I think that is a great question and one that must be both asked and answered. As we have processed this question we looked at what Scripture has to say, and we also sought to learn from those who are currently utilizing multiple campuses.
The Scriptures do not mandate that all churches utilize a multi-campus approach. The church throughout its history has long believed that we are not mandated anywhere in the New Testament to mimic exactly what we see in the early church in terms of its organization and structure. However, Christians, and particularly Baptists, have long believed that there are principles laid out in the New Testament concerning governance, leadership, and church practice that should guide how we are organized and structured. We do not believe that a multi-campus approach violates these governing principles found in the New Testament.
In fact, we believe that it is entirely possible that due to the exponential growth in the size of the Jerusalem church, which is recorded in chapters 2-8 of the book of Acts, the early church might have been utilizing something very similar to a multi-campus approach. We observe from the text that thousands of Christians were meeting daily in the temple, possibly being taught at different times by different apostles in different sized gatherings, all under the same leadership and all sharing the same resources. Let me give a little more detail to our observations:
- The apostles were radically committed to teaching God's Word and sharing the Gospel. In Acts 2:38 we read, "And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Notice also that as the church gathered they were taught, day after day, by the apostles.
-The Jerusalem church experienced exponential growth. Acts 2:41, "So those who received His word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls." Acts 2:47, "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who who were being saved." When we read on in Acts 3 and 4 we see that 5000 more men responded to Peter's sermon (notice also that this number does not reflect women and children.) So we see that in a very short period of time the church in Jerusalem grew from 120 to over 10,000 people!
-There was only ONE church in Jerusalem! There seems to be three instances in the book of Acts where there is reference to the church in Jerusalem...each reference is in the singular form. (See Acts 8:1, 11:22, 15:4). In each of these instances it was NOT multiple churches, but ONE church.
-It is POSSIBLE that the ONE Church in Jerusalem was taught at different times by different apostles. From Acts 2:46 we see that the Jerusalem church met in the temple daily to be taught by the disciples. We know that the temple was large, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all 10,000+ people met everyday at the same time. It is very possible that they gathered in smaller groups and that the apostles shared the teaching responsibilities.
So based upon what we observe from the church in Jerusalem and the principles found in the New Testament we believe that having a multi-campus approach to spreading the Gospel does not violate Scripture in any way.
Will Toburen
(I want to share that these thoughts were compiled from Scripture, Al Gilbert, JD Greear - Pastor of the Summit Church in Durham, John Piper, and Derek Radney)
