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Explore the advantages of multi-service faith communities in boosting growth, innovation, and engagement. Discover how being multi-everything offers distinctive benefits and new opportunities for spiritual vitality.
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The Benefits of Being Multi-EverythingNo Matter What the Size Scott Thumma Hartford Institute for Religion Research Hartford Seminary www.hartfordinstitute.org sthumma@hartsem.edu
Faith Communities Today 2015 www.faithcommunitiestoday • Cooperative multifaith coalition of 28 groups, directed by Hartford Institute • Since 2000, 5 national surveys 30,000+ churches • Just the Protestant Christian sample - Mainline/Oldline & Evangelical/African American churches • 2015 – key informant, 4,436, mailed & online 197 Q’s • Random and over samples of 11 groups, weighted • Reports so far: Overview Summary, Attracting Young Adults, Christian Education
Multi-Service Benefits • Are larger • Have a larger budget • Claim to have more innovative worship • Say they are more spiritually vital and alive. • Are more likely to use small groups • Are more likely to stress member accountability • Are more likely to show a worship attendance increase
Multi-Style Benefits?Willing to Change to Meet New Challenges
Worship Change Benefits?Willing to Change to Meet New Challenges
Worship Change Benefits?See Themselves as Spiritual Vital and Alive
For Megachurches:Being Multisite Makes Them Distinctive Different from Other Megachurches • Larger attendance • Smaller sanctuary size • More staff – more pastors • Greater growth rate – larger budgets BUT smaller per capita giving • Higher level of member accountability • Larger percentage of young adults • More likely multiracial • A greater willingness to change • Much more open to worship innovation • And a greater emphasis on members’ evangelistic efforts
And Gives Them Distinct Advantages over other Megachurches • Can grow numerically without continued investment in larger buildings • Provides a nearby option for members from a distance so they can connect more easily and more frequently • Tailors the site worship to better fit the specific context of a community • Offers many more ways for participants to get involved • Increases the potential pool of leadership within the overall church • Gives nascent leadership a smaller venue to refine their skills • The multisite option allows for further choice – not just in relation to location, leadership opportunities, and worship style but also size configurations – from intimate to large to mega.
Multi Advantages • Variety and choice are enhanced with additional service times and locations • The need for member engagement and involvement rises, requiring calls for increased commitment and additional leadership development • Multiple realities allow for experimentation and innovation without risking your core worship service or participants • Additional services, in the same space or another, at different times, allows for experimentation while sidestepping significant resistance from the unwilling • Find those in your church who want to experiment – and let them!
