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Welcome back to the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Chris Bell, from 3Circle Church in the Mobile, Alabama area.

When the pandemic started, all we heard about was new restrictions and what we couldn’t do. Chris was immediately challenged to focus on what the church CAN do each day. Listen in as Chris shares ways that churches can apply this as we minister locally, regionally and globally to complete our God-given mission.

• What can you do right now? // This question was one that 3Circle Church daily asked and it became their north star, particularly in the early days of the pandemic. Locally this looked like reaching out to churches in the area who didn’t have the equipment or knowledge to stream sermons online and helping them record or get set-up on Facebook. Globally it meant providing resources to ministry partners when they couldn’t travel or do mission trips, and offering training materials online instead of in-person. Ask your staff: what can you do right now? Asking themselves that question gave 3Circle Church the guidance they needed in reaching out to the community around them and focusing on providing the help that they could.
• Take a local approach. // 3Circle believes all ministry is local and there isn’t a cookie cutter solution to what a community needs. The team at 3Circle is big and through the pandemic they were thankfully able to keep everyone on staff, but it required some positions to be moved around. Where people can’t serve in their normal job function, put them where there is the greatest need. 3Circle had each person on staff contribute towards calling each of the 5000-6000 people in their database to ask how they were doing and pray for them. By interacting with the people in your church family on such a personal level, you will quickly get a pulse on what the needs are locally in different areas and for different families.
• Options for connecting. // Even though in-person services are relaunching, 3Circle has learned a lot about online services and is going to continue to pursue excellence in this area. When people attend church online, we don’t have control over the variables such as reliable internet or distractions in the home. These factors mean that the online service needs to be more than just a broadcast of the in-person service. To address this, 3Circle started shooting these messages on location with different video cuts to create a more engaging experience that would hold a family’s attention. Though it was more video work, the result helped them to expand their reach and impact more people consistently. Recognize the online ministry opportunities even when you are returning to meeting in-person. Hire staff to support growth and development in the area of an online campus.
• Empower your campuses. // 3Circle Church takes a local approach with ministry when it comes to multisite too. Because each of their campuses is in a very different area, they each have a different feel and different needs, especially during the pandemic. To have local contextualization at your campuses, it’s important to have a great campus pastor and then support and empower them with the right team. The campus pastor role is one that’s a leader, a shepherd and a communicator. When a campus pastor has strengths in one of these areas, surround them with campus staff that will balance their gifts. For example, if the campus pastor is a grower, then make sure there is a strong shepherd at the campus as well to help them care for people in their community.

You can learn more about 3Circle Church at www.3circlechurch.com. You can reach Chris at his website www.chrisbelllive.com.

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Chemistry Staffing

Great things happen when the right leadership is in place in a local church… lives are changed and churches thrive.

With all the craziness that has gone on in 2020, we know that many churches are beginning to ask hard questions about what their current team looks like and how ready they are to lead into our new reality. Download Chemistry Staffing’s Restructuring Playbook to develop clarity around where you need to be focusing your time, resources, and team.