Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Big Screen Church

A recent church conference focused on the growing number of mega-churches expanding their influence through satellite churches, and we mean satellite. Mega-churches are planting new sites 20 or more miles from their main campus, and via satellite, broadcasting the sermon portion of the service to these off-campus sites. These new sites have many of the advantages of the home mega-church. They have their local pastor, youth minister, music and drama performers, small groups, etc. The Sunday morning worship is all live and in-person on the site, but the sermon is a broadcast on the big screen from the mega-church.
This is not your usual church planting. Mega-churches are not particularly interested in placing these new sites in unchurched areas. For example, Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois placed one of its sites less than half a mile from another evangelical church that is itself 1000 people. However, there are probably several hundred (thousand?) people from that area who travel 20 miles or more to attend the main Willow Creek campus each Sunday. Placing a satellite church there made sense.
Another church, LifeChurch.tv (yes, that is the name) in Oklahoma City has nine different locations around the city and has an off-campus site as far away as Phoenix, Arizona. Through this format it reaches 13,000 people each week in 40 different services. Again, each site has its own pastor/worship leader, praise band etc. with only the sermon broadcast from the main campus.
These are just two examples. Where is this going? What are the implications? Will we all eventually be going to one of three different churches?

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