[Church-planters] Satellite churches

[David R Throop]

Last night, I attended a dinner where the Revs Peter Morales and Laurel Hallman (candidates for President of the UUA) debated.

Rev Morales discussed UU growth.  He described a plan of large churches planting satellite churches.  Typically, an established church of 600+ members opens a satellite campus at another location.  E.g. a big downtown church opens a suburban campus.  The members at the satellite are full members of the mother church.  The Sunday worship is video-streamed to the satellite.  The events at the satellite are listed in the common newsletter.  A junior pastor has office hours (Sundays & during the week) at the satellite.  RE programs are available at the satellite, but the trainings etc are done at the mother church.

Later, in the hallway, I talked some with Morales.  He said such a satellite takes less than half a full-time position, but can offer the full-featured experience of a large church.  He also commented that, in a metro-plex, large churches eat small ones, without meaning to.  People attend a 50-member suburban church, join and stay for a while.  Then they visit the larger church.  They experience the difference between an RE program with 8 kids and one with 100 kids.  They try out all the offerings at the larger church.  And they decide its worth driving the extra 30 minutes for the better quality.  The small church stays small, even tho it is doing a good job for a church its size.

I'm really intrigued by this.  I look around Houston, where we probably have at least 3 areas where the demographics say we ought to be able to support another UU church.  But I also look around the (extended) area and see four small struggling congregations.  Each of these, at various times past, have had spells of part-time ministry.  All four are currently entirely lay led because of declining finances.  Why add another precarious, struggling congregation to the area?  The satellite model looks like an alternative.

Thoughts?
David Throop