Beating the Odds

This fall Christians won a great victory for good government and liberal values. But no one expressed it in those terms. In the media it was painted as a victory for the repressive moralism of the Religious Right.

East Valley Bible Church was already a megachurch. Praxis Church was headed in the same direction. But last year, pastors Tyler Johnson and Justin Anderson agreed to merge their thriving congregations in order to better reach the Phoenix area.

Today attendance at four campuses of Redemption Church—which accepted a third partner in January—is nearly 4,800, a 14 percent increase over pre-merger days for all three churches combined.

"This was born out of the idea of having a city church, like the church at Ephesus or the church at Philippi," said Anderson, Redemption's lead pastor. "We asked, 'What would be the advantage of 100 churches in Phoenix partnering together for church planting, sharing staff … and [providing] lay training?' "

A new report from Leadership Network verifies that such mission-driven church mergers are a growing trend. Two percent of churches have merged in the last two years and five percent are likely to by 2013.

Jim Tomberlin and Warren Bird, who surveyed more than 400 churches earlier this year, say mergers have been on the rise in the U.S. and Canada for 20 years. Mergers have combined churches of different sizes, denominations, and ethnicities. Last October, an African American congregation in Missouri merged with a fading white church, preserving the latter's name.

Traditional survival-based mergers by dwindling churches often see the combined congregation ultimately shrink again. But the mission-driven model spurs additional growth, said Tomberlin, a multi-site consultant from Scottsdale, Arizona.

"The new merger math is one and one equals ten," he said. "There's a synergy about it."

Multi-site churches are a key part of this movement, with one in three originating from a merger. However, Bird says the new trend has more significance and the potential to affect far more churches.

"The multi-side model is a tool for the 20 percent of healthy, growing churches in America," said Bird, research director at Leadership Network. "The merger model is a tool for them and the remaining 80 percent of stuck or declining churches."

The October 2010 merger of Washington Heights Church in Ogden, Utah, and suburban Salt Lake City's Bountiful Baptist has proved beneficial to both, said lead pastor Roy Gruber. Not only has Washington Heights' attendance jumped more than 10 percent, attendance at Bountiful had nearly quadrupled by mid-summer.

"[Bountiful] had a heart for their community since the 1960s but were struggling," said Gruber. "There's an opportunity to reach more people through this."

Growth isn't a given. Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas remains at 600 worshipers three years after merging with a Hispanic church. However, it has since started a campus in nearby Conway. Last February, it also brought a struggling church from Durham, North Carolina, into the fold.

Directional leader Mark DeYmaz said the merged operation offers increased credibility, a broader identity, and financial efficiency.

"It's giving more people a chance to see our vision," DeYmaz said. "We're interested in helping churches and in expanding the multiethnic church movement."

Mergers can present challenges. Although Eagle Brook Church has seen considerable growth since its December 2007 merger with a fading church in suburban Minneapolis, discussions with two dozen other potential partners fizzled.

"Merger—when it works—is a great option," said executive pastor Scott Anderson. "But I do think people are a little naïve about what's involved. It's easier to raise money [for a new church] than to blend two cultures. It's a challenge."

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Related Elsewhere:

Previous articles on multisite churches and church life include:



| Megachurches expand across state lines. (June 27, 2011)





| Church leaders and observers weigh in on a current debate. (September 29, 2011)





| Joel Hunter is known by many as part of President Obama's inner circle of pastors. Fewer know him as one of America's most innovative church planters. (September 16, 2009)





| Satellite churches are discovering a new way to grow the body of Christ. (October 31, 2005)

