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Multiply & Maximize FAQs
For over two decades, our unified vision has been to launch multiple campuses.
Four main reasons behind this are:
- New Life is large enough to offer a wide variety of ministries yet small enough to be a family. We value that family dynamic and believe we would outgrow it if we expand our current site.
- Multiple campuses give us the ability to grow, expanding our geographic impact in sharing the gospel, while maintaining the family dynamic of the church.
- Launching campuses is much cheaper than expanding.
- Launching campuses (and planting churches) is much more impactful in reaching new people for Christ than increasing capacity at an existing site.
Over the years New Life has expanded to three (and even four) services for prolonged seasons. Every time we have shifted to an additional service, we have found that our value of “Big church, small feel” suffers. We have found that, for us, it has been hard to maintain the value of a single community on mission.
We will soon launch an interest group. This group will grow in unity and sharing the gospel with friends and neighbors in the Gladden Farms area. After hiring a part-time worship and children’s director, we will launch introductory services in November and the first public services on Christmas Eve, 2025.
Tucson is a city in need of the gospel. The 2020 census reported that only 108,517 of the 1,043,433 residents in the Tucson metro area are affiliated with evangelical churches: a meager 10.4% of residents, making Tucson the 13th least religious city in the United States. A recent study on most post-Christian cities in America ranked Tucson 16th. Another study revealed that only 4-8% of Pima County residents attend church on any given Sunday.
Marana is the most aggressively pro-growth part of Pima County, with 1,200 new homes being built every year and plans for a medical center, a new interstate loop, a community and Aquatic Center currently under construction, and a Main Street Downtown District in the works. Gladden Farms is constructing its second school, a K-8 campus, to be opened in the spring of 2025 with plans for three more to be constructed in the next decade.
Yes, we have dozens of New Life families that attend from the area.
An additional campus is like holding an extra worship service in a different location. There will be a first impressions team and children’s ministry. Worship will be led by a live band with the sermon (usually) live-streamed in. The teaching and worship teams would rotate occasionally to maintain the unity of the whole church. The elders would lead the entire church. A church plant is independent and led by elders.
Tucson is desperate for more healthy churches and campuses. There are strengths and weaknesses with campus and plant models, and we support both. We have helped plant five churches over the past six years and want to continue to do so. The campus model allows: 1) the continuation of a tighter relationship and closer DNA at the new site; 2) the ability to leverage the main site’s organizational structure and support; 3) there is a higher failure rate for church plants than for campuses.
People are welcome to attend whatever campus they feel called to.
Yes, it would be the same basic worship under the leadership of the worship director. However, there would be different leaders and teams that would bring their own artistic influences and personalities.
There would still be one New Life elder team that would oversee both campuses. The campus pastor will report to Pastor John and the worship and children’s directors will report to the campus pastor. The staff leadership for both campuses would continue to work in the same office space until we are able to purchase property in Gladden Farms.
The overall accounts of the church would not be separated; however, the bookkeeping would be tracked by campus to determine viability and health.
Our hope is to become a vibrant network of church campuses in the Tucson area. Ideally, campuses would be 15-30 minutes apart from one another. Other potential locations include Oro Valley, mid-town, and the foothills. We don’t have any timeline for these launches. We will be praying that God provides leadership and direction in these decisions.
We love our courtyard as it helps facilitate several of our values (God loves you and your neighbor; life is better together; and big church, small feel). Currently we have three deficiencies in our courtyard that impact our ability to welcome guests well, to help children feel like New Life is a place that prioritizes them, and to create space for connection. The first deficiency we would like to remedy is the lack of a clear welcome space. The second improvement we would like to make is to create a permanent home for our café with additional seating. Finally, we would love to create additional space for the children to play.
Commitment Sunday will be March 30, 2025, with commitments made over the course of two years.
The new campus is the priority. We will adjust plans for the current campus improvements based upon the giving.
This is entirely up to you, and you should seek God’s guidance. In general, if everyone at least doubled their normal giving for the next two years one half for the church’s normal operating budget and one half for “Multiply and Maximize,” then we would be able to achieve our goals.
Zip Code 85653 distinctives
- Population: 52,542
- Median age is 41.4
- Median income is $105,624
- Poverty rate: 5.02% (11% year-over-year decrease)
- Ethnicities: 59.9% white, 28.3% Hispanic
- 9% have a bachelor’s degree or more.
Paying off our mortgage is important and paying it off will enable us to maximize ministry. Therefore, we encourage congregants who feel led to pay down the loan to do so. However, our current budgeting does pay above and beyond the note and we are able to maintain our current level of ministry with the loan. Launching another campus is the cheapest way to continue to expand as a church. Additionally, a second campus would, Lord willing, add additional congregants and their generosity to the church.
Our current offices are already over capacity, with one office housing seven staff members. We will need additional space for the campus staff and will be able to add other multipurpose space and storage space as well.