Sneaky Multisite Limitations

There are limitations many don't think are limitations. They're not all obvious and you probably won't agree with all of them... yet.

1. Not allowing Campus Pastors and other staff access to giving records and other financial data.

I know the logic … “We just don’t want people to know how much people give.” Or “We don’t want the spending information to get out.”

Right, that’s a people problem, not a process problem.

You mean to tell me you’re hiring people to lead and develop hundreds or thousands of people, teach kids, operate technical equipment, rent facilities, and keep your church reputation pristine but you’re worried that the Campus Pastor will know what you spend on green room shrimp cocktails?
You’re worried they’ll find out that staff don’t actually tithe?
You’re scared they can’t handle the math of “all that money” at your church of 500?

This is an irrational fear. It’s common but it’s still wildly irrational. And again, it’s a people problem - a you-problem - not a process problem.

If you’re hiring and deploying people to BUILD the church,
resource them to BUILD the church.

It’s a simple economics conversation. Economics is the science of decisions based on resources. Your leaders (staff) need the resources to make decisions.

If you run your church like your CPs and other staff are just project managers doing what you tell them, don’t expect it to grow and be super-impactful for very long. Expect it to be a neat project for a few years then shut down with hundreds, if not thousands, of disenfranchised Christians who got burned out from a mediocre, fear-driven, passionless church. I see it all the time. You do too. You just probably didn’t know this is the reason. But it is.