Multi-Site In A Bad Economy

 

- Trace Rorie - 

- Tom Polaski -

- Becki Visker -

America faces a financial dilemma.

Few suggest the trillions of dollars of our national debt will be erased without pain, in no small amount, being visited on many. The poor will suffer most and first. When payback comes, and it will, we'll all feel it - and it may be deep enough to impact the financial viability of churches across the country.

“So,” people are suggesting to me, “If we’re going to be a multi-site-church in this economy, isn’t it important that every campus is financially independent?” 

My response is a question. “Why should they be?"

Let’s stretch our thinking on this. Maybe we can imagine something better than every campus striving to survive on-its-own: isolated, disconnected and independent of the rest of the Church.

What if the success of a local church campus isn’t based solely on its financial prowess?  What if the highest goal of each campus isn’t financial independence? What if financial sustainability isn’t always expected of every campus ministry? What if a congregation’s status isn’t tied solely to the average income of its members?

There may be an unusual power wielded by churches with a footprint in the neighborhoods of the poorest among us. Congregations distributed among universities filled with students buried under student loans, located in ethnic immigrant communities or planted deep in the heart of rural America are outposts of the Kingdom. Whether each expression of the church can stand as a silo, isolated and independent, is not the loftiest question. Unity in the church among all campuses, ministries and departments matters more. What can stand against a distributed Church unified in its mission, vision and values?

The best multi-site strategy is one of synergistic collaboration, where each campus is not pursuing self-importance and financial independence as a sign of strength, but is instead finding significance by doing Christ’s work as missional outposts of the Church - of which they're a part.

1 Corinthians 12:19  -  I want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of.