As I’ve been reflecting on the worship services three days ago here at New Life, I continue to be thankful at the response from people. We asked people to affirm and show their support for the direction we are heading in the next five years, by being part of the rock marker/monument that we will place in the lobby, as a reminder of our commitments. The last 18 months have included many hours of prayer and seeking God; in order clarify our mission and direction for the future. Over the last few months and especially the last four Sunday services, we’ve tried to share with the church specific goals and plans that we intend to pursue.
I and other senior leaders here know that not every New Lifer agrees with some of the plans that we are pursuing and that’s ok. Frankly I was surprised at how many people came forward and “signed a rock” – I really didn’t know what to expect and I am very thankful for the response.
I know there are people who have concerns or questions about why we are considering certain plans or directions. And we’ll continue to try and explain why we are choosing certain directions and priorities. But while we might not agree on all the “how” of carrying out NL’s mission, I hope there is an understanding of why we’re going in certain directions. It has nothing to do with wanting to be a “big “church nor with “copying” some other church’s ministry. I am driven by the desire for New Life to fully achieve all it can do for the Kingdom of God. I want to see us reach more people who need Christ, far more than we are currently. New Life has shown it can expand the church geographically (eg Crosspoint) and that seems to be central to God’s heart. And New Life is a church with a lot of great leaders and the potential to raise up many new leaders – again something that seems top priority in the New Testament. The “driving force” behind choosing directions for the next five years is desire to not squander what God has entrusted to us but to reach our full potential in fruitfulness for His kingdom.
Sometimes it gets discouraging trying to push forward - I know the “rock pillar” in the lobby will be a source of encouragement for me, a silent reminder that there are a lot of people who do believe God has been at work and we are trying our best to follow Him into the future. It is a reminder of I Peter 2:5 and that each rock represents a “living stone”, who has determined New Life is the group they feel called to connect with and “be built up with into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices unto God”.
The baseball season is only three weeks old, and already troubled youth are sending me emails like this one:
The Cubs are rolling along with currently the best record in the National league, so I shouldn’t be surprised that envy and resentment are compelling people to lash out - I suppose I’m an easy target, being a pastor and all. Pastors can’t hit back, at least that’s what they told us at seminary. If I could hit back I’d remind these people that the Cubs are 14-6, and have an 8-2 record over the last ten days (that’s defined as “hot”) and currently a five game winning streak. They have 7 hitters in the top 50 NL list (St Louis has 2), their pitching staff has led the majors in strikeouts for 7 years straight and furthermore we build stadiums that last (I was reminded of that by a small jar of genuine Wrigley Field dirt that I keep in my office - at least they claimed it was real).
Now, those of you who are Cub fans, (Cardinal fans - the person you’ve asked to read this to you should stop at this point, I’m not talking to you now) believe me I understand all about getting hopes up too high so early in the season. I’ve walked this path since 1968, and was baptised with fire in the debacle of 1969 involving the Mets (this is why if I was allowed to carry a grudge - again something seminary told us was not legal for a pastor - I would especially relish the defeat of New York, as the Cubs swept them yesterday by a commanding 8-1 score). I encourage you to be bold and strong, don’t let your hopes be moderated by past performance - it’s a new day so don’t hold back in believing this is the year. And don’t roll over when people ridicule your choice of teams.
My Mom struck a blow for the good guys two weeks ago. My niece and her husband recently had a baby boy and they asked Mom to make a baby quilt for him. That’s all fine and good but they had the audacity to ask Mom - a follower of the Cubs for 50 + years, to design the quilt around the Cardinals emblem (they live in St Louis). Mom, though horrified at the notion, still let her love for them win out and made the quilt. However, she couldn’t let this go unchallenged and therefore, on the underside of the quilt, in one corner, sewed in the Cubs emblem - pretty gutsy, Mom - good for you!
Earlier I wrote about my journey into multi-site church ministry. Today I want to share briefly why I think this structure will enable New Life to be more effective in making more disciples. WHAT IS A MULTI-SITE CHURCH STRUCTURE? Basically it is one church meeting in multiple locations. This means that services and ministries occurring at various geographical locations are still united under one leadership, one staff, one vision, ministry philosophy, budget, etc. There isn’t anything truly new about this as congregations have organized and expanded this way throughout the history of the church. What follows are some compelling reasons why I think this is the direction New Life needs to head.
