I just read a draft of The Coming Multi-Site Revolution by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird. Great stuff. Props to Geoff, Greg, and Warren!
We are living through one of the greatest revolutions in “church praxis” in history. The Protestant Reformation was theological in nature. This revolution is practical–the way we do church.
I still remember when God gave me a vision for NCC meeting in movie theaters @ metro stops throughout the DC area. I wasn’t aware of any churches who were multi-site. There were a handful, but I didn’t know about them. Who would have thought that a few years later there would be 1200 multi-site churches across the country. The multi-site forum I was part of last week with more than 500 attendees. There is a groundswell. According to a recent survey cited in The Coming Multi-Site Revolution, 31% of Protestant churches said they had moved or were going to move to a multi-site model. That’s one out of three churches!
The Coming Multi-Site Revolution cites a fascinating trend that I hope inspires you to buy the book when it comes out. I have utmost respect for these three guys. Greg Ligon has been an amazing cheerleader and coach. I’m grateful for his friendship and support. He’s go the gift of encouragement big-time! And WarrenBird is writing an article on NCC for Leadership Journal. I love the way he crystallizes things through his writing. He’s a gift to the kingdom.
In the 1940′s, a hotel owner in Tennessee came up with a novel idea–a network of family-friendly hotels across the country with the same name. A manager had just watched “Holiday Inn” with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. The idea clicked. In the 1950s when Holiday Inns began springing up around the country, 98% of hotels were stand-alone, single-entity hotels. At last count, 80% of hotels are now brand names.
The same thing happened with restaurants.
The same thing happened with coffeehouses.
The same thing happened with retail shops.
The same thing is happening with churches.
I have mixed feelings about it. I’m a both/and thinker. So I think we need mom-and-pop shops as well as retail chains. I love chain restaurants, but I like an occasional “greasy spoon” or “hole in the wall.”
I think the balance will shift between stand-alone churches and multi-site churches in the next ten years. I’m not suggesting that “stand-alone” churches are better or worse. But I think the multi-site model is all about leverage which is another name for stewardship. It’s about best practices and synergy and cost effectiveness. And ultimately, I think it’s a God idea. I think its a new wineskin.
For me it boils down to Isaiah 43:18-19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it.”
I know that people respond to change on a bell curve. There are innovators and adopters and laggards and resisters. I tend to be an innovator. It’s exciting being part of a “new thing” in the words of Isaiah 43. We were one of the “first movers.” But it’s exciting to see so many churches getting a vision for multi-site. Part of the reason I believe this is a God thing is the weekly calls and emails we get from all over the country from churches who are moving to a multi-site model. I’m seeing it first-hand.
Exciting stuff!
For what it’s worth, Surratt and Ligon and Bird predict that there will be 30,000 multi-site churches in the next few years!
Pick up the book when it goes to print.
