Multisite Church Update:
By Tim Skolrud | July 29, 2011
If you did not hear yet, the membership of Living Word voted (97% yes) to become a multi-site church. What is a Multisite church? It is a church that meets in more than one location.
It started when Pastor Jim Hill of CrossPoint Church in Port Orchard called me. He heard that we were looking at doing something to further the mission of God in Kitsap County. He asked if we would be interested in “adopting” CrossPoint and becoming one church together. So here is the plan.
Living Word and CrossPoint will become one church under the name of Living Word. Living Word will borrow the money necessary to remodel the main Sanctuary at Port Orchard. The congregation in Port Orchard will continue to meet in the current building (old fellowship hall) with Jim Hill still leading. After the remodel is complete, we will start a Sunday night service in the new remodeled sanctuary. This will allow time for people from Silverdale and the congregation in Port Orchard to join together and begin to get to know our new family. After we work out the “bugs” we will open to the public and watch what happens. We feel that there is a very bright future in Port Orchard. But this isn’t the only place that we have a multisite church in.
We also feel that God has called us to plant a series of smaller “house churches”. The first idea came when a young navy family from Living Word, Jordan and Michelle Richardson, were in the process of being transferred to Yokosuka Japan. They loved Living Word and plan on returning in three years, but for now they had to follow the career path set by the Navy. They checked out different churches in the area they were going to live and couldn’t find one that they felt good about. So we decided to start a church in their home using the live broadcast from Saturday night. Our 7pm Service on Saturday night is 11am Sunday morning in Yokosuka. They plan on having a brunch with their “church” and then joining us for the service. They are currently waiting for the rest of their household items to arrive from the States so they can begin. It will officially kick off sometime in August. We have already had some email from people in Yokosuka interested in joining this church ready to blossom. But wait there is more…
We have another house church beginning this Sunday, July 31st 2011. It started when a friend of mine called (Jeff Beck, former Board member of Living Word) and expressed an interest in starting a campus of Living Word in His home too. Jeff has to work the weekends and it is hard to find a church that fits his schedule. So Jeff and Tammy will use a recorded version of our live broadcast and start a church that will be scheduled at a time that will work for people that work the weekends.
Things are moving fast and I love doing the mission of God! What comes next? That might depend on what God is speaking to your heart. If I can help you in anyway you can email me at tim.skolrud@lwcc.net or you can go to lwcc.net and watch one of our services and see if starting a house church might be for you.
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