Christian Post: Survey Examines Phenomenon of Multisite Churches
With a 90 percent success rate, multisites have become one of the more popular strategies for church growth in the last decade, a new survey reveals.
While megachurches may have pioneered the one church in two or more locations model, smaller churches have recently made their foray into multisites.
"Multisite is mainstreaming," says Warren Bird, director of research at Leadership Network.
Leadership Network released on Thursday what it claims is the largest and most comprehensive survey of multisite churches. Among the estimated 3,000 multisite churches in the United States – which is double the number of megachurches – the network has a database of almost half of such churches and recently invited many of them to be a part of the survey.
According to the survey, the average size range of churches doing multisite keeps getting smaller. One in four of those surveyed were in churches whose total worship attendance is less than 1,000. The median size today for a multisite church is 1,300 attendees.
Among the surveyed churches, 43 percent said they experienced a growth of over 50 percent in attendance in the first year. Sixteen percent experienced the same growth in the second year.
Forty-five percent said they experienced faster growth on their newer campus(es) while just over a quarter said they saw faster growth on their original campus.
Currently, average attendance at satellite sites across all the surveyed churches is 361 people. …
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