your first service could happen in a matter of months.
• You also have faster entry into your community and can start engaging with its people before your launch even happens.

*Some churches have the misconception that it will take all day to set-up and have a service in a rented facility. This can be a real concern but it does not need to be the case. Every multisite church utilizing a Portable Church system is done with set-up in 20-90 minutes. The Meeting House in Canada with 18 locations finishes in just 20 minutes, while numerous other of our ‘6 trailer churches’ set up in 90 minutes or less.

3. Excellence

There is an unspoken fear that a multisite church campus in a portable space can’t be done with the type of excellence that the church is used to. However, we know that excellence is subjective and every multisite church has its own standards for their worship experience. We also realize that portability can certainly be done poorly, but at Portable Church we discover what each church’s standard is through the consultation process. We spend time talking with the directors and vision castors to figure out what each specific church requires. And we strive to make portability as efficient as it can possibly be.

This blog post comes from our new resource The Kryptonite of Multisite Momentum. Download it for a deeper discussion of this topic as well as other important themes for multisitie churches.