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October 31, 2007

churches with an Internet campus

As the multi-site church revolution continues to grow and mushroom (cf. the Leadership Network book, Multi-Site Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations) -- over 1,500 multi-site churches in the United States (2005 stat, per MondayMorningInsight.com) -- not only are churches going to multiple locations geographically into other cities and states, a few are connecting people via Internet campuses! Here's the ones I've found so far [add a comment to keep this list updated]:

[ count = 33; last updated: 07/13/09 ]

Granted, a video podcast feed allows people to view a sermon message from the archives on-demand, or you could watch a worship service via streaming live video or Cable TV broadcast, e.g. Tenth Presbyterian Church's live webcast or Bell Shoals Baptist Church's live webcast or watch live service from C3 Church in Sydney, Australia(!).

But an Internet campus is more than having a live streaming video -- it's adding live interactive features like lobby chat room, message notes, communication card, raise a hand, say a prayer, and even online giving. Some have on-going ministry during the week with attenders by forming small groups or service projects. I'd imagine more features will be added as these campuses grow and technologies mature. (I've already participated at 2 of the above Internet campuses -- once when I was homebound during a snow storm, and we had family worship at home with my wife and son online!)

These Internet campuses are reaching hundreds and thousands already! One prediction projects that 10% of Americans will rely exclusively on the Internet for their religious experience by 2010.

So, what do you think? What would it take to launch an Internet campus at your church?

[update] Other churches preparing to launch internet campuses:  Liberty Church (Pensacola FL) has what it calls its internet campus using Ustream.TV, C3 Church (Clayton NC) has a live feed, and Manna Church (Fayetteville NC) planning to launch one cf. link; Gateway Church (Austin) has an internet campus pastor who will be preparing the way for their internet campus. Discovery Church (Orlando FL) has live video from its Orange Avenue campus services and has an Internet campus pastor in place. Discovery Church (Voorhees NJ) offers Discovery LIVE for live-stream video. New Hope Family Church (Sioux Falls SD) has a live-streamed video of its worship service. Church of the Redeemer (Gaithersburg MD) has live webcast of its services in English and Spanish. The River (Little Rock AR) has live webcast on Sundays 11am (Central).


Footnotes: Living Hope Church closed its internet campus in December 2008(?).

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference churches with an Internet campus:

» churches with an Internet campus from blessedit.com
As the multi-site church revolution continues to grow and mushroom (cf. the Leadership Network book, Multi-Site Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations) -- over 1,500 multi-site churches in the United States (2005 stat, per MondayMorningInsight.... [Read More]

» churches with internet campus from djchuang.com
Its probably not too soon to call this a new trend. More than 2 churches have internet campuses now, in addition to their live campuses. You probably already know of LifeChurch.tv (which has 2 channels with different worship leaders) and Seacoas... [Read More]

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Found an interesting quote referencing "religious experiences" online. Internet churches and religious webcasts drawing more congregants Denver Post, 10/19/2007 ..."Church is not the Internet or a building — it's people." If the notion that a virtual c... [Read More]

» Tech Tuesday: how to run an Internet campus from Digital @ Leadership Network
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Comments

Hey Central Christian Church in Las Vegas is getting ready for a big year. We will be opening our second and third video venue campuses, as well as launching our internet campus. That will give us a total of five campuses by the end of 2008, up from the 2 we currently have.

Another that should be added to the list -

Northland church : http://www.northlandchurch.net/webstream_worship/index.html

What technology are people using to create the Internet campuses? I see mention of lobby chats, online giving, prayer, connection tools, etc., but looking for an online turn-key service to provide the environment.

Brand New Church has also started an internet campus. Check it out at www.brandnewchurch.com, ICampus. It's awesome!

I see there is a growing number of churches moving towards internet campuses? Are there any churches that have considered online learning to complement their Christian Education departments?

Scott, I do hear of more churches launching internet campuses, and the list above is updated regularly as soon as I hear of more. The count is now at 18 (October 2008), up from 8 when this list was first created in October 2007.

There's one church I know of, Seacoast Church, that uses online learning for personal and leadership development at http://www.mynextsteps.org/ -- I'd think there are more; I just don't know yet.

Readers: if you know of other internet campuses or church-based online learning, please add a comment.

Just wanted to let you know we launched an Internet Campus in early September.

http://www.celebration.org/campuses/internet/

AliveChurch.com in Tucson Arizona has 5 services each Saturday & Sunday.
http://alivechurch.com/cgi-bin/streaming.pl?churchid=church1

Hosted by StreamingChurch.tv

Hey! We are also launching our internet campus on Feb. 1st at Voice to the Nations Worship Center. Check us out at www.vttn.org. We are trying our hardest to get the live service broadcasted via mogulus with some minor technical difficulties.

Pinelake Church has just opened its third campus in Clinton, MS.

Welcome to the revolution! Set Free Ministries at www.apostle.org has been webcasting our Saturday evening services for 2 1/2 years. Although we've experienced some technical problems with out chat rooms, our web-stats show that we are reaching 900+ faithful followers every week. Not bad considering that we are primarily a church planting organization!

Here are three more:

The Ridge Community Church::I-Campus http://www.ridgechurchonline.com/media/internet-campus/

Mecklenburg Community Church:: http://icampus.mecklenburg.org/

St. Pixels::http://www.stpixels.com/

Church online is a good idea for people who have problems to go to church on their own, but I hope it will never replace going to church. There are so many things that you can't copy into the net.
I was surprised to find out, that the post is already 1,5 years old. Till now I've never heard of an online church. I know services from radio or TV (on special holidays), but never thought about the internet, even though it's the logical consequence.

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