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  By Dan Hayter on 25/10/2011 at 19:49

  Interesting stuff!

  I’d like to make a few comments on the multi-site thing. This is, I imagine, going to be becoming more and more relevant to us in Newfrontiers (Godfirst Jo’burg has already gone that way for example).

  It would be interesting to hear the opinions of some elders who preach regularly on this as this is the opinion of a 23-year old, but I completely resonate with Thabiti’s concern that multisite/one man preaching ministry can end up being a hinderance to developing preachers. As someone who is passionate about teaching and preaching but not mature enough, nor an elder, nor developed enough in gifting to be “let loose” regularly on a Sunday, I tend to have quite a knee-jerk reaction to anything that would hinder the development of new leaders and teachers.

  I’m wondering whether the multi-campus strategy could perhaps put the bar of preaching “too high” and make it unattainable to other elders (don’t misunderstand me on this one). For example, Driscoll is just incredibly gifted, you have to admit that, but it’s an interesting exercise to listen to his sermons from about 10 years ago. He was very good at the time, but not as exceptional as he is now. Driscoll preaches 95% of the time at Mars Hill and is obviously the best preacher there. Is this maybe because he has been preaching 5 times a sunday for about 10 years whereas others haven’t?

  If Driscoll, instead of video-linking his sermons had decided all those years ago to have preachers at the individual campuses, could it be that he would then have many other preachers who, because of their initial gifting and the opportunity of preaching a lot more, would be just as gifted as him now? In my opinion, having 20 elders as gifted at preaching as Driscoll is surely far more effective than having 1 incredibly gifted guy and 19 who don’t have that much of a chance to significantly exercise their gifting.

  This may be something to think about in line with the above: If an elder who is called to teach and gifted to teach doesn’t either plant a church or become a “lead elder” (have I just opened a can of worms on there? :-)), would he actually get to serve the church significantly in that teaching role? In some churches I would say: yes definitely so (for example Kings Church Eastbourne where Andrew is not “lead elder” but does a lot of sunday preaching because he is gifted to teach), but I’m unsure as to whether that is the norm (maybe I’m wrong though).

  
  Any thoughts?

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  By Oli Stevens on 25/10/2011 at 23:52

  Really helpful observation from Thabiti Anyabwile about an elder who is good enough to preach, but might not be given the opportunity in a multi site context. Found it really helpful to think through the concerns and positives of multi site especially when considering new sites around Eastbourne.

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  By Andrew Wilson on 26/10/2011 at 11:51

  @Dan: it might be relevant that many of the most theologically minded teachers in Newfrontiers at the moment do not lead churches, including most contributors to this blog (Matt Hosier and Martin Charlesworth are frustratingly gifted exceptions). That might address your last question!

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  By Matthew Hosier on 27/10/2011 at 21:23

  http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2011/10/those-dogs-that-never-seem-to.php

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  By Dan Hayter on 27/10/2011 at 21:29

  Wow, good point Matt!

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  By Andrew Wilson on 28/10/2011 at 16:24

  @Matt: ouch. I really should add Carl Trueman to my iGoogle! And I look forward to reading your posts on each of his suggestions ...

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  By Pete Saner on 30/10/2011 at 19:22

  Although Carl Trueman’s argument is valid and sounds like a discussion closer, it is still true that these multi-site pastors are teaching via the web into your church. We do need to know what we think are the borders and the limits of authority of local church so that we can actually care for the situations he lists or we might as well leave it to them.