Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work

Praise for BETTER TOGETHER

"Better Together is certain to become the standard reference for churches that see mergers as a strategic tool for kingdom impact. Tomberlin and Bird give us useful language, a helpful guide to the opportunities and challenges of church mergers, and the tools to navigate a successful merger."
Andy Stanley, senior pastor, North Point Ministries, Alpharetta, Georgia

"As part of the Ginghamsburg team that engineered a merger to create a ′new,′ thriving, urban congregation, I deeply appreciate the information, inspiration, and practical toolkit in Better Together. It will help your church navigate the pitfalls and potholes that we had to discover the hard way."
Karen Smith, executive director, Missional Operations, Ginghamsburg Church, Tipp City, Ohio

"Better Together will become the go–to book on how to do mergers well the kind of mergers that are about multiplication more than subtraction and expansion more than elimination. Jim Tomberlin and Warren Bird provide invaluable help through research, great examples, practical guidance, and helpful language."
Ed Stetzer, president, LifeWay Research; author and blogger, edstetzer.com

"As Mars Hill expands, we are experiencing exactly what Tomberlin and Bird are reporting multisite churches have an opportunity to merge with existing churches to multiply gospel effectiveness. This is a very timely and helpful book for our church and many others."
Mark Driscoll, founding pastor, Mars Hill Church; founder, Resurgence; co–founder, Acts 29 Church Planting Network

"Jim Tomberlin and Warren Bird are on the front lines of a church world changing so rapidly most of us have a hard time keeping up. Better Together is the best kind of work: based on real–life facts, marked by thoughtful interpretation, and filled with a vision for the beauty and flourishing of the church. This book could open untold doors for your church and ministry."
John Ortberg, senior pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church; author, The Me I Want to Be

Foreword xiii
Craig Groeschel

Preface xv

Part One: The New Merger Landscape 1

1. God Is Doing Something New: Biblical Basis for Mergers 3

2. Four Models for Healthy Mergers 21

3. Missional, Multisite, Multiethnic, and Other Merger Motives 35

Part Two: How Healthy Church Mergers Work 61

4. Stages and Speed of a Merger 63

5. How to Measure Success 77

6. Why Mergers Fail 91

7. Financial and Legal Aspects of a Merger 105

8. Personnel Changes 117

Part Three: Your Next Steps 127

9. Determining Whether Your Church Is a Good Merger Candidate 129

10. How to Start the Merger Conversation 149

11. Self–Assessment for Merger Readiness 161

12. Exercise: Identifying Your Merger Issues 167

13. Managing Pain and Change 177

14. Where Do You Go from Here? 187

Appendixes

A. Merger Process Checklist 195

B. Example of Merger Issues to Resolve 198

C. FAQs Example from Bethany Sun Valley Churches 206

D. FAQs Example from Ginghamsburg Church 216

E. FAQs Example from Woodside Bible Church 220

F . FAQs on Preparing for a Merger Vote 223

G. Churches Named 225

H. Merger Research 229

Acknowledgments 231

Notes 233

The Authors 241

Index 243

Jim Tomberlin, Th.M., is an ordained minister who has served in a variety of ministries, including pioneering the multisite strategy at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. He is the founder of MultiSite Solutions, devoted to multisite and merger consultation.

Warren Bird, Ph.D., an ordained minister, is the research director at Leadership Network. He has conducted numerous interviews and surveys on topics of church restarts, church planting, multisites, and mergers, and is the coauthor of twenty–three books including Culture Shift, Viral Churches, and The Other 80 Percent, all from Jossey–Bass.