Multichannel church: Going off-site is critical

It seems counter-intuitive to be decentralizing the congregation’s life even as they stretch to keep the central location’s doors open. But expanding reach will be critical for the congregation, no matter what its size.
Going off-site challenges longtime perceptions that “church” means whatever is done at the central location.
Ancient Israel faced a deep tension between the Temple cult in Jerusalem and the decentralized life of shrines and synagogues. It was a tension between city and country, between a belief in God’s presence in a single place and God’s presence wherever God’s people happened to be.
Modern congregations face a similar tension between a single sacred space and many spaces where the sacred can be experienced. To many people, “church” means the building, and “religion” means what happens there. Many believers pray most fervently when they sit in a pew. That is where they encounter Scripture and is their meeting ground with church friends.
Gathering at the central location has enabled congregations to deal with the historical reality that once they were neighborhood parishes, welcoming neighbors who walked to church, and now they are destinations to which people drive from many neighborhoods.
Because so much energy, funding, and worry have gone into keeping the central doors open, many congregations find that their identity and purposes are tied up in what they do at the main church. They measure health by how many worship on an average Sunday. They define membership as being part of that Sunday community. They staff primarily for Sunday activities, notably worship.
In thinking about decentralized ministry, congregations will be acknowledging what many members and neighbors already know: interactions with God and other Christians are just as lively “out there” — on a retreat, at a renewal weekend, in an at-home Bible study, in doing mission work — as they are “in here.”
Moreover, if church comes close to where they live, they are more likely to participate. Life may be too complicated to pick up on a Wednesday and tote the family off to the central location.
By seeking a broader and less centralized presence in the larger community, a congregation can significantly expand its reach and impact. Many who attend a home-based group or serve on a mission team will never join the Sunday worshiping community at the central location. No problem. The point is impact, not bodies in a pew.
By going out where people are, the congregation will become more aware of people’s needs and thus more effective in meeting those needs. In addition to the compressed Sunday morning hour, leaders would sit in members’ homes on weeknights and see people interact, hear them speak about daily issues, and learn about job losses or bullying at schools.
Non-members will feel more engaged, too. They won’t be stumbling through an unfamiliar worship event, but getting to know people in the familiar routines of meals and conversation. Hearing your neighbor pray and talk about God is often more powerful than hearing a professional do the same on Sunday.
What we need to know now is that going off-site isn’t just an idea for later. It’s a critical strategy for now.