7 Reasons Struggling Churches Wrestle with Congregational Mergers

More and more struggling churches are hearing about the possibility of “merging” with a healthier church in order to maintain a ministry in their given location. Sometimes it’s the unhealthy church that initiates the conversation, but it’s often the healthier church that takes the initiative. The process leads to a merger that one church consultant has called an “absorption,” where the struggling (often smaller) church is absorbed into the culture of the healthier one.*

I believe that mergers are a genuine option to help us reach North America, especially when at least 65% of churches are in decline.** On the other hand, I do understand why struggling churches may wrestle with this concept:

1. Merging feels like admitting defeat. It feels like the congregation is saying, “We can’t make it on our own any longer. It’s time to surrender to somebody else’s leadership.”
2. It feels like a loss of identity. Many struggling churches are older churches with long traditions and histories. Especially if a merger includes a change of church name, the struggling congregation feels like they might lose themselves in the process.
3. It feels like a loss of control. Indeed, this concern is often honest, albeit misguided. A congregation that merges must be willing to welcome new ideas, new structures, and new people into leadership roles.
4. It feels like just another “big church takeover.” Regrettably, some struggling congregations begin to look askance at larger, growing churches—especially if some of their members have moved to the larger church. For some, it feels like the larger church makes the offer to help “just because they want to build their own kingdom.”
5. Most of us just don’t like change. That’s particularly the case if the congregation is older, as if often the case in struggling churches. Their church has become their “safe” place in their old age, even if it’s in decline.
6. The congregation fails to see a merger as a Great Commission move.  If they’re interested at all in merging, it’s often with a “We want to survive, but we don’t really plan to change anything” attitude. They don’t—and it’s sometimes because the healthier church fails to present a clear, Great Commission vision—see a merger as a good move to reach others.
7. The healthier church sometimes handles the process poorly. They move too quickly at times and fail to recognize the potential emotional toll on the struggling church. They fail to cast a vision for reaching the community. They appear to see the merger as more the acquisition of a building and property than the support of a sister congregation.

This latter point is most important to me, in fact. Mergers are a legitimate option, but leading a struggling church in that direction often takes time, patience, and shepherding. For those who’ve done a merger, let us know what you’ve learned.  

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*David Raymond, in Gail Irwin, Toward the Better Country: Church Closure and Resurrection(p. 92). Resource Publications – An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

**https://thomrainer.com/2017/06/dispelling-80-percent-myth-declining-churches/