Multisite Churches in the PCA

[sdesocio]

There was a subdiscussion going about multisite churches in the PCA but it was in a thread about Mars Hill.
So whats up with multisites...

 

[A.J.]

The multi-site churches phenomenon was discussed by Pastor Anyabwile in this post from the Gospel Coalition website. The title of the post is thought-provoking.

 

[Edward]

Our session specifically rejected that model several years ago when evaluating how to manage size, opting instead for church plants. And at that time, our pastor was one of the 'superstars' of the denomination.

 

[Jack K]

The multi-site churches phenomenon was discussed by Pastor Anyabwile in this post from the Gospel Coalition website. The title of the post is thought-provoking.

That's a good critique of the Mars Hill model. "Multi-site" in the PCA, however, is not necessarily the same as that model. There are a number of different models, some as innocuous as a church simply holding its evening service in a different building from the morning one, others built around a need to share a pastor, and still others seen as mission endeavors. Each must be evaluated on its own merits, and we should not assume that a church has motives similar to Mars Hill just because the church is "multi-site." Driscoll does not define the word.

 

[Jash Comstock]

I am afraid that if the multi-site movement takes hold in the P.C.A it would lead to a diminishing of the doctrine of the local church, and importance of local church ministry. I think this is one of the sadnesses of the SBC, everything is getting denomination-wide, and churches are being churned out as carbon copies of other churches. The P.C.A has uniquenesses in each of its churches, and is not big on a denomination-wide model of leadership. Multi-site churches tend to take the beauty away from a local church, and local church ministry.

 

[Kevin]

Our Morning worship is in a hockey rink, and our (monthly) Sunday evening prayer meeting is in a Farmers Market. Plus I am on two provisional sessions, so in one sense I am "multi-site".

 

[sdesocio]

I think there are major differences between mars hill and guys like Harbor PCA.

 

[Covenant Joel]

I think there are major differences between mars hill and guys like Harbor PCA.

Can you elaborate what they are for those of us ignorant of the latter?

 

[fredtgreco]

I think there are major differences between mars hill and guys like Harbor PCA.

Can you elaborate what they are for those of us ignorant of the latter?

I'd like to hear this too, in terms of ecclesiology.

 

[jogri17]

Arn't multi site churches just a way of having ''a Presbytery within a presbytery''? That is the best description that I can think of.

 

[he beholds]

Here's a blog post on the subject regarding how Redeemer came to choose multi-sites. It is written by Tim Keller and is from 2010. I have never heard of the collegiate model, but when reading the comments, in which Keller responds, it seems that this is their goal and the eventual goal is particularized churches. I have no idea if the info is outdated but the blog post remains so I assume it is still relevant.
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