Satellite Ministry
1. For more information on this subject see Easum and Travis, Beyond The Box, Group Publishing, 2003. you can purchase it in paper form at click here or in adobe download click here. Also see, Multiple Sites and Churches Worth Considering.
2. Eastern Star Church, located in Indianapolis, www.easternstarchurch.org.
3. Upper Arlington Lutheran Church is in a northwestern suburb of Columbus, Ohio. It has two campuses within two miles of each other. http://www.ualc.org
4. Bethlehem Lutheran, Minneapolis, has two locations. Spirit Garge is the second site. www.spiritgarage.org
5. Community Christian, Naperville, ILL has four campuses in 2003. .http://www.communitychristian.org and http://www.newthing.org
6. The New Life Christian Fellowship Movement in Chesapeake, VA currently (2001) has six locations. Most of the locations are in schools. http://www.newlife.cc
7. Redeemer Presbyterian (PCA), has four sites in New York City, www.redeemer.com 1999. The goal is to change New York City in every way.
8. Hope Community Church Network, Seattle, WA, (a cluster of churches) lead by Doug Murren. Doug Murren's new church(es) in Seattle are multi-campus, three or four. http://www.web-rock.com/hope/ (URL is not correct)
9. First UMC, Houston, TX.. (1991)the average age of new members at our downtown location was 29; the average age at our west location was 41.
10. Instead of continually building larger facilities, Grace Brethren in the Washington, D.C. area has five branch churches in the area.
11. Trinity Anglical Church, Streetsville, Ontario
12. Goshen First UMC, Goshen Indiana: http://www.goshenfirstumc.orgFirst UMC Goshen is a downtown church that has grown and utilized a non-traditional approach to doing ministry and is a multi-site church. Goshen Indiana. 214 South Fifth Street, Goshen, Indiana, 46526.
13. Village Presbyterian, Overland Park, Kansas. (educational, training, and discipleship done at the second site
14. First UMC in Houston. They have been doing this for some time now and have a good size congregation at the new site.
15. Second Baptist Church in Houston
16. St. Lukes UMC in Indianapolis IN has two sites. http://www.stlukesumc.com The Garden is the new site and is a dinner theater. http://www.the-garden.org.
17. Perimeter Church, Atlanta, Georgia had multiple sites in the metro area. They are all separate churches now. http://www.perimeter.org/
18. Cornerstone Mennonite in Harrisonburg, Virginia has four sites located in four towns in close proximity.
19. Gulf Breeze UMC in Gulf Breeze, Fl opened a second site in October 99 with 450 people after the dust settled the first month.
20. First Baptist Church, Arlington, TX has 200 locations throughout the area. Total worship of these 200 locations is 3700 not counting the attendance at the mother church. http://www.missionarlington.org
21. Pure Heart Christian Fellowships -- located in Phoenix, AZ has at least three locations. The goal is "To launch 20 campus locations throughout the metro area by the year 2015. Each campus will have its own flavor and style but we will be one community of believers all holding to the same values and basic beliefs [i.e., having the same genetic code].
22. North Coast Church, Vista, CA. has two locations http://www.northcoastchurch.com.
23. Everygreen Church in the twin cities has four locations, all rented at the moment (2002) http://www.evergreencc.com
24. Christ the King in the Skagit Valley, WA has ten locations in sparse areas with a total of 2200 people (2004)click here
The following question was asked Bill Easum on one of our forums.
<< I am wondering if it would be better for these individual churches to unite into one larger one while keeping the buildings and the separate worship services. Having the different worship styles would be great also. Bill and all, would this type of structure be a recipe for failure or a plan for transformation and growth? >>
From Bill Easum
There are two answers to this question. If one of the churches is as strong teaching church and wants to take the smaller weaker churches on as mission stations and train up lay pastors to lead those churches under the missional directive of the mother church, that often works. There is an example in the Cornerstone church in The Shenandoah valley. The mother church has five churches.
The other model is where all of the churches sell their property, find a new site, take a new name and begin a new congregation.
The issue here is whether or not the churches come together around mission and strength or weakness and survival. God never honors the second and all of those attempts almost always fail, whereas coming together around mission and strength usually succeeds.