Let’s go inside two different mergers. One looks through the eyes of the joining church, exploring what led up to starting the merger conversation, what issues they needed to work through, what they feared and hoped, and how the merger went. A second case study looks through the eyes of the lead church: How did they staff for it? How did they guide their congregation through it? How did they help the joining church feel valued and honored?

In both studies we’ll address issues from finances to culture to growth and serial mergers. Plus we’ll field lots of audience Q&A. This will be a great learning adventure!

Learn pitfalls to avoid and leverage good ideas. Church mergers are happening