Churches can have many different structures, combining options of multiple physical locations and websites online, as well as more traditional single-site campuses

According to the Leadership Network, the United States is now home to over 5,000 different multisite churches. A multisite church is a church that has several campuses that all fall under the control of one “mother church.” The mother church exerts a controlling influence on the campuses, ensuring that the minister and pastors adhere to and advocate certain fundamental belief systems, doctrines and rituals.

People who wish to become ministers generally must first undergo many years of schooling in an approved seminary, and sometimes women are prohibited from becoming ministers. Adhering to specific rules established by the parent church ensures that the satellite campuses maintain religious similarities across all locations.

By contrast, an online church such as The Universal Life Church ordains anyone to who wishes to be ordained. This allows ministers to practice as they choose and create their own churches based on their own belief systems or those of their parishioners.  While there is also one physical “mother church,” it does not dictate how ministers ordained through the organization run their own churches.  Contact between ordained ministers is conducted through the online church website, where they can discuss issues and exchange ideas, obtain legal documentation and check out the sermons and updates from the headquarters.

One of the major benefits of multisite churches is that parishioners and clergy will generally have the same belief systems and adhere to the same rules across all campuses. Members of a congregation usually know what the tenets of belief are and also what to expect from the church as well as what to expect from church services and other members. Multisite churches usually emphasize specific teachings from holy books such as the Christian Bible. While each minister delivering services or doing counseling work will have his or her own personality and perspective, the fundamentals will be the same across all churches. This can benefit people who relocate and are looking for a new church with the same belief system as their prior church. It can also benefit those who seek pastoral counseling services because they know ahead of time that the minister they speak with has a shared underlying religious or spiritual belief system.

The multisite church system can have some drawbacks, however. If individual ministers or parishioners disagree with a tenet of the mother church, they have to decide whether or not they want to be outspoken about their disagreement. If they do choose to speak out about their dissent, it usually causes conflict within the church society. A multisite church could become divided over issues or a minister may end up breaking away from the larger church over a controversial issue.

By contrast, an online church such as the Universal Life Church has a different structure. It has only one campus that deputizes many ministers. Those ministers can either operate under the minimal umbrella beliefs of the main church, or they can choose to operate their own churches based on their own beliefs. This method creates a very different way for ministers to be ordained and to serve the people. The Universal Life Church believes in spiritual freedom. Ministers who want to start their own churches can create them based on their own authentic spiritual beliefs or they can open nondenominational churches. Many nondenominational churches allow parishioners to have few guidelines or restrictions about what they can or should believe or do.

With an ordination from the Universal Life Church, ministers have the option to start their own churches.  If there are enough followers and a structure to adequately administer to the congregations, those ordained online have the option to start physical campuses and expand to multisite churches.  This site offers a series on internet ministry for online churches or physical campuses seeking to use the internet to augment their ministries.