CHURCH MERGERS

Factors Contributing to
Success or Failure in Church Mergers

by the Rev Dr Richard Laribee

- What questions should we ask before considering a church merger?

- When is church merger appropriate for congregations?

- What are the goals of an effective church merger?

- When are church mergers counter-productive?

- How are effective church mergers planned?

 

CHURCH MERGERS

Factors Contributing to
Success or Failure in Church Mergers

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
 
I. HISTORICAL SETTING
  • An Impending Flood of Congregational Mergers?
  • Congregational Mergers: Federated Churches
  • Congregational Mergers: Full Union
  • Mergers of Christian Denominations
  • Mergers of Academic Institutions
  • Mergers of Business Corporations
II. CASE STUDIES
  • Case A: Merger of Two Denominationally Different Churches
  • Case B: Merger of Two Denominationally Identical Churches
  • Case C: Merger of Two Denominationally Similar Churches
  • Case D: Merger of Three Denominationally Identical Churches
  • Case E: Merger of Two Non-denominational Churches
III: WHY CHURCH MERGERS SUCCEED OR FAIL
  • Defining Church Merger Success
  • Defining Church Merger Failure
  • Factors Contributing to Successful Church Mergers
  • Factors Contributing to Merger Failure
  • Mixed Metaphors: Why a Church Merger is Not a Marriage
IV. BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF CHURCH MERGERS
  • Benefits Arising from Merging
  • Drawbacks Resulting from Merging
  • Evaluating Congregational Mergers for Good or Evil
V. CONSIDERING A CONGREGATIONAL MERGER
  • Are the Congregations Capable of Merger?
  • Are the Congregations Willing to Pay the High Costs?
  • Do the Benefits Outweigh the Drawbacks?
  • Consider the Alternatives
VI. HOW TO IMPLEMENT A CONGREGATIONAL MERGER
  • Stage I: Evaluate the Actual Situation and Alternatives
  • Stage II: Negotiate Every Detail of the Merger
  • Stage III: Prepare the Congregations to Merge
  • Stage IV: Execute the Merger
  • Stage V: Transition through the Merger
Endnotes
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abstract

Because half the existing North American Protestant churches average fewer than 75 at worship [ see ** Note, below ], and because two-thirds to three-fourths of existing churches are in decline, many churches see survival as their major concern. Many who seek a church merger expect to alleviate crushing financial pressures. Unfortunately, most church mergers, instead of improving the situation, produce great internal friction, confusion and disappointment, without improving the financial picture at all.

Research into denominational, academic, corporate and church mergers uncovers factors common to all mergers. These factors both contribute to church merger success or failure, and also lead to the more probable benefits and drawbacks. Five extended case studies illustrate these.

Factors contributing to church merger success include high dissatisfaction with the organization, merging at key transitional points in the organizational life cycle, displacing present leadership, and other factors. Factors contributing to church merger failure include satisfaction with the organization, organizational stability, retaining of leadership, a long institutional life, and other factors.

Benefits that church mergers can provide include displacing present ineffective leadership, taking the optimal next step in the organizational life-cycle, adding value to services provided, and acquiring hard assets at greatly reduced cost. Unfortunately, these are not the benefits that congregations generally hope to obtain, and these benefits come at a much higher financial cost than organizations anticipate, and provide a much lower and slower financial gain than expected. Worse, organizations are seldom prepared for the high, negative impact of church mergers on their constituencies and mission.

Those considering merger must evaluate whether the congregations are capable of succeeding in a merger, whether they are willing to accept the high cost of merger, both for people and the organization, whether the potential benefits truly outweigh the drawbacks, and whether the alternatives to merger have been fully explored. Those who attempt a successful congregational merger must evaluate the actual situation and its alternatives, negotiate every detail before making the final decision whether to implement, carefully prepare the congregations, initiate the church merger carefully, and manage the rough five-year transition through the stages of change.

** Note: Schaller's research included both Canada and the United States, and reported that half the existing North American Protestant churches average fewer than 75 at worship. Barna's research, limited to the United States, found that 60% of US Protestant churches numbered fewer than 100, 50% numbered fewer than 90, and the average US Protestant church numbered 89.

To order by email for individual use:

1) Click on the "Buy Now" button below. This will take you to Paypal's secure transaction site, the best way to send payments over the internet.
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CHURCH MERGERS -- HOW to ORDER

Single Copies by Email

1) Click on the "Buy Now" button below. This will take you to Paypal's secure transaction site, the best way to send payments over the internet.
 
