The Future of Church Planting

Until the past decade, the only way to expand the ministry of a church was either 1) the pastor would speak live at each campus, staggering the days and times to make it happen, or 2) the church would commission new pastors to go out an plant new churches with their on separate identities.

Today, those are still viable and useful options. However, a new trend may eventually put those techniques of church planting to rest. Video campuses have started to spring up across the country as a way for a church to expand it's arm of influence from one central location to many regional outlets.

From a businessman or consumer's perspective, it's the equivalent of a successful restaurant adding several locations in your metro area. The result is that you can find a location relatively close to where you live and work.

The same concept applies to video campuses. Same teaching. Same ministry opportunities. Closer location to where you live.

I pulled a little research from Outreach Magazine's 2011 survey of the largest and fastest growing churches in America. Of the the top ten largest churches, only two had single sites, including the largest, Houston's Lakewood Church. The other eight combined for a total 36 campus sites.

Now, if you're wondering, the survey showed that multiple venues do not necessarily equal "big church." But, successful campuses do help grow a church in numbers and effectiveness. Here is a short list of some of those churches and their campus numbers:

• Lifechurch.tv - 15 campuses (including online)
• Community Christian - 14 campuses
• Mars Hill - 12 campuses
• Seacoast - 12 campuses
• Saddleback - 9 campuses (including online)
• Elevation - 7 campuses
• Willow Creek - 6 campuses
• North Point Community 6 campuses (including online)
• NewSpring - 5 campuses (3 more soon)

The point in showing these numbers is to point out the influence these churches are having in the regions they serve. Each campus represents either a separate part of a metro area, or a different community altogether. And, video campuses have proven to work in delivering the Gospel message. If they did not, they would have disappeared shortly after the trend began.

All of this points to a very interesting possibility for the future church. It's a possibility that some of the churches on this list are already experiencing, and what I believe is the next trend in church planting. It's local churches that feature video teaching.

It doesn't sound that earth shattering, especially since we're becoming used to the video campus idea. But, it is fundamentally different in that this future church runs it's own operation. Only the preaching comes from an outside source.

I can see a day when a large number of new churches rely on well-known preachers to deliver their teaching. The church's staff will include a pastor who could preach, but leads the ministry of the church, instead. He is very much like a campus pastor, only this church is independent of the teacher.

Could this be the future of the church in America? Let me know what you think, or if you have other ideas.