By Matt Robertson
Over the course of church history, there have been many things that have been experimented with to further the Kingdom of God. Some have worked and others have failed miserably. Take the steeple for example, the early church had no steeple perched on top of the roof, but centuries ago, a church experimented and placed a steeple atop the roof of a church. Steeples gained popularity in church architecture and this architectural element which was once foreign to a church, served as a symbol of the church and the reaching of its’ people into the heavens above. Steeples also housed the church bell which served to notify the townspeople of when church services were taking place in order to bring the people into the church for worship. For centuries, steeples have adorned the roofs of churches all across America and as a result if you were to show anyone on any street in America a picture of a building with a steeple on it and ask what type of building it is, they will most definitely tell you, “It’s a church.” The steeple is still a part of church architecture; however, over the last decade or so, churches in America have taken on all sorts of physical forms.
To the average person, some rather odd buildings are now churches. Many towns have experienced the Retail Super Center building void. In other words, one day your favorite Wal-Mart or Target has moved down the street a mile or two to a brand new behemoth Super Center leaving the retailer’s original location vacant. Businesses will always be moving, not necessarily due to a bad location, but often due to changes in business model or possibly even bankruptcy like Circuit City and Steve and Barry’s. These are exceptional opportunities for the church. Primarily, because the cost to develop and renovate these types of properties is usually at least 50% less than building from the ground up and they take about half the time to develop. I have seen many unique buildings converted to a church like car dealerships, office buildings, movie theaters, skating rinks, bowling alleys, indoor karting track, and even a beer distribution warehouse. Since it costs less and takes less time to build, churches are realizing the great benefits of developing these buildings and making a huge impact on kingdom growth as a result.
Much of this atypical building conversion can be attributed to the church multi-site movement. Multi-site has grown dramatically in America over the last 15 years. In 2004 there were less than 1500 in America, now there are over 8000. These multi-site churches typically start out by meeting in schools, movie theaters, coffee shops, hotels, and community centers. As they grow out of these locations, they are moving on to more permanent locations like the ones discussed above. So why has the multi-site experiment been so successful? One primary reason is the old adage location, location, location. These types of meeting places are strategically located in the best spots in town, where there is a dense enough population to support the business or public facility. Churches are adopting a model for ministry that leverages a main campus that reaches into other parts of the community via the satellite location. This allows church members the opportunity to reach their neighbors with the gospel who otherwise, due to location, just wouldn’t come to church because they didn’t want to drive 20 miles to church. Let’s face it, most people are stressed enough with their commute during the week and would much rather sleep in on Sunday morning. The satellite location helps to remove this barrier to ministry. Further, according to a study completed by the Leadership Network and Generis, 85% of multi-site churches are growing. Multi-site is no longer an experiment, it’s a proven model for ministry.
The fact is that the church is not the building in town with a steeple on it or a converted grocery store up the street. The church building is merely a tool for ministry that God’s people have as a resource to use in creative and sometimes unorthodox ways to reach the lost. The church is not the building, the Church is God’s people.
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