Learn About Church Resources Without Investing Too Much Of Your Time

Church Doctrine - The human body of Christ is great and also within the Christian faith there is a lot of diversity in beliefs, practices and cultural norms. A lot of the differences don't have anything to do with the deity of Jesus but you will discover doctrinal differences that sometimes creates conflict. For instance, how does each church view controversial issues for example abortion, gay marriage, or gifts of the spirit? Being on the exact same page doctrinally is actually important.

Church Culture - visit the following site culture of a church dictates social norms. Blending two different cultures can sometimes create conflict because social norms, even slightly different, can affect how a church community makes decisions, communicates and behaves. Questions to ask may be, will the church be contemporary or conservative? What will the worship experience like? Are there different demographic audiences? These kinds of differences may be a source of conflict making it important to define the culture ahead of the merger.

Church Governance - Governance over the merged churches should be considered and rewriting bylaws and articles of incorporation should be specifically considered. Questions to ask could possibly be, how will the two governing boards merge, how will leadership roles be determined, what will the new hierarchy look like? Figuring out the governing model will greatly influence the merger and set the leadership direction and decision making authority for the church.

Church Assets - Both churches should consider if there will be an overall total merger of all assets or if perhaps each maintains their very own financial identify. There may be problems with either scenario but coming to terms on how assets will be handled is necessary. This step would require bringing in outside help to objectively assess and value assets.

Church Mission and Vision - Individuals that are called into ministry are operating out of a vision and mission from God. This mission provides the specific direction for what the church is to do, who they are to reach and the approach to spreading the gospel. Just because visions are different will not make one right and one wrong but it does create a tension for which mission will be followed when the two churches join together.

Church Leadership - It is necessary to ascertain who will assume leadership of the joined churches. Someone has to take lead responsibility and determining who that can be and exactly what the role of others will be is definitely an important discussion. Volunteer leadership must also be considered. If there are strong leaders in the volunteer realm, how will those positions be considered and how do you decide who takes lead? Basically what will the new selection process appear like and who will become the identified leader.

Employee Compensation - Merging compensation models is always a source of tension in a merger. It should be determined before the merger precisely what the combined approach will be for compensation and benefits of church employees. Using a third party to wade through issues can provide some objectivity through best practices.

Church Communication - The way church communication is handled is a cultural thing and determining an decided upon communication process is critical to smooth operations. How a church culture communicates may differ substantially so take the church communication process under consideration while you sort through issues.

Church Vote - Do church members get a vote within this, or is this a board decision? This certainly will be considered very carefully because you want to bring everybody on board and do not want to lose members during the process. You'll need to do not forget that those who support a church often feel like they should have a say in major decisions. Having a process to go over and debate with members may be culturally healthy and worth the time investment.

Church Location - Will the churches move to one or even the other campus or will the 2 churches combine assets and move to a completely new campus? What could be the place requirement of the joined congregations and would either of the present church campuses meet those needs? Will moving to a new campus result in losing church members because of distance? Are both groups in agreement on resource allocations to facilitates? For example is a designated youth facility an investment both parties want to make?

You will discover definite pros and cons to both small or large churches. Small churches allow the pastor to learn the congregants well and is able to shepherd them on an individual basis. Larger churches have more resources that will provide programs and services that might not be able to be funded by a small church. Either way - time, consideration, counsel and lots of prayer should go in to a major decision for example a merger between two churches.