WHY MULTI-SITE INSTEAD OF TRADITIONAL CHURCH PLANTING? There are two facts about expanding the church drive me to consider a multi-site structure. First - 80% OF NEW CHURCH PLANTS FAIL WITHIN THE FIRST 5 YEARS. That percentage varies a bit depending on whose statistics are cited, but most attempts at starting a new church fail – that’s simply a fact of ministry. Church planting is a tough assignment and many ultimately don’t survive. The second fact is NEW CHURCHES ARE FOUR TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE AT EVANGELISM THAN ESTABLISHED CHURCHES. Usually there are certain dynamics within a new church plant that lead to much more evangelism than in the typical established church. So the question is “how can we avoid the pitfalls that lead to so many church plant failures while experiencing the evangelistic power of a new plant?” It seems to me that a form of a multiple campus or multiple site church structure makes sense.
- It allows you to go into a new location with the excitement of a new work while enjoying the stability and the trusted name of an established church.
- It frees the new location from the effort required to recreate a church from scratch.
- It can be cost effective in that staff and equipment can be shared.
- It answers the “20 minute drive” problem – when people must drive more than 20 minutes to their church location, their involvement diminishes and their willingness to invite people decreases. Multiple locations reduce travel times and thereby can increase involvement.
- It removes limitations of by our facility size. Options increase - no longer do we only consider expanding our current building - now we can consider renting facilities in other locations. New locations increase options for people to serve (in worship ministry, children’s ministry, etc) and for new leaders to step into places of responsibility.
These are some of the reasons for adopting a multi-site structure.
Do you ever wonder how to think about the different trends that come and go in the Body of Christ here in North America? What I mean is, where do they originate? For example, in the ’70’s there was a heightened awareness of the 2nd coming of Christ and in the 80’s the New Age movement and secular humanism were the buzz words. You can probably think of other trends or movements that have come and gone within the American Church over the years. The question is, do these originate with the Holy Spirit and He is speaking to the Church about specific issues for that moment in time? Or are these more the result of marketing and spokespeople whose influence create fads, to which the Christian community is as susceptable as any other group of people. Or perhaps is it combination of both?
While it may be more limited in it’s scope, the concept of the “multi-site church” is currently receiving a lot of attention among church leaders. This is basically the notion of one church meeting in more than one location (ie one congregation meeting in different locations but united under the same vision, budget, leadership, values, etc). And to some, because of the current attention the idea is receiving, it has the feel of a “fad” and is therefore suspect. I want to write about the idea of a multi-site church structure in the the next few blogs because this is an approach to growing a healthy church that I believe God has for the future of New Life. In the weeks ahead in our worship services we will discuss the future direction of our church and that includes a commitment to grow New Life into a multi-site structured church.
My personal involvement in a multi-site church began in the mid-1980’s (before anyone used the term “multi-site”) during church planting in Japan. Our mission wanted to try a new approach to church planting, as the old approach (a lone missionary struggling for 10+ years to gather 20 converts into a church) was ineffective. The mission gathered several missionaries and Japanese staff and targeted a Tokyo suburb in which we launched three sites simultaneously. Many years later for various reasons the structure morphed into two separate churches, but the original attempt and the reasons behind the multi location approach I thought were God directed.
Later in the early 90’s when I was finishing up a graduate degree, I was doing alot of study on churches with more than one location (Parimeter Church in Atlanta, Jack Hayford’s congregation Church on the Way, and Mt Paran Church of God), and again saw the unique strengths such a structure creates. These churches were flying under the radar and not getting a lot of attention and the idea of multiple locations wasn’t spoken of much. At the time I was considering joining a friend in a planting a new church in the Seattle area. I was seeking God about church structure and again felt the stirring within about the idea of multiple locations.
In the next blog I want to explain some of the reasons why I believe a multi-site structure is right for New Life. Over the last six years many of us in leadership have attended conferences and read materials in order to determine if this is something God has for us, and we believe it is. I don’t think we are moving in this direction because this is the latest “buzz word” in the church world. The bottom-line reason for me is simply that I feel the strong burden of God’s call and direction in this. This burden doesn’t come from having read a book or attended a conference in the last couple years but has been nurtured and expanded over many years of seeking God and trying to listen to His direction for how to grow a healthy church, one which is most effective in winning lost people, in raising up leaders, and in expanding the impact of the Gospel.