It would be easy to think that a multisite church is more cost-efficient than church planting. However, there’s more to consider than meets the eye. For the past 6 years I’ve had the opportunity to serve at Sun Valley Community Church in Arizona and see the church grow from one site to five during that time. As we’ve gotten those campuses launched and running, one of the things that I’ve learned is that multisite is usually the more costly option of the two.
Thinking about launching a multisite church? Here are some things you should consider:
1. Technology:
The quality of the teaching is what brought your church the ability to go multisite; now, it is important to deliver that same quality experience – this time through video. Video teaching technology is more expensive than the typical cost outlay that a church plant would incur. Additionally, the replication of the worship service with lights, sound, musicians and more calls for a larger investment than that of a church plant.
2. Branding:
For a church to experience the amount of growth needed to go multisite, it has likely been operating for a couple of decades. This provides many years to build the brand, figure the dos and donts, your audience and your quirks. As you go multisite, it is important to maintain the same personality and culture. Simply, this calls for a higher financial investment to provide the same experience as a church that has functioned for a number of years.
3. Staffing:
In most church plants, the staff is required to raise support for the first one to three years. In multisite, the financial model must pay the salary of the staff members, in addition to the public launch of the church. The initial costs for one year of multisite operations could easily range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
4. Consistency:
In a church plant, everything begins from scratch. It is a fresh beginning. However, in multisite, environmental consistency needs to be replicated. After all, you have created a culture worth replicating.
Most church plants have the support of a partner church or denomination over a certain scope of time. In multisite, once you birth it you’re on the hook for the operations, staffing, technology, etc. until that new campus can become financially self sustaining.
Wondering if you’re ready for multisite? There’s more than cost to consider. Follow this link to learn about the Unstuck Group’s multisite consulting process and get our 9 Multisite Readiness Checkpoints guide for free.
Posted in Leadership
Good, practical look at the choices Paul. Knowing that campuses are the “cool thing”, was wondering when these realities would be brought up. Just because it’s popular does not mean it practical. Coming from an EP 4 with campuses. Thanks Paul.
Dan, I’d encourage any church thinking about Multisite to go through a Multisite readiness assessment with the Unstuck Group, they help churches determine readiness & build a strategy. Unfortunately most Multisite churches don’t start asking these kinds of questions until after 3 +/- campuses & they have to do the hard work of “retrofitting” things.
That would be “EP with 4 campuses”…not enough coffee:-)