Less Is More at SouthBrook Christian Church
SouthBrook Christian Church committed to ongoing simplicity and clarity, pruning ministry programming that didn’t align with its mission. The church has paired strategic focus with selective additions, shaping how it approaches group life and outreach. Two distinctive expressions of that focus include its multisite ministry and its “Water Cooler Weekends.”
- SouthBrook pursued “Google-like simplicity” by pruning complexity and evaluating new opportunities carefully.
- The church expanded through a multisite approach with identical services across two nearby campuses.
- “Water Cooler Weekends” used timely cultural topics as invitations for unchurched guests to engage a Bible message.
By Kent Fillinger
While many churches and leaders quote the platitude, “Less is more,” few adopt it as a policy. SouthBrook Christian Church has committed to ongoing simplicity and clarity, and as a result, the church has grown by 103 percent over the last four years. During the 13-year tenure of senior pastor Charlie McMahan, the church has grown from fewer than 100 to almost 3,500.
Pruning for Simplicity
McMahan realized after a span of significant growth that the church had become too complex and needed a period of pruning. McMahan said the church is “ruthlessly continuing to focus” in hopes of achieving what he termed “Google-like simplicity.” The church has been on a quest to prune away ministry programming that is not aligned with its mission.
In addition to cutting certain programs, the church has been judicious with new opportunities; it realizes choosing the right programs to add is as critical as eliminating the wrong ones. It asks, “Is this ministry easy, obvious, and strategic in leading people into group life?” when evaluating a new venture.
Multisite Ministry
Two notable features of SouthBrook’s work are its multisite ministry and its “Water Cooler Weekends.” In 2005 SouthBrook added an additional campus; each weekend it offers six identical services in two locations. The two campuses are only 1.5 miles apart, so McMahan and the worship team travel back and forth between the two campuses to lead all six services. The church foresees using video venues and additional multisite locations in the future. SouthBrook’s multisite location accounts for 20 percent of its total attendance. SouthBrook will break ground this summer on a new 1,200-seat worship center on its second campus.
“Water Cooler Weekends”
The “Water Cooler Weekends” are an outgrowth of SouthBrook’s nonreligious approach to church. Once every four to six weeks, the worship leadership team surveys the most discussed cultural topic of the day and plans a Bible message dealing with that issue. Typically, the church decides on a topic about 12 days in advance and then sends an e-mail to its mailing list encouraging members to invite unchurched friends to the “Water Cooler Weekend.”
The fresh, topical approach has been met with raging success and has provided a safe environment for people to invite guests to experience God at SouthBrook. A recent Water Cooler Weekend was scheduled near Oscars week, so the team planned to address homosexuality and the gay agenda in light of the acclaimed movie Brokeback Mountain.
At SouthBrook, less really is more—more people and more community.
Fast Facts
Senior Pastor: Charlie McMahan
2005 Attendance: 3,240
Launched: 1986
Size Rank: 20
Web site: www.southbrook.org
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