The multisite church movement has grown and leaps and bounds! In 2014, over 5 million Americans worshipped at one of the 8,000 multisite churches every week. That was two years ago! These numbers have only increased since.
The growing popularity of multisite campuses should come as no surprise, given that such churches have proven to be super effective instruments for outreach. Did you know that churches with multiple campuses are far better at reaching the unchurched, spurring church members to action and getting the word out than single site churches are?
Don’t believe us? Let’s head to Red Rocks Church in Denver, CO.
12,000 attendees meeting in seven locations every week; 2,000 new members in the last three months; God exalted in a theme park, an old dinner theater, a grocery store, a former fish market, a school and prisons – this is the extraordinary journey of the multisite Red Rocks Church.
Unique Locations. Extraordinary People.
In January 2005, Red Rocks Church (RRC) launched at the back of the run-down Heritage Square theme park in Golden, Colorado. A church launching in a theme park! The idea was absolutely bizarre, but God started something amazing right in that “creepy” theme park.
The first service drew a motley crowd of over a 100, including curious local pastors, NBA dancers and a whole bunch of never-been-to-church guys. The church team prayed for God to show up, and He did!
God kept drawing more unlikely candidates to RRC, and soon the church was bursting at the seams! The next step? The church needed a new venue. The team had already “heard nightmares of building multi-million dollar megaplex church buildings and what that kind of debt does to staff.”
However, it took a 10-minute staff meeting for the next idea to get a unanimous green signal – Red Rocks Church decided to go multisite! In 2012, the church launched its second campus in a run-down dinner theater in Littleton, Colorado.
Reports suggest that multisite churches see better success at mobilizing church members to action. Well, over 350 people from the Golden campus committed to give, go and serve at the Littleton campus. Within a year, the theater was filled to the brim.
What next? Start a church at a prison, obviously! In 2013, Red Rocks came together with God Behind Bars to reach out to the hopeless, condemned and marginalized. Countless women at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility in Denver, Colorado have come to Christ since.
Red Rocks’ unique multisite strategy has served it well!
Multiple Locations. One Heart.
Today, 11-year-old Red Rocks Church has seven campuses, with an average of 12,000 attendees gathering at each location on any given Sunday. The church successfully leverages technology to bring in the same message to each campus every week.
However, it’s a lot more than just the same message. The teams at each campus are passionate about seeing heaven get more crowded! A unique burden for the lost and broken is at the core of Red Rocks’ DNA. This genuine compassion for the unchurched is unmissable and contagious!
Big God. Big Vision.
RRC continues to grow at a remarkable pace. In fact, Portable Church Industries helped this church launch its newest campus at Evergreen High School this Father’s Day. Over 1,200 attended the launch, and 13 gave their lives to Jesus!
Portable Church Industries made sure that RRC was able to move smoothly into its new mobile campus. The church is now using the school auditorium for live worship, and the surrounding rooms to create the full Kids Rock experience – for infants through 6th graders.
This new campus has given the church an amazing opportunity to reach the communities in the area. Let’s not forget about mobilizing volunteers! At Evergreen, 350 joyful volunteers come together to make church happen every week.
The plans and vision that God has for Red Rocks Church aren’t limited to Colorado. RRC launches its first international campus in Brussels this fall. We are excited about what God is doing at Red Rocks Church! Aren’t you?
At Portable Church, we know that no two churches are the same, and we celebrate the unique ways in which Jesus is building His Kingdom! In the last two decades we have helped tons of churches find and successfully launch in out-of-the-box portable venues that complement their specific vision.
Do you have a church launch on the cards? Give us a call today at 800.939.7722 and we’ll make sure that you find the perfect venue to move into.
Wait, there’s more! The 7 Lessons From Multisite Church Leaders Micro-Course is a FREE resource featuring short video interviews with experienced multisite church leaders. Download this resource and be inspired by seasoned leaders today!
