The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations (Leadership Network Innovation Series) [Paperback]

Geoff Surratt (Author), Greg Ligon (Author), Warren Bird (Author)

Book Description

Series: Leadership Network Innovation Series | Publication Date: May 16, 2006

Fueled by a desire to reach people for Christ, a revolution is underway. Churches are growing beyond the limitations of a single service in one building. Expanding the traditional model, they are embracing the concept of one church with more than one site: multiple congregations sharing a common vision, budget, leadership, and board. Drawing from the examples of churches nationwide, The Multi-Site Church Revolution shows what healthy multi-site churches look like and what motivates congregations to make the change. Discover how your church can: * cast a vision for change * ensure a successful DNA transfer (vision and core values) to its new site * develop new leaders * fund new sites * adapt to structure and staffing change * use technology to support your worship services you'll identify the reasons churches succeed and how they overcome common snags. The Multi-Site Church Revolution offers guidance, insights, and specific action steps as well as appendixes with practical leadership resources and self-diagnostic tools. 'I wholeheartedly recommend this book for any pastor or church leader who needs to know the pertinent issues, tested solutions, and real examples of multi-site strategies that are currently being deployed around the world.' ---Ed Young, senior pastor, Fellowship Church 'The authors have done their homework. They have firsthand knowledge of the successes and failures of this movement, having been networking with and facilitating dialogue among churches across the country for years.' ---Max Lucado, senior minister, Oak Hills Church 'Look no further than this book to propel your ministry to Ephesians 3:20 proportions: exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever ask or think!' ---Randy and Paula White, senior pastors, Without Walls International Church This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Geoff Surratt is on staff of Seacoast Church, a successful and high-visibility multi-site church. Geoff has twenty-four years of ministry experience in churches. Along with his wife and two children, he lives in Charleston, South Carolina. He is coauthor of The Multi-Site Church Revolution and author of Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing.

Greg Ligon serves as Vice President and Director of Multi-Site Church Leadership Communities for Leadership Network, which involves location visits to over fifty multi-site churches. A capable writer, he also coauthored The Multi-site Church Revolution and is Leadership Network's Publisher. He and his wife have two children and live in Dallas, Texas.

Warren Bird (PhD, Fordham University) serves as a primary researcher and writer for Leadership Network and has more than ten years of church staff and of seminary teaching experience. He has collaboratively written twenty books, all on subjects of church health or church innovation. Warren and his wife live just outside of New York City. SPANISH BIO: Warren Bird, pastor ordenado por mas de veinte anos, obtuvo un doctorado en sociologia de religion en la Universidad Fordham y ademas maestrias de la Facultad Wheaton y el Seminario Teologico Alliance. Sirve como director del departamento de capital de investigacion e intelecto en la Red de Liderazgo y tiene mas de diez anos de experiencia ensenando en seminarios. Ha colaborado como autor en varios libros acerca de la salud e innovacion de la iglesia entre ellos, La iglesia emocionalmente sana. Warren y su esposa, Michelle, residen en las afueras de Nueva York.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

