Life.Church Founder Craig Groeschel Warns of Multi-Site Churches Expanding Too Fast
Life.Church founder and Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel advises church leaders against expanding to multiple sites too quickly.
Speaking at the Catalyst One Day conference earlier this week, Groeschel expounded on such risks by explaining that even Life.Church has had a couple failed satellite campuses.
"Too many churches are going multi-site too soon, too fast, for the wrong reasons," said Groeschel, according to al.com. "I'm for stewardship."
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Australian Evangelist Christine Caine from Hillsong Church, another major multi-site megachurch, concurred with Groeschel's comments.
"I've seen it done really badly, too," said Caine, who shared the stage with Groeschel during the luncheon conversation.
Groeschel's and Caine's comments about being careful when expanding to new campuses came as the two served as keynote speakers for the Catalyst One Day conference held on Wednesday at the Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama.
"One Day is a different type of Catalyst conference designed to focus on the practical 'how-to' and 'what-about' questions we just aren't able to cover at a larger event. One Day is an opportunity to unpack the nuts and bolts of leadership with two principal voices in organizational leadership," read the event's online description.
Lessons that Groeschel advised attendees about when considering adding a new site included using the current worship space as much as possible first.
"Growing churches should expand their time slots for services before adding branch campuses, he said."
Founded in 1996, Life.Church has approximately 80,000 regular attendees on several campuses located in Florida, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
"Our mission is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That's how we're able to make a difference, and it's the driving force behind everything we do," reads the "Who We Are" section of the church's website.
"A church isn't a building — it's the people. We meet in locations around the United States and globally online. No matter where you join us, we think you'll find friendly people who are excited to get to know you!"