Washington Post: It’s a way of saying, “You want better schools but you don’t want to pay for them? No problem, we’ll get the poor folk to pay your freight.”Though outspent four to one, the churches prevailed and voters rejected the lottery plan—an astonishing victory.Two days later, South Carolina’s high court handed the gambling industry another defeat, declaring a proposed state wide referendum on video poker unconstitutional. The ruling leaves intact a law prohibiting the game as of July 1, 2000. This in a state where last November then-Governor David Beasley, a Christian, was ousted precisely because of his firm opposition to gambling. Again, it was churches that helped turn public opinion.Until now, the gambling juggernaut seemed unstoppable. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia already have lotteries. But Christians are turning the tide—taking a stand for the poor against lawmakers looking for easy sources of revenue.Yet no one is thanking believers for their humanitarian stand. Consider the irony: Here is the government, essentially breaking the liberal social contract—the agreement by which the people submit to being governed, in trust that those who govern them will act in their benefit. In stead, the government is actively seeking to legitimize a vice that destroys people and wrecks homes. (A Gamblers Anonymous survey found that 44 percent had stolen from work to support gambling debts; 34 percent had lost or quit a job; 26 percent had divorced or separated; 21 percent had filed for bankruptcy; 18 percent had gambling-related arrests.) For government to encourage—and even profit by—such self-destructive behavior is, as Kelly puts it, “a profound betrayal of every liberal value there ever was.”On the other side are the churches, staunchly defending the liberal social contract. “The forces of good government in Alabama,” Kelly writes, “were the armies of the church.” Yet in media reports, Christians were typically portrayed negatively: “A great victory for liberal values was presented … as a great victory for the dogmatists of the Christian Right.”Throughout history, churches have carried on a tradition of working for the social good. They have built orphanages and hospitals, founded schools, worked to outlaw slavery, ministered to prisoners. They have, in short, helped build liberal societies. Yet the stereotype persists of Christians as repressive and illiberal.Our apologetic task is to show that Christian principles are precisely what produce a humane liberal society. And today, we can adduce data from social science to back up our argument. Consider the recent book Why America Needs Religion, by Guenter Lewy. Interestingly, Lewy is not a Christian, and he set out to write a book on why America doesn’t need religion. Yet his research found that Christianity has historically been a strong support for human dignity and social justice. And today, Christians exhibit measurably lower rates of out-of-wedlock births, juvenile delinquency, adult crime, and other “indicators of moral failure and social ills.” Though remaining a nonbeliever, Lewy concluded that Christianity is vital to creating a healthy, humane society.This should be Christians’ motivation for seeking reform in the public arena: Objective evidence shows that living by biblical principles makes people happier and healthier. Christians are called to be agents not only of God’s saving grace, for redemption, but also of his common grace, for establishing a just and humane social order—one that reflects the great liberal ideals.Contrary to those who say we have lost “the culture war,” the truth is, that when we make our case well, we can persuade our secular neighbors that the principles we espouse truly are the foundation for a humane society.Related ElsewhereSee our earlier coverage of the Alabama gambling referendum, “An Education Gamble | After defeating an Alabama lottery-for-schools plan, Christians ponder how to improve public education” (Nov. 10, 1999).Yesterday we ran a review of Colson’s latest book, How Now Shall We Live?Charles Colson’s earlier columns include:

• Scout’s Dishonor, November 15, 1999
• What Are We Doing Here?, October 4, 1999
• How Evil Became Cool, August 9, 1999
• Does Kosovo Pass the Just-War Test?, May 24, 1999
• Why We Should Be Hopeful, April 26, 1999
• Moral Education After Monica, March 1, 1999
• The Sky Isn’t Falling, January 11, 1999
• Poster Boy for Postmodernism, November 16, 1998
• Evangelicals Are Not an Interest Group, October 5, 1998
• The Devil in the DNA, August 10, 1998
• The Oxford Prophet, June 15, 1998
• Why Fidelity Matters, April 27, 1998
• Do We Love Coke More Than Justice?, March 2, 1998
• Madison Avenue’s Spiritual Chic, January 12, 1998
• Colson Archives

Colson’s daily radio program, Breakpoint, is also available online.January 10, 2000, Vol. 44, No. 1, Page 96

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