2) In the "Payment For" box, type "Merger - individual"
 
3) In the "Amount" box, type "19.95"
 
4) Enter your payment information, and submit
 
5) As soon as Paypal confirms the transaction, we'll email the complete PDF file (usually within 24 hours). You have permission to make up one (1) paper copy for your own use.

Multiple or Unlimited Copies for Organizational Use

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  • Additional license for unlimited copies within an entire denomination: $1,000.

 
Church Merger Could Unite a Mission
By Monica Collins/Downtown Journal/Boston-Herald
Monday, March 29, 2004

On a recent weekday morning in Lent, the traditional season of sacrifice in the Catholic Church, 10 people attended Mass at St. Stephen's in Boston's North End. They heard the Rev. Vin Daly read the gospel from St. John and give a sermon about ``light, water and bread,'' the pillars of reconciliation, baptism and communion that still hold up a shaky church.

Even though his audience was tiny, Father Daly spoke with vigor and spirit, as if addressing a multitude. He has obviously grown accustomed to sermonizing to a smattering. There is never a large crowd at St. Stephen's, even on Sundays.

You might look at St. Stephen's from the outside and think the church is prospering. The historic Bulfinch building, located on the Freedom Trail, has been renovated. New gold leaf glints from its domed steeple. The work was done at state expense through a grant from the Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund. For months, a sign outside the church's front door listed various public officials - including Secretary of State William Galvin, Rep. Sal DiMasi and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino - credited with helping the rehab effort.

Inside the story isn't as pretty. St. Stephen's suffers from poor attendance and, therefore, a lack of funds. If it were part of the Boston Archdiocese, St. Stephen's would be in a precarious position. But because it is considered a missionary church - the headquarters of the St. James Society - St. Stephen's exists apart from the rest.

In early May, when Archbishop Sean O'Malley selects those churches that will shut down in a painful cost-cutting process touching nearly all of Boston's Catholics, St. Stephen's on Hanover Street will be spared.

A few blocks away, on cobbled North Square, another historic downtown church waits anxiously for O'Malley's decision. Sacred Heart, which offers Masses in Italian, has been recommended for closure after the first round of decision-making by area priests and laity. From the Sunday pulpit, the Rev. Vincenzo Rosato recently relayed the unsettling news to his small but loyal congregation.

The fate of Sacred Heart reflects the changing nature of the North End. Italian-Americans no longer dominate the demographics of the neighborhood.

Yet Father Rosato has described his church as a ``National Italian Church,'' with boundaries that extend well beyond the traditional parish borders. As a priest of the Scalabrini order, Rosato is a member of a missionary group founded to serve Italian immigrants in the United States and Canada.

Why should Sacred Heart be considered in a different state of grace than St. Stephen's? Such are the mysteries of the modern church.

No mystery is the real estate value of Sacred Heart. The church, sitting on a quiet square in a gold mine neighborhood, would fetch multimillions in the condo market. As Archbishop O'Malley makes his decisions to close parishes, money will inevitably tip the balance.

Money is seen as one crucial reason why St. Leonard of Port Maurice on Hanover Street - the most well-known church in North End - will survive. The archdiocese already sold off a piece of St. Leonard's. Last year, the parish house went for $6 million to a condo developer who gave back valuable parking spaces as well as dollars toward renovation of the rundown church.

Still, the average Mass attendance at St. Leonard's - as calculated in 2003 from archdiocese statistics - lags slightly behind St. Joseph's in the West End, another church in the downtown cluster that anxiously awaits O'Malley's decision.

The Rev. Gabriel Troy, St. Joseph's pastor, left St. Stephen's and the Society of St. James, to take over the church adjacent to Massachusetts General Hospital and Charles River Park. He describes his parishioners as ``coming and going,'' but estimates his church serves ``440 to 500'' on any given weekend.

The numbers alone do not give Troy a reprieve from worry. ``We all see our little half-acre. I hope this church stays open and I am keeping my fingers crossed, but nothing will be definite until early May,'' he says.

Troy points out the recommendation to close Sacred Heart was a preliminary one, but he says a valid reason for Sacred Heart's survival would be its mission to serve all Italian Catholics. Says Troy: ``Sacred Heart is in the hands of the Scalabrini, a religious order.''

When asked why Sacred Heart is unequal to St. Stephen's, a church also in the hands of a religious order, Father Troy concedes, ``It's very complicated.''

It's quite simple, though, to imagine Sacred Heart merging with St. Stephen's. The two North End mission churches could unite around one mission and spread the gospel of survival.

The motivations for this church merger are strong and clear.
A church merger seems the obvious solution.
But have the right questions been asked?
Read:
Factors Contributing to Success or Failure in Congregational Mergers, Church Mergers, or a Church Merger

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