You Say You Want a Revolution? Meet several highly successful multi-site churches These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. --- ACTS 17:6 ESV It is coming . . . a movement of God. Some even call it a revolution. On Sunday morning at Seacoast Church, where I (Geoff) serve on staff in Charleston, South Carolina, a band launches into a hard-driving worship chorus as lyrics and background images are projected on screens and television monitors throughout the auditorium. Everyone begins to sing along with the worship team. This describes the experience at many contemporary churches, except that this scene happens eighteen times each weekend in nine locations around the state, all of which are known as Seacoast Church. Using many different bands and worship leaders, Seacoast's eighteen nearly identical weekend ser vices represent the look of a church that chose not to fight city hall in order to construct a bigger building. We instead continued to reach new people by developing additional campuses. At another church across the country, a congregation just north of San Diego sings 'How Great Thou Art' in Traditions, one of six venues on the same church campus. North Coast Church in Vista, California, developed six different worship atmospheres, all within a few feet of each other. Traditions is more intimate and nostalgic, while other venues range from country gospel to a coffeehouse feel to vibrating, big subwoofer attitude. The elements unifying these six on-site venues are the message (one venue features in-person preaching, and the others use videocasts) and the weekly adult small groups, whose discussion questions center on the sermon that everyone heard, no matter which venue they attended. North Coast has now developed multiple venues on additional campuses, so that on a typical weekend in early 2006, worshipers chose between more than twenty different ser vices spread across five campuses. Over in Texas, Ed Young Jr., senior pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, preaches every Sunday morning on four campuses --- Grapevine, Uptown Dallas, Plano, and Alliance --- all at the same time. Ed delivers his Saturday night message in person in the main sanctuary on the Grapevine campus. It is videotaped and viewed the following morning by congregations at the other venues via LCD projectors and giant projection screens, framed by live music and a campus pastor. 'We decided we could reach more people and save a huge amount of money by going to where the people are and doing smaller venues instead of building a larger worship center in Grapevine,' Ed says. In downtown Chicago at New Life Bridgeport, a small church meets in a century-old former United Church of Christ facility. The pastor, Luke Dudenhoffer, preaches a sermon that he's worked on with up to ten other pastors across the city. Each pastor leads a satellite congregation of New Life Community Church, which is known as one church in many locations. At Community Chris tian Church in Chicagoland, eight different drama teams perform the same sketch at eight different locations. Then up to three different teachers deliver a message they've developed collaboratively. Most ser vices have an in-person preacher, though some sermons are videocasts. These churches, and more than 1,500 churches like them across the country, are discovering a new model for doing church. Going beyond additional ser vice times and larger buildings, churches are expanding into multiple venues and locations, and many of them are seeing increased evangelism and even exponential growth as a result. The approach of taking one church to multiple sites seems to be the beginning of a revolution in how church is done in North America and around the world. When four university computers were linked together for the first time on something called ARPANET in the fall of 1969, there was very little press coverage of the event. Aside from the scientists working on the project, no one considered this event revolutionary; it was just an adaptation of concepts that had existed for many years. In spite of such simple beginnings, ARPANET, known today as the Internet, has revolutionized almost every aspect of our lives in the twenty-first century --- from how people get sports scores to how they buy airline tickets to how they size up a church before visiting it. Revolutions often begin with little fanfare. They are usually built on concepts that have existed for many years and are seldom recognized in the beginning as revolutionary. The measure of a revolution is its impact, not its origins. That is why we believe the multi-site church movement is revolutionary. The concept of having church in more than one location isn't new or revolutionary; the roots of multi-site go back to the church of Acts, which had to scatter due to persecution. Elmer Towns points out that the original Jerusalem church 'was one large group (celebration), and many smaller groups (cells). . . . The norm for the New Testament church included both small cell groups and larger celebration groups.'1 Likewise, Aubrey Malphurs observes that Corinth and other first-century churches were multi-site, as a number of multi-site house churches were considered to be part of one citywide church.2 The approach of taking one church to multiple sites seems to be the beginning of a revolution in how church is done in North America and around the world. The measure of a revolution is its impact, not its origins. What is a multi-site church? A multi-site church is one church meeting in multiple locations --- different rooms on the same campus, different locations in the same region, or in some instances, different cities, states, or nations. A multi-site church shares a common vision, budget, leadership, and board. What does a multi-site church look like? A multi-site church can resemble any of a wide variety of models. For some churches, having multiple sites involves only a worship ser vice at each location; for others, each location has a full range of support ministries. Some churches use videocast sermons (recorded or live); others have in-person teaching on-site. Some churches maintain a similar worship atmosphere and style at all their campuses, and others allow or invite variation. What kind of church uses the multi-site approach?

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; annotated edition edition (May 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310270154
• ISBN-13: 978-0310270157
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #348,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Multi-Site Church Revolution is the Complete Package, July 4, 2006

By 

Mark C. Howell (Chicagoland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations (Leadership Network Innovation Series) (Paperback)

The Multi-Site Church Revolution is the complete package! At just over 200 pages, it's packed with some really good back-story from churches where the idea is working. Equally helpful are examples of missteps in many of the model churches. Through the stories the authors effectively demonstrate that this is a strategy that is working in many different locations and in a variety of ways (Part One explores five different models).

The section that I found most helpful was on Building Better Leaders. Along with a list of 10 very practical ideas for leadership development, you'll find a list of 8 questions that will help you spot new leaders. No matter where you are on the multi-site journey, figuring out how to identify and then build more and better leaders is an ongoing challenge.

Another very helpful section is on the Secrets of Ongoing Replication. Organized around 7 thought-provoking questions, this chapter can serve as the basis for a very productive off-site for your team.

If there is a weakness, it might be in the chapter on defining your church's DNA. Hitting the Sweet Spot contains some helpful nuggets but you'll need to turn to other resources as you seek clarity on "what is foundational and what stands at the periphery."

All things considered this is a great new resource that will help advance the multi-site movement. If you're open to investigating a different solution, it could also open your eyes to new ways to advance the Kingdom. I highly recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasant suprise!, September 30, 2008

By 

Timothy Beavis (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations (Leadership Network Innovation Series) (Paperback)

Honestly I was very skeptical going into this book. I picked it up because a pastors group that I am a part of were going to be discussing it together. Going into the book I had a particular picture of what a multi-site church looked like and was pleasantly suprised and even found myself enthusiastic about the concept after just the first few chapters. It is great to see the many varieties of multi-site out there and how God is working in incredible ways. A definite must read for anyone considering multi-site ministry or for anyone who wants to get a different perspective on it. Good, easy, quick read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Master's degree in Multi-site, August 8, 2008

By 

Shawn Wood - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations (Leadership Network Innovation Series) (Paperback)

If you are a church leader even thinking about multi-site, are multi-site or want to know what multi-site is - you need this book. Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon and Warren Bird have put togther a Master's Degree in multi-site in a readable and enjoyable book.