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Merging Tips
LifeChurch.tv has successfully partnered with several churches. I’ll offer some ideas based on my experience. Obviously, some will disagree with my thoughts. As always, we’ll be polite in our discussion.
If your church is considering joining forces with another, here are a few thoughts:
- Two struggling churches that combine don’t make a strong church. One might logically think joining two hurting churches should make for one strong one. This is rarely the case. It generally takes a strong church to lead through the necessary changes of a weaker one.
- “Merging” is the polite term, but probably not accurate. I prefer to call the partnership an adoption. It is my firm belief that one church should willingly and passionately submit to the leadership of another.
- A drawn out investigation process rarely works. If the leaders of two churches believe it is God’s will to unite, I strongly suggest working toward it sooner rather than later. (Our first and biggest partnership took 30 days from the first phone call to the church vote.) No one should unnecessarily rush, but sloppy delays can create challenges. The longer the process drags out, the more likely both ministries will suffer from distractions and the chances of disagreement increase.
What are your thoughts, comments, or questions?
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I like what you have to say Craig even though we are currently not in the “merger mode.” However, one thing you said really stood out to me. It was the comment on the leaders of the two churches. What an awesome thought to think of leaders from two churches in the same town getting together to talk about adoption. The unfortunate part of that is that it will more likely happen in a larger city than in a small town of 3000 (like where I pastor). The biggest roadblock that I see are the egos of the leaders-pastors, elders, deacons, etc. What a tremendous testimony when one says, “We will submit to this idea and allow you to adopt us because it is for the good of the Kingdom.” A major, major move of God would have to happen here in this community for that to happen. The pastor of the church we split from and I were on great terms and often went out to eat but when he suggested they allow us to use their unused worship center, it was his nail in the coffin. Sad but true. Thanks for posting this tough stuff. Reckon I need to go check on my ego and ask if I could do this.
Going with Craig’s last point, in my case, it was so clear from God that delayed obedience would have been disobedience.
I’m pastoring a struggling church. I wish there was a strong church in our area that would “adopt” us… as long as they’d give me a job that is! :)
I have to agree the ‘merging’ word is a little misleading. I was there in Wellington when we went through our ‘adoption’ process and I must say that this is a much better word to use. And probably like adoption it is taxing for both sides if the process gets dragged out or, God forbid, a third party gets involved.
Bill, I understand what you are saying about egos. Although I’m not sure they are any less of an issue in larger cities.
Like the adoption word myself, never heard it put that way…there can only be one leader…if not, there is stress at every level with lots of casualties…maybe your next book should be about CHURCH ADOPTION :)
Craig, I couldn’t agree more….I think wording is KEY, this past Sunday was our first weekend experience after the adoption and i spent a lot of time with our staff just working on wording…in these transitions people grab on to every word. We were careful to make sure NO ONE felt like a visitor because we didn’t want to discredit all they had done in the past. It took us one month and it wasn’t a huge church we adopted but they had 150 people a building and 12 years of history. I think it’s important for us to remember not every good idea is the right idea and there’s something to be said about God melting the hearts of two bodies together….if it’s a struggle maybe it’s just a good idea not the right one…..
My name is Todd Roy and I am a Regional Campus Pastor at LifeChurch.tv. I have the privilege of having direct oversight of four out of the five “adoptions” that have occured here. This allows me the opportunity to see trends and similarities among the campuses. Its exciting to see all of the synergy and passion that can result from these relationships but they arent without cautions. Here are a few tips to think about:
1. Culture, Culture, Culture- Never underestimate the time it will take to merge two existing cultures regardless of how close they initially seem to be. This is huge because you can obtain a suface based success while simultaneously having a storm brewing just under the surface. There needs to be a prevailing culture with clear distinctives that both churches agree to in the beginning. LifeChurch.tv has some of the clearest cultural distictives I know and it still can be a struggle so beware!
2. The “Vote” is only the first of many tough leadership decisions. Some pastors falsely believe that if they can just get through the official vote to merge then life is sweet on the other side. The truth is that there will be some who will vote for the merge but will be unable to make the cultural adjustments necessary to lead in the new environment. Its a fact that you will have to ask some people to leave after they were your biggest allies and supporters during the actual merger/adoption. Talk about tough!
