THE MULTI CAMPUS CONCEPT

 

A. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT

FBCJ, MADISON CAMPUS, AND WEST CAMPUS

 

B. GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT

THE MULTI-CAMPUS CHURCH CONCEPT

 

A. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT FBCJ, MADISON CAMPUS, AND WEST CAMPUS

1. Are the Madison Campus and the West Campus separate churches?

No. Both Madison and West Campuses are a part of FBCJ. They are named First Baptist Jackson, Madison Campus, and First Baptist Church, West Campus.

2. If a person joins Madison Campus or West Campus, is he a member of FBCJ?

Yes. He would be a member of FBCJ just as if he had joined on a Sunday morning downtown. Joining at any of the three locations makes a person a member of First Baptist Church, Jackson. A member of FBCJ can meet and worship at any one of our three campuses?

3. If a person who joined FBCJ downtown years ago decides to start attending the Madison Campus or the West Campus, does that mean she has changed churches or moved her membership to a different church?

No. She is already a member of FBCJ and remains a member of FBCJ. She is simply attending worship at a different location of FBCJ.

4. Do the tithes and offerings given at the Madison Campus and the West Campus go into a separate account specifically for those campuses?

No. The tithes and offerings collected at the Madison Campus and West Campus are treated just like the tithes and offerings collected downtown. All the tithes and offerings given to FBCJ, regardless of the campus, go into the same fund. For statistical purposes, we do keep up with how much is collected at each campus.

5. Do Madison Campus and West Campus have separate budgets?

No. The budget for the Madison Campus and West Campus is part of the overall budget of FBCJ. There is a section within the overall budget that is devoted to each of these two campuses, just as there is a section devoted to the Music Department and the Education Department.

6. Do Madison Campus or West Campus each have a separate body of deacons?

No.

7. Can a man who is a member of FBCJ and who attends the Madison Campus or the West Campus become a deacon of FBCJ?

Yes. He would go through the same process as any other man who is a member of FBCJ. He would be nominated and then reviewed by the Deacon Nominating Committee, approved by the deacons, and then voted on by the church.

8. Since we have become a multi-site church with other campuses, does this mean we will no longer be involved in traditional church plants?

No. We will continue to do church plants. In fact, we are currently involved with a church plant in San Diego. We have joined with several other churches from around the country to help plant a new church, not a new campus, in San Diego. Whatever approach our church thinks is best for a situation, either new campus or new church plant, that is the approach we can use.

B. GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MULTI-CAMPUS CHURCH CONCEPT

 

 

1. What is a multi-campus church?

A multi-campus church is one church meeting in multiple locations. A multi-campus church shares a common vision, budget, and leadership.

 

2. Definition of Multi-Campus Term

Campus: Any location where a complete church ministry (i.e., adult worship, nursery, children's programming) takes place. A multi-campus church may have several campuses.

3. Why become multi-campus?

The purpose of becoming a multi-campus church is to make more and better disciples by bringing the church closer to where people are. The motivation is to continue loving people, including different types of people, with an outcome of making significant advances in obeying Jesus' Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40) and Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). Churches report that conversion growth is greater on their extension campuses than at the original campus.

4. What are the advantages of a multi-campus church?

1. Assists in reaching friends and family unwilling to travel a great distance to church
2. Brings together the best aspects of larger churches and smaller churches
3. Overcomes geographic barriers when a church facility is landlocked or tightly zoned
4. Enables untapped talent to emerge each time a new venue or site is opened
5. Mobilizes volunteers through an added variety of ministry opportunities
6. Enables a church to extend itself into smaller niches
7. Models and trains people for church planting elsewhere
8. Provides a pipeline for the development of emerging leaders and future staff

 

5. How long do multi-campus churches last?

Several churches have been multi-campus for up to twenty years, and a handful for even longer. Some churches use a multi-campus approach as a transitional strategy during a building program or a seasonal outreach. Other churches intentionally choose to be multicampus only temporarily as a church-planting strategy to help new congregations start out strong.

6. Can you be a multi-campus church and still do church planting?

There are several churches that are multi-campus but also do church planting. The key seems to be clear from the start if a new location is to be an on-going campus or a church plant. Each requires a different style of leadership and varying levels of investment from the original campus.

7. How does a church stay true to the church's identity and maintain unity as a multi-campus church?

The most important factor in maintaining unity as one church in many locations involves the church having a crystal clear understanding of their DNA - their vision, mission and values. Continuity comes as this DNA is replicated from campus to campus and venue to venue.

 

8. Is there a driving impetus behind the church's desire to go multi-campus?

Those churches that have been successful with the multi-campus approach chose to open a second campus because they saw no better option for fulfilling God's purpose for their church. At some churches, the building was packed, they had run out of viable service
times, and building a larger facility didn't seem to be the answer. At other churches, there was a sense of mission into the next city, into the next country, or across a cultural chasm they had been unable to cross. At still other churches, the congregation had a strong desire to take the ministry of their church into the neighborhoods of the members. In each case, though, multi-campus was not seen as merely another program or strategy but rather as a key component in fulfilling their God-inspired vision