A good idea isn't always a God idea. Are you living in a God-inspired dream or are you borrowing everyone else's dream and trying to make it into yours?
Four Tires that Drive Multi-site
1. A clear Focus. Know who are you are, and know and who are you not.
Tensions to answer:
- Will you have high control (identical everywhere) or low control (connected churches)
- What's a win for size of a location?
- Will you use video teaching, live, or both?
- Will you launch locations by "planting" or by "cannibalization"? Are you going to have a strategy model of church planting, or you going to cannibalize from a campus?
2. Faculty. Multi-site is just multiplying what you're already doing. Multi-site isn't a fix; Multisite multiplies the bad just as much as the good. You just multiply what you're already doing.
When and where?
Now is the question: who? Develop a development plan. How will you develop leaders? (You can see the NLC Leadership Development Plan here). Develop the who's before the where and the when. Who do you need?Who is essential to launch a location?
3. Facilities. Is this the best place we can go for a year or two? To this the best place we can go now? Is this the best place we can go or just the best place we can go right now?
4. Finances. Finances - launch from a place of strength, not weakness!
4. Finances. Finances - launch from a place of strength, not weakness!
Tier 1: Doesn't cover it's own fixed operating costs - supported by central
Tier 2: Covers it's own operating costs & a % of central expenses equal to its % of total attendance
Tier 3: Contributes to central over and above - supports other tier 1 locations
Q&A takeaways and references
- Always find the who before the when and where. Native or knowing? Is it better to have someone who is a native, or someone who knows the culture? Know the culture well enough so that you can respond to it.
- Don't focus on the immediate, but focus on a lifetime of faithfulness.
- Better brings bigger.