Merging Churches: Does Religion Make Integration Any Easier?

I read the story a few days ago in the Rochester Post-Bulletin: “Dwindling Rural Congregations Consider Merger.”

The article tells how three small Lutheran churches in Minnesota farm country are trying to cope with their shrinking membership. Consolidation seemed to make sense. You know, share a pastor, merge youth groups and such, maybe save some money.  

No surprise—the church members have mixed feelings. Some people fear the change will cause their particular church to lose its identity. Meanwhile, others are excited about joining up with a larger church. So, as usual, some folks readily embrace the change, others resist, and I suspect quite a few are sitting on the fence.

I also noted some of the typical misconceptions as people spoke about integrating the three congregations—e.g., “I don’t think we’ll feel different. No one has to give up anything.” . . . “Each church will continue to maintain its own programs.”

Yeah, sure. How many times have I heard those lines in my 30+ years of consulting on M&A?

I can pretty much promise you this:

• Even though all three churches are small, Lutheran, and even located in the same county, they will have distinct cultural differences.
• An integrated congregation will feel different . . . because it is different.
• It may be subtle, but essentially everyone will give up something.

Religious doctrine, prayer, or devout faith notwithstanding, church mergers produce more or less the same organizational dynamics found in corporate mergers. Why? Because they’re both populated with human beings, and human nature comes into play.

Now, having said all this, I’m not arguing against merging the churches. Sounds to me like it makes sense. I’m just saying the people should be expecting change, and the pastors should focus on preparing their members to deal with it.

My biggest concern is that the merger is born out of weakness, and that’s usually a high-risk strategy. Combining failures rarely creates success.

But let’s look at the bright side. Consolidating three Lutheran churches should come a lot easier than, say, acquiring some Methodists.