Key Lessons from the Interview

• Three locations give more people opportunities to serve, while also needing more volunteers.
• Rohan recommends getting clear early about the model, resources and personnel.
• He favours centralising what you can while allowing for differences between congregations.
• His experience of adopting churches taught him to put people’s wellbeing ahead of the pace of change.
• Small congregations need clear expectations about access to the senior pastor.

More Opportunities for People to Serve

For Rohan, the greatest joy of leading three smaller congregations is seeing more people involved in ministry.

we have the opportunity to see more people get involved in ministry.— Rohan Bell

Each location needs pastors, leaders, worship directors and volunteers. That creates more opportunities for people to use their gifts and pursue their passion for serving.

In our conversation, I described it as three lots of headaches, but also three lots of joy. Rohan agreed it is both. Finding enough volunteers in smaller churches can be difficult, but the opportunity to equip people for ministry helps his team through those challenges.

Get Clear About the Multi-Site Model

When I asked what mistakes churches should avoid, Rohan’s first response was to warn against being too idealistic. Going multi-site does not automatically mean a church will expand rapidly.

He also spoke about flexibility. Leaders need room to adapt, but they still need clarity about the model they are choosing: how resources and personnel will be allocated, and how much will be centralised or left to individual locations.

I think getting that clarity up front is really important— Rohan Bell

How Rohan’s Church Moved Between Models

Rohan said his church has moved in and out of different models. Its locations came together through planting and adoption, including adopting a church after a crisis involving moral failure.

we have fluctuated in and out of models. That’s been our experience.— Rohan Bell

He compared the result to an old house with rooms bolted on over time. The complexity meant they had operated more like three churches than one and had not been able to centralise as much as he would have liked.

At the time of the interview, Rohan felt the timing was right to move towards greater centralisation. For leaders planning a new location, his advice was to work out what could be centralised from the beginning to streamline resource management.

Why the Team Was Looking Forward to Centralisation

Rohan described a leaders’ meeting held a few days before our interview. He had seen strong enthusiasm for the proposed changes and called it the most electric leaders’ meeting he had experienced.

all the comms and governance and systems will be centralized means that they can be free to do the ministry and do the evangelism— Rohan Bell

The team was looking forward to shared communications, governance and systems freeing them to focus on ministry and evangelism. Rohan also acknowledged that they would need to check back in 12 months to see how it had worked. He was describing their hopes and buy-in at that point, rather than reporting the long-term results.

Adopting a Church: Allow for Difference and Take Your Time

Rohan said he had been excited, but also a little naive, when first adopting a church. He initially assumed they could copy what they were already doing.

I’ve had the idealism knocked out of me I think over the years— Rohan Bell

Within the first year, he realised that the congregation and its context were different. He learnt to allow for demographic and socioeconomic differences, even while keeping structures as centralised as possible.

you’ve still got to allow for individual flavor different demographics— Rohan Bell

The church had been hurt, so my advice to Rohan was to go slowly and gently. He recalled the importance of putting people’s wellbeing ahead of the speed of implementing the vision.

We had to put people’s well-being above the speed of vision— Rohan Bell

About four years into that adoption, he felt ready to work more deliberately towards a common culture. He said they were also four years into the third location when they felt ready for further changes. These were the timelines in his own experience.

I noted that even when a leader understands a congregation’s context, the people may still need time to understand and trust that leader. That is particularly important when previous pastoral failure has broken trust.

Communicate Expectations About Pastoral Access

Rohan was clear that he was speaking from the experience of three smaller congregations. He was not claiming to speak for larger churches with a main campus and satellite locations.

In his context, people could expect the access to a senior pastor they might have in a church of 150 people. But the three locations together had 300–400 people, making that level of access to the senior leader unfeasible.

we’ve found that that has to be clearly communicated from the start.— Rohan Bell

Rohan said structures were needed so pastoral care was not always expected to come from the senior leaders. He acknowledged that they had not always communicated this well and had learnt the hard way.

I added that an adopted congregation needs to hear this clearly and lovingly: the senior pastor will not necessarily be there every Sunday or be as accessible as the location pastor.

Rohan’s Advice for Churches Considering Another Location

Across the interview, Rohan returned to getting the model clear early, centralising what you can and allowing each congregation its own flavour.

His experience of adoption also highlighted the need to move patiently when people have been hurt. Clear expectations about pastoral access were another lesson he had learnt through leading several smaller congregations.

Learning from Rohan’s Experience

I closed our conversation by recommending Rohan as someone leaders could approach for advice about multi-site ministry. His experience of planting, adopting and leading several locations gives him a practical perspective on the questions we discussed.

Questions Covered in the Interview

What did Rohan enjoy most about leading three locations?

Seeing more people involved in ministry and using their gifts. He also acknowledged the challenge of finding enough volunteers.

What did he recommend centralising?

Rohan recommended working out what could be centralised from the start. In his church’s planned changes, he identified communications, governance and systems, while allowing for local differences.

How long did change take in the churches he adopted?

He described reaching a point around four years into each adoption when he felt ready to develop a more common culture or make further changes. He was describing his own experience, not setting a timetable for every church.

What mistakes did he warn against?

Being too idealistic about expansion and being unclear about the model, allocation of resources and personnel, and the balance between centralisation and autonomy.

What was a major headache in his context?

Managing expectations about access to the senior pastor across three smaller congregations. Rohan said those expectations needed to be communicated clearly from the start.