Multi-site: we are King's Church!

We are one church, with 3 sites and 5 meetings.


We have one name

We have one vision

We have one set of doctrines and values

We have one eldership

We have one staff team

We have one budget

We have one legal identity

We have one philosophy of ministry

We have one website

Multi-site: team development

One of the areas we underestimated in the move to multi-site was the impact on our full-time staff and how they operated. As a large church we had transitioned to a place where most of our staff members were specialists. Moving to being a multi-site church has required us to redefine every single role on the pastoral team, and each site is now run by a team who have to operate once more as generalists – at least in the site context. This is a massive change for all involved. It has also meant we have had to review our weekly leadership meeting structure and clarify our lines of authority.

Multi-site: a word about preaching - live or DVD/live streamed?

At Kings we decided at this first stage to do all the preaching ‘live’ on a Sunday – yes, that’s five times on one day! We stagger the start times for the five meetings so the preacher is able to travel by car between the sites. These cars are driven by trusted helpers so that parking time is not an issue! We are now in the process of installing cameras, recording and projection equipment and our view is that we will move to a combination of live and video preaching when we move to a fourth site or a multiple meeting on our Lee or Downham sites, whichever comes first! We operate with a preaching team of 4 people, who speak at 42 of the Sundays in a year; on the other 10 Sundays the site-leaders preach. We believe a preaching team provides a more balanced and sustainable teaching experience.

Multi-site: What are the critical components that make a new Sunday meeting in a different location work?

As you are encouraging existing attenders/members to relocate from your existing facility to another one, the greatest appeal for them is a location which is close to their home address. This should not be underestimated in urban centres, where travel time is major factor of life. However, the four key components that require attention are:


- Worship
- Preaching
- Kids’ and youth work
- Welcome!

If any of the above do not compare positively to the experience within the sending church context, people will quickly revert back to attending the sending site.

Lastly, don’t forget the appearance of the venue itself. It’s a very important factor - we spent over £200,000 getting both new sites refurbished.

Multi-site - what is the most important decision you will make?

The most important decision is - who is going to be the site leader/ campus pastor. This person needs to own the whole Vision, Values and Philosophy of Ministry of the one church and should be a good team player. This should not be someone who is looking for space to carve out their own thing, i.e. a church planter - or even a frustrated preacher!

What is the ideal location for a multi-site?

All our reading and research, plus the advice of others with experience in this area, tells us that the ideal location for a further site is 15 minutes’ drive away from the sending church. The new site should have about 140 people attending and ideally living in the area - on the ground as it were - who will carry your DNA into the new site. This gives a core of people to work with, who can provide the care and support for all the new people coming in.


The key issues to consider were:
- distance from the sending/’mother’ church
- critical mass (around 140 people)
- a group of people who know your ways in Christ.

Why multi-site? Why not a church plant?

‘This is a good question and one which needs a good answer! During my sabbatical I had the privilege of shadowing Nicky Gumbel of Holy Trinity Brompton for the day. He took me round his nine meetings on three sites (soon to become four sites) all within cycling distance of each other in West London. Known around the world as the birthplace of the Alpha course, this is an impressive church. It was fun to cycle between the sites in Nicky’s wake and to discuss at length with him the reasoning around going multi-site. While totally committed to church planting, Nicky Gumbel has concluded, as I have, that particularly in urban centres, where appropriate property is so rare and so expensive, the multi-site concept provides a large church with the opportunity to continue to grow, and therefore to build a resource base for its wider vision for reaching the nation and those nations beyond our borders.’


Quote from Good to Grow by Steve Tibbert with Val Taylor – published July 2011 by Authentic Media