3. Wait out the Wash- Some of those in the beginning who are for the merger will leave two or three months later and those who hated the merge and left will return two or three months later. We have even seen people who left for a year return and being completely sold out to the new vision. Dont spend a lot of leadership energy trying to “manage the wash”. You will find yourself chasing undecided people all over the city and that will drain needed leadership enery. Change is external and transition is internal. People need time to transition through these types of changes and many will return. My experience is that the wash takes about 12-18 months. It was once said that you have enough tears to cry for those who are walking towards you or those walking away from you but not enough for both.
I look forward to sharing more this week on a great topic! The benefits of such relationships can change cities! Don’t hesitate to give me a shout if I can help out in anyway.
Josh and Todd thanks for some great thoughts.
Wow! This is really good stuff! I appreciate the post and am so glad to glean from everyone’s experience. This will really help me in the future. Thanks!
These thoughts come from lessons learned. Being a part of a church that was “adopted” by Lifechurch.tv, I’ve seen how these words of wisdom are so true!
Craig, It’s awesome for you to share your experiences in this area so others can benefit from what you and your team have already figured out!
Craig,
Unbelievable timing. I just told our team that we needed to travel to OKC and sit down with someone on your staff to get advice on church mergers. We have a couple of “opportunities” before us and this is great stuff. — We still may need to take a trip. Thanks for the insight.
Craig, I’d love to see you “adopt” a church north of DFW! Fort Worth is too far for me to drive every week.
Todd, Thanks for jumping in and offering super valuable wisdom!
TXmom, Maybe one day…
MRB and Mandi, I am so glad this is helpful discussion for you both.
Pastors are the reason why merging churches is so hard. Issues of power and control get in our way. I am currently in discussions with another church about doing this and “fear” becomes greater than “love”. Pray for us that we can overcome the fear and make Kingdom decisions by faith.
Is it possible to adopt another church while still maintaining some individuality of each through a multi-site venue? We are a new church plant in one town that feels led to plant three churches in three years. They will be in three separate but adjoining counties. I’ve never done this before, but know that its God’s will. The issue is, I’m not sold yet on whether to start two completely new churches or to try to adopt some other church plants. Comments???
I agree with Craig’s sooner-rather-than-later admonition; however a drawn-out investigation process may sometimes be inevitable. When my senior pastor and I (along with our wives) visited LifeChurch.tv for the first time, we all came away with an unmistakable calling to “merge.” As an elder, I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was at the prospect of being part of a church that would really make a difference in our corner of the world.
I came back home and put together a presentation for the other elders during our next meeting. I did the whole Internet campus live video feed to my big-screen TV thing, had the bullet points ready, and had polished my LifeChurch.tv spiel to a high sheen. After all was said and done, they looked at me like cows at a passing train. These other elders were unbelievable men of God, so how could I have possibly missed His voice on this one?
It turns out that I didn’t mistake His calling, but God wanted me to get out of the way and let Him drive. I grudgingly submitted, and three months later–through a series of remarkable events too long to recap on this blog–LifeChurch.tv popped up on the radar again. This time, the question was brought to the elder team with simple humility–rather than polish and glitz–and with one visit to OKC we had unanimous confirmation that this was what God wanted us to do.
Chris (Stevens),
I am the branch church overseer for Cedar Park Church in Metro Seattle. We have adopted several smaller struggling congregations and allowed them to keep their unique culture, buildings, identity (in varying degrees) and leadership in some cases. Most (but not all) of the branches saw immediate growth and increasing health when they became a part of what we call a “Cathedral Church.” It is not the typical multi-site model in which a large church seeks to replicate its culture and style and spread its influence at different locations. However, the Cathedral approach works great for a smaller church that wants the support and benefits of a larger church while retaining its unique identity and culture. Visit cedarpark.org for a description.
im apastor of achuch 12 years old with 10 members decided to merge to a small church to who is my spiritual parents please advice me in merging like this 2 church name in 1 building my member and even me is to maintain the name of our church yhay god given and also how about the tithes of my churh please advice me because my members are questioning me
I need help my father church is in process of thiking of a adoption. but havnt goten it together. if some one have close on there adotion . please give me some advice to help them.