Operations 102Class 11

Guest Lecturer

Marc McMurrin is the Executive Director of Operations of Northland—A Church Distributed in Orlando, Florida. He oversees the finances and day-to-day operations of the church, managing the resources God provides through the people at Northland. He previously served as the executive vice president for Music Mission Kiev, a missions organization reaching the people of the former Soviet Union; Marc managed their operations in the United States and abroad. He holds a degree in Business Management from the University of Central Florida. Marc says his time with Music Mission Kiev gave him “a solid foundation in ministry leadership and operational effectiveness in a growing and dynamic ministry,” and that God prepared him for meeting the operational needs of Northland and the distributed church.

Class 1—Class 11, The Church Beyond the Multisite Model

What do you do when you realize that seven worship services will not meet the congregation’s needs? Northland went multisite and “internet church” and continued to grow. They soon saw that multisite was not scalable. What then? To meet the challenge, Northland went to a “church distributed” strategy. They have met strategic and technical challenges along the way. This class will explore the unique way in which Northland has grown from a city church, to a national presence, to having sites all over the globe.

NORTHLAND, A CHURCH DISTRIBUTED

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT CYCLE

HISTORYCOMMUNITY CHURCH TO DISTRIBUTED CHURCH

1980’S

NORTHLAND COMMUNITY CHURCH BIRTHED FROM SPLIT

PURCHASED SKATING RINK IN 1984 (300 MEMBERS)

PASTOR JOEL HUNTER CAME IN 1985

RENOVATIONS IN 1988

ATTENDANCE INCREASED AS WE SERVED NEW PEOPLE

1990’S

MISSION: BRINGING PEOPLE TO MATURITY IN CHRIST

10-YEAR JOURNEY TO SPIRITUAL MATURITY

ATTENDANCE GREW 300 - 5,000

STAFF GREW 4 - 90

WEEKEND SERVICES GREW 1 - 7

ADOPTED VISION A “CHURCH DISTRIBUTED” (1998)

2000’S

FORCED TO MULTI-SITE IN 2001 (9-11 RESPONSE)

GREW FROM 5,000 - 10,000

ESTABLISHED 4-SATELLITE CAMPUS

CREATED AND LAUNCHED ONLINE WORSHIP

NEW $43M FACILITY

WE HAD GROWN ENOUGH TO BE A SOCIETY WITHIN A SOCIETY. GROWING TO WHAT END? INSTITUTIONAL? ANOTHER MEGA-CHURCH? WHAT’S SCALABLE?

2010 AND BEYOND

START DECONSTRUCTING THE MEGA-CHURCH

WE WOULD BECOME A DISTRIBUTION POINT (WITHIN A NETWORK) INSTEAD OF A CENTRAL DESTINATION

DISTRIBUTED CHURCH VISION FINALLY STARTS TAKING SHAPE

BECOMING A CHURCH OF CHURCHES

BUILDING THE FIRST AND FUTURE CHURCH

CORE PRINCIPLESRESOURCE CENTER AND COMPLEX NETWORKS

THE DISTRIBUTED CHURCH

YOU REACH A POINT FACING A FORK IN THE ROAD

MULTISITE WITH SMALL GROUPS (HUB AND SPOKE)

PLANTING CHURCHES (COMPLEX NETWORKS)

I AM = US FOR THEM, THERE

NORTHLAND PATTERNS THE FORM OF THE CHURCH AFTER THE NATURE OF GOD. THE IDENTITY AND STRUCTURE OF A DISTRIBUTED CHURCH IS THE NATURE OF GOD

TYPOLOGYI AM = US FOR THEM, THERE

WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTED CHURCH

WHAT MAKES A DISTRIBUTED CHURCH TRULY A CHURCH - AND THEREFORE DIFFERENT THAN A SMALL GROUP, HOME GROUP, OR BIBLE STUDY - IS THAT THEY EMBRACE THE FOLLOWING FOUR THINGS

SELF IDENTITY

SACRED PRACTICES

SERVICE TO EMPOWER

SPONTANEOUS EXPANSION

NETWORK ELEMENTS

DISTRIBUTED CHURCH: A GROUP OF PEOPLE AS A SPIRITUAL FAMILY CONNECTED TO A NETWORK OF CHURCHES. LED BY CHURCH LEADERS.

CLUSTER: A GROUP OF DISTRIBUTED CHURCHES LINKED TOGETHER THROUGH OVERLAPPING LEADERSHIP FOR COMMON PURPOSE. LED BY CLUSTER LEADERS.

RESOURCE CENTER: AN EQUIPPING CENTER FOR THE DISTRIBUTED CHURCHES AND THE NETWORK; MECHANISM TO DELIVER CENTRAL RESOURCES.

APOSTOLIC TEAM: A GROUP OF GUIDING LEADERS FOCUSED ON HELPING CHURCHES GET FORMED AND ESTABLISHED, SHAPING THEM AND BUILDING THEM INTO STRONG NETWORKS.

ELEMENTS OF THE NETWORK

GLOBAL PARTNERSDISTRIBUTED TRAINING CENTERS

DISTRIBUTED TRAINING CENTERS

A DISTRIBUTED TRAINING CENTER (DTC) IS A NETWORK OF COMMITTED CHURCH LEADERS WHO ARE TRAINED TO BOTH ESTABLISH AND EXPAND CHURCH PLANTING INITIATIVES IN THEIR GIVEN CONTEXT.

ESTABLISHED BY NORTHLAND IN CONJUNCTION WITH PARTNERS WHO ARE COMMITTED TO A 5-YEAR PROCESS.

NORTHLAND AIMS TO WORK ALONGSIDE THESE PARTNERS IN TWELVE GEOGRAPHICAL PLACES AROUND THE WORLD TO SET UP DTC.

DTC STRUCTURE

THE DISTRIBUTED TRAINING CENTER IS ESSENTIALLY A HUB FOR CHURCHES, CHURCH NETWORKS, AND CHURCH PLANTING TEAMS TO BUILD CHURCH-PLANTING MOVEMENTS LARGE AND SMALL.

THE MODEL REFLECTS THE COMPLEX NETWORK THAT EXISTED IN THE FIRST 300 YEARS OF THE CHURCH.

EACH DTC HAS A SCHOOL COMPONENT, BUT IT IS MUCH BIGGER THAT THAT. TRAINING IS IMPORTANT BUT ALSO REQUIRES A HUB FOR STRATEGICALLY WORKING NETWORKS TOGETHER.

COMPLEX NETWORKFIRST 300 YEARS OF THE CHURCH

SCHOOLTHE TRAINING OF CHURCH PLANTERS TAKES PLACE AT A LOCAL CHURCH TO MEET, PRAY, LEARN, AND STRATEGIZE