Date
11-2021
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Brian S Pinzer
Keywords
Multisite Church, Communication, Culture, Methods, Attendee Perception
Disciplines
Christianity | Communication | Religion
Recommended Citation
Grayston, Michael John, "Keeping Culture: An Evaluation of Organizational Culture in the Multisite Church" (2021). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3246.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3246
Abstract
The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to explore the attendee perception of organizational culture, including the communication pathways, vision, and mission in the three common multisite church models: the local franchise model, the national franchise model, and the live teaching model. The study evaluated the attendee perception of the methods and strategies used by the multisite church to create and keep one unique culture in spite of their method, proximity, or demographics. The researcher attempted to evaluate these methods through a survey and face-to-face interviews with multisite church leaders from six different churches representing three different models. The purpose of this project was not to identify the theological validity of the multisite church or its methods. The multisite church movement is here, and it does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Multisite churches have seen exponential growth over the past two decades, and people are becoming more comfortable with attending one church in multiple locations. While there are now thousands of multisite churches, not all multisite churches look the same. The results of this research found that attendees and leaders note that despite the challenges, creating and keeping one unique organizational culture is possible and occurring in multisite churches. Though the methods and strategies vary, church leaders successfully multiply their culture by being intentional in their communication pathways, utilizing scaled consistency in their ministry environments, and empowering local leadership within each location. The researcher did not discover a superior multisite model; instead, the researcher identified that the multisite church has worked within multiple models.
