This past weekend Sun Valley Community Church (the church I have the honor of serving at) just launched their 5th location with over 2,000 people attending one of the three services! It was a successful initial launch but now the hard work begins.
The multisite movement isn’t going away anytime soon. A 2014 exhaustive study conducted by Leadership Network found that there were more than 8,000 multisite churches across America and that number has continued to grow. In fact of the 100 largest churches in America only 12 are not multisite churches.
If your church is thinking about embracing a multisite strategy here are a few things you should consider when selecting your next location.
1. Driving Distance
A drive time of 15-30 minutes is the sweet spot between campuses. Keep in mind mental or emotional barriers that may be in play. Mountains, lakes, rivers, highways, rail road tracks and the like can all be mental barriers for people to attend a new location…and may be a reason to put a new location on the other side of that barrier.
2. Go Where You Already Are
To launch strong you need to go where you already are. Understand where your people are coming from and go there. Map where your attenders live and identify pockets of greater density as potential areas to begin new campuses.
3. Design Standards
When choosing a facility you want to make sure it is similar to your original campus or can be renovated to have a similar feel. Physical space tells people how to feel and how to behave. You don’t want people to walk into your new location and it doesn’t feel like your original location.
4. Location, Location, Location
Location matters, just ask any realtor. Is the location you’re considering for your next campus a popular location? Is there a lot of drive-by-traffic? Is it easy to get to? Is the community growing?
5. Differentiation
Is there a community nearby that needs a church like your church? Is what you do when it comes to your approach to ministry and style significantly different than what other churches in the area are doing?
6. Venue
Does the venue meet your basic needs and facility standards? Does it have the seating capacity you need to reach your definition of successful impact in multiple services? Does it have enough children’s ministry space? Does it have enough parking? Does it have the necessary electrical and infrastructure capacities to support what you do?
These are just a couple of things to consider when selecting your next multisite location. What else would you add to the list?
Posted in Leadership
