In Mark chapter 2, Jesus was teaching and there was such a crowd of people there that they were piled on top of one another.  Literally, no one else could get into the house to see him or hear what Jesus was saying.  There were some men, however, who had a friend that was paralyzed and they wanted to get him to Jesus because they rightfully believed that he could heal their friend.  So the men loaded their buddy onto a stretcher and brought him to where they knew Jesus would be.  When they saw the huge crowd and the fact that they couldn’t get anywhere near Jesus, I imagine they were a bit dismayed.  They probably sat their friend down for a minute to talk things over and decide what to do.  They didn’t give up, however, and came up with a somewhat outrageous plan to get past the crowd.  Four of the friends climbed up on a roof, hoisted their buddy on the stretcher up, walked across the roof until they were above where Jesus was at, and then cut a hole in the roof of the house so they could lower their friend right down next to Jesus.  Talk about commitment to get someone to church!  They even risked personal injury, as I imagine the guy who’s roof that they had just cut a hole in was about to beat them up!

Here is the point, they didn’t just tell their friend about Jesus….they brought him to Jesus.  They didn’t just tell their friend “Jesus is over there” if you can find a way to get there he might be able to heal you…no, they actually took him to Jesus.  They didn’t just invite their friend to church, they brought him to church and when they couldn’t get in they went the extra mile and cut a hole in the roof to get him in (now please don’t get any ideas and cut holes in our roof of your church to get people to church!!).

Growing churches have several options available to them as they consider how to expand (as we have discussed here). One of these options is to add additional services at other worship venues through a multi or microsite approach.  Typically, these services have live worship, a campus pastor, and the preaching comes either via video or the pastor from the main campus is able to be there and preach live.   It is a great way to move forward, but starting a new campus comes with some pros and cons that every church should consider before launching a new one.

Pros

1. Provides convenience. People will only drive so far to church.  Even if you have a committed person that will make the drive, will their friends and family they would like to invite also make the commute?  Putting a campus in their neighborhood makes coming easier. As Josh Hunt says about multiple worship options it “allows us to overcome the number-one obstacles facing the people we are trying to reach: inconvenience.”
2. Allows for Variety. Each satellite campus should retain the first campuses’ DNA, but a new campus allows for a bit of variety in feel.  It should be allowed to be a bit different to match the community it is in.  This allows the church to reach new people as ”It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.  The more hooks you cast in the water, and the more varied the bait, the more fish you will catch” (Hunt).

The Pros and Cons of Additional Services on One Main Campus

Growing churches have several options available to them as they consider how to expand (as we have discussed here). One of these options is to add additional worship services.  Starting a new service, however, comes with some pros and cons that every church should consider before launching a new one.

Pros

1. Going from 1 to 2 services instantly doubles your seating, parking and children’s ministry space.
2. It uses the existing building more.

Growing churches have several options available to them as they consider how to expand (as we have discussed here). One of these options is building a larger church.  As the church grows and fills its current facilities oftentimes pastors, boards and congregations begin to start thinking about building a new building with increased sanctuary, children’s and other space. Building a new facility, however, comes with some pros and cons that every church should consider before launching a building program.

Benefits of Building a New Building:

1. Compared to a multisite church approach and other ways to expand, building a new and larger facility more easily allows the church to retain who it is.  The lead/senior pastor is oftentimes still the main speaker, and he is still able to preach and teach live.  The same ministries the church had before are still present, whereas at a multisite church the new campus may not have everything the main campus does.

Churches should grow (as we have talked about here) and when they do they should prayerfully consider when it is time to expand (as we have talked about here).  Once a church has made the decision to enlarge there are several options available to them to increase their capacity.  These might include:

A Building Program – This is perhaps the most traditional method to create space for new people.  When sanctuary, parking lot or children’s ministry space is running low, a church builds a larger building to expand capacity at the church.

As churches grow they must develop new strategies and methods to sustain the growth that God has blessed them with.  Eventually sanctuaries fill up, parking lots become crowded and children’s ministry areas become cramped.  There are several options that churches can use to sustain their growth.  These strategies might include ideas like starting another service, going multisite or even microsite, planting another church, or expanding their current facilities. But how does a church know when it is time to begin one of these endeavors?

Charles Arn in How to Start a New Service: Your Church Can Reach New People, shares the following scale as to how a church service feels to those in attendance based on how many people are in the room:

From the scale above one might conclude that the time to start planning for something new when the church services are 85% or more full, or when the parking lot or children’s ministry space is 85% full (because the 85% capacity rule applies in these areas as well). 

Churches should grow. Not all churches will necessarily become mega-churches but all churches should grow both in spiritual depth and by reaching new people. Acts 2:41-47 shares the story of a growing church.  In this church there were people who were hearing God’s word, believing, being baptized, giving to the needy and more.  In other words, they were growing in spiritual depth.

Their spiritual growth prompted them to reach out into their community, and as they reached out we read that “God added to their numbers daily” (vs 47).

This process of people growing in spiritual depth resulting in them reaching out beyond the walls of their church and in turn God adding to their numbers daily is a continuous process by which the church grows.