Deciding Factors for a Sound Merger

A church merger involves a complex legal strategy. But the presence of complexity should not steer leaders away from it. Bill Gates, addressing the 2007 graduating class at Harvard University, noted complexity—not apathy—represents the true barrier to lasting change. “To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact,” he said. “But the complexity blocks all three steps.”

Similarly, church leaders who care about the future of their church, and who see emerging challenges confronting it—whether an aging membership, shifting demographics in the surrounding community, diminishing revenues, and/or dilapidating facilities—may see a merger as a fruitful solution with potential long-term and lasting impact.

That means they must embrace the complexity that comes with a merger. Since the window of opportunity for ...