Better Together Making Church Mergers Work

by Tomberlin, Jim; Bird, Warren; Groseschel, Craig

• ISBN13: 9781118131305
• ISBN10: 1118131304
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-24
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

The problem of decline in thousands of small Protestant churches perplexes not only pastors of those congregations but also denominational leaders who often make the assumption that the only course of action is to close them. Church merger consultant Jim Tomberlin (with co-writer Warren Bird) makes the case that there are a number of alternatives to closure, particularly mergers, restarts, and other forms of renewal. In this new book, they provide a complete, practical, hands-on guide for church leaders at all levels so that they can understand the issues, develop strategies, and execute a variety of forms of merger and renewal to reinvigorate declining churches and give them a "second life."

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

About the Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series	p. xi
Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
The New Merger Landscape	p. 1
God Is Doing Something New: Biblical Basis for Mergers	p. 3
Four Models for Healthy Mergers	p. 21
Missional, Multisite, Multiethnic, and Other Merger Motives	p. 35
How Healthy Church Mergers Work	p. 61
Stages and Speed of a Merger	p. 63
How to Measure Success	p. 77
Why Mergers Fail	p. 91
Financial and Legal Aspects of a Merger	p. 105
Personnel Changes	p. 117
Your Next Steps	p. 127
Determining Whether Your Church Is a Good Merger Candidate	p. 129
How to Start the Merger Conversation	p. 149
Self-Assessment for Merger Readiness	p. 161
Exercise: Identifying Your Merger Issues	p. 167
Managing Pain and Change	p. 177
Where Do You Go from Here?	p. 187
Appendixes
Merger Process Checklist	p. 195
Example of Merger Issues to Resolve	p. 198
FAQs Example from Bethany-Sun Valley Churches	p. 206
FAQs Example from Ginghamsburg Church	p. 216
FAQs Example from Woodside Bible Church	p. 220
FAQs on Preparing for a Merger Vote	p. 223
Churches Named	p. 225
Merger Research	p. 229
Acknowledgments	p. 231
Notes	p. 233
The Authors	p. 241
Index	p. 243
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