There has been a lot of chatter about churches going multi-site. Non-profit organizations doing surveys with the latest trends. The one question that every leader has on their mind at the end of this discussion is: “Is my church ready to go multi-site?”. While many blogs, commentators, and strategic consultants hint around to certain ideas, none of them really answer the question specifically for the organization. To get these answers you have to pay them to answer it for you. We believe it is imperative before you even chat with a consultant to take a honest assessment internally and externally of your organization. I will use an example to why I would suggest this before chatting with a consultant.
Would you go to the doctor without a list of health concerns when you are facing an important decision regarding your health or surgery? Would your notebook be blank and not one question written down? Would you not even jot down your symptoms for the past week, month, or year? After all you are paying this doctor handsomely for his advice on your current health situation and his time is valuable by the minute. Another scenario would be hiring an attorney. Would you go to their office without questions in hand and ensure that every concern is asked and answered? If you would prepare before these type of meetings to ensure that you don’t waste time and money, shouldn’t this be done with the church’s resources? Shouldn’t the church take an honest assessment to find their strengths and weaknesses before making that first phone call to a consultant?
In regards to helping a church make an honest assessment please see the following matrices to help you in these initial stages. If the leadership takes an honest approach to this assessment and queries their organization it would better assist you in determining if your organization is really ready to take the first step in looking for a consultant to help you with this transition. After all the consultant is going to ask you similar if not identical questions when they come to interview certain leaders within the organization to make their assessment. Wouldn’t a better use of time be spent having a lot this primarily stuff done for them so they can review it and dig deeper in certain areas that they deem appropriate?
Multi Site Church Software 