The Tennessean: Megachurches grow without building on
Seven years ago, Bethel World Outreach Center was bursting at the seams. Sunday services drew 1,200 people to Bethel’s building at Old Hickory Boulevard and Granny White Pike, and there was no more room in the pews.
So the multicultural church made plans to expand. Those plans failed when neighbors objected.
That turned out to be good news, said Rice Broocks, Bethel’s pastor.
Instead of building a bigger church, Bethel became what’s known as a multisite congregation. On Sunday mornings, the church’s 3,500 members meet in six locations in Middle Tennessee, from Clarksville to Murfreesboro. Bethel members also have begun meeting in the suburbs of Phoenix and Dallas, trying to re-create what they experienced when attending services in Nashville.
It’s part of a movement among megachurches to expand their reach across state lines. Several Middle Tennessee churches are expanding to locations around Nashville, into Kentucky and beyond.
“We have a desire to take our brand and expand it,” Broocks said.
For Bethel, their brand comes down to what he calls the three Ds — diversity, devotion and discipleship. When Brooks became pastor at Bethel in 2000, the congregation was mostly white. Today, about 60 percent of the church is African-American or from other ethnic backgrounds. ...
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