A new report from The Unstuck Group reveals fascinating data on the health and growth of multisite churches in the U.S. While the report doesn’t specifically focus on church technology, several findings have clear implications for tech-oriented church leaders.
Growth Fuels Multisite Expansion
The biggest takeaway: 95% of surveyed churches were already experiencing attendance growth before launching their first additional campus.
Multisite is rarely a silver bullet for stagnant or declining churches. Health and growth enable multisite, not vice versa.
This aligns with the report’s finding that most multisite churches average 3+ locations after nearly 40 years of ministry. Multisite expansion is a natural next step for mature, growing churches. It’s not a quick fix.
Video Teaching Drives Growth
The fastest-growing multisite churches use video teaching at their locations. In fact, they’re 4X more likely to use video than slower-growing churches.
This underscores the power of a centralized, master-produced sermon – especially with today’s high-quality live streaming tools. For campus pastors, it also frees more time for discipleship and pastoral care.
Tech Enables Effective Centralization
Churches that run more campuses with centralized support tend to grow twice as fast as decentralized models. Centralized IT, communications, branding, systems, and more create consistency.
This is a call for church technologists to elevate their focus beyond the local church to the broader organization. Adopt tools and workflows that scale across locations, empowering centralization.
Think Beyond the Weekend Experience
While the weekend service is crucial, effective campus leadership develops leaders and owns discipleship. Campus pastors should be selected from within and developed over time, not hired from outside.
Church tech teams should consider how their tools can better equip small group leaders, volunteers, pastoral staff for local ministry beyond the worship event. Multisite is about more than streaming Sunday services.
Innovate Between Campuses
According to the report, most multisite churches launch their first location once they reach 1,500+ attendees. They then open a new campus when the original location hits capacity.
Church tech directors can determine key milestones to introduce new innovations between campuses – a more customized mobile app, a new giving platform, updated HD projection, etc.
Also: New locations provide opportunities to test and refine the church’s tech stack.
The Unstuck Group report is full of practical insights for ensuring your growth strategy delivers maximum kingdom impact. Download a copy at theunstuckgroup.com to dive deeper into the research and findings.
