Scott Chapman is pastor of The Chapel in Libertyville, IL, a church he co-founded in 1994 with Jeff Griffin

Small is the New Big

“A healthy church reflects Christ and connects to the culture around them.”

• Their church was growing numerically, but had no spiritual transformation – and they were losing stickiness and struggling to integrate people into the life of the church.
• Small groups were struggling, couldn’t get enough volunteers, giving declined, people were starting to slip away.  They seriously began to question whether this big, growing church could survive…
• Made several critical discoveries…

1. People were falling into “practical atheism” – believe God exists, behave as if He does not.  They need to find a way to help those exploring faith and those who were building faith.

2. People wanted what a large church provided, but loved how a small church felt.

• They had seen multi-site as a church growth tool – began to envision it as a church health tool.
• A “sticky church” is a church that people want to stay in – multi site allows that.

What makes multi site sticky

• Gives people large church experience
  • High quality ministry experience
  • Huge Kingdom vision
• Gives people the small church experience
  • Spiritual mentors – campus pastors function as small church pastors
  • A church family – to be known and know others
  • A church in their community – close to home, invite friends to, addressed local needs.
  • To be needed – their service and giving making a noticeable difference