Jeff Christopherson and Jim Tomberlin on Multisite Churches

Can Multisite be Missional?

Multisite churches must have carefully sorted priorities.

Over the past 15 years, the concept of multisite churches has moved from a rare yet novel blip on most pastor’s ecclesiological radar to the dominant trend most growing churches consider in efforts to sustain continued momentum.

Without delving into the ecclesiological issues that some assert as intrinsically problematic with the multisite model (because most common issues can be addressed through careful and creative structures), this article will try to answer a different question—one that has received very little attention, yet in my opinion, should be the question that we struggle with the most: Can a strategy of multi-siting campuses be a missionally effective approach? Read More

6 Questions to Answer Before Going Multisite

What began as a radical idea three decades ago has spawned a movement of more than five million people attending thousands of multisite churches across North America.

Though there are over 5,000 multisite churches across North America, every one has a unique church-print.

There is no one-size-fits-all formula or model they all follow, but they all wrestle with the same issues. How they address those issues will determine their own unique model. So, what are the issues and key questions to consider in going multisite?

After three decades of coaching churches in multisite strategies I have concluded there are six common issues and corresponding questions that every church considering multisite must address. Read More

The non-denominational church plant with which I was involved for more than 9 years (and still have some connection) launched a second campus in a community 18 miles north of Murray because it was attracting a sizable number of attendees from that community. The formula that the church had successfully used in Murray to attract people, however, did not work in that community. The new congregation did not grow beyond its original core group. The church eventually closed the second campus, attributing its failure to grow to an inward-looking congregation.  The community, however, has an existing church like the one the Murray church tried to plant. It is growing. One of the reasons that it is growing is that it took the time to build bridges with the community which the Murray church did not do before it launched the second campus. The Murray church also may have not done a good job of sizing up the community beforehand. I attend a small church in the same community and the community is different from Murray in a number of ways.The churches that are growing in the community also have attendees with sizable relationship networks in that community. On the other hand, the congregation of the second campus did not have as wider connection with the community.