Who Does This?
Many circumstances lead churches to consider a merger or consolidation. Sometimes a church has weakened from its historical posture but still desires to maximize its potential by leveraging assets towards the success of a church plant or another compatible church ministry. Other times we see two churches in similar positions recognizing that they could truly be better together, if only they would consolidate. In other contexts we find stronger churches who are seeking to help preserve the original mission of declining congregations by making a merger option available to them. Whatever your circumstance, the truth is that mergers and consolidations represent new Kingdom opportunities! However, for the sake of clarity, it is important to understand the basics of what legally occurs in mergers and consolidations.
mergers
Church mergers occur when one church legally dissolves and transfers all of its assets, energies, and desiring members into the life and mission of an existing church. Mergers often occur when one church is in a strong posture to honorably absorb and incorporate a desiring church into its life and ministry.
Consolidations
Church consolidations occur when two churches agree to first, incorporate one completely new entity and secondly, to legally dissolve the two churches while transferring their assets, energies, and desiring members into the life and mission of the newly formed church. Consolidations often occur when there is a need to maintain an authentic sense of equity between two compatible churches desiring to unite their ministry efforts and resources.
What We do
From A to Z, we will facilitate you through your consolidation or merger process. Taking your specific situation into account, we facilitate the merger or consolidation process through these specific stages:
- CONSULTATION: Initial consultation to establish milestones and a realistic timeline.
- STRATEGIC PLAN: Facilitation of a strategic planning process to give clarity for your church's post-merger or post-consolidation ministry. This process produces many components necessary for the revising and/or creation of church articles and bylaws.
- INCORPORATION: In the context of a consolidation we will facilitate the legal incorporation of a new church, including the creation of new articles of incorporation and bylaws.
- DISSOLUTION: Facilitation of the legal dissolution process and transfer of assets into the new or existing church.
- COMMUNICATION: Creation and execution of a church and community communication plan which may include the creation of new digital graphics, communication pieces, and a new website.
- PASTORAL SEARCH: In the event that a new pastor is necessary, we strategically incorporate our pastoral search components into the process so as to reduce redundancy and expedite desired outcomes.
- OUTCOMES-DRIVEN SCHEDULE: Our payment schedule is outcome driven. Payments are made according the completion of defined objectives.