Are These On Your Launch Checklist?

By: Chad Sloan

Training is a step that can easily be overlooked. We have a tendency to feel like everyone knows what they are doing and is good to go. When you are venturing out into a new location, new town, new everything, it is a great time to reinforce your church’s values and processes with current team members and bring along new team members.

I highly recommend that you figure out the “thing” that sets the new campus location apart from the original location or other campuses. Yes, you want your DNA to transfer. And yes, unity is essential in multi-site growth, but finding your uniqueness is important. Maybe it is the specific location that has a special quality, or maybe this campus will have a full time speaking campus pastor. Whatever your unique thing is will help you attract and retain new attendees.

Using the word marketing and church in the same sentence can be a faux pas in many ministry circles, but the truth is when your product is salvation through the Gospel and your organization is considered the Hope of the World, then you need to let people know who you are and where they can find you.

Location, Location, Location. As with anything pertaining to real estate, location is key. When choosing your next campus location, there are many rules of thumb that can guide you. Where are your current attendees living? What's the traffic like on a certain road? How does the location fit into the neighborhood? The solution will be as unique as your specific church, but where your campus is physically located cannot be underestimated.

Staffing needs to be a careful consideration when launching a new campus. You want DNA carriers that can reproduce the results of the launching campus. That means you don’t want to only look to recruiting sites to find talent. Look within your current leaders, or plan ahead so you can bring someone along on your church’s journey before they take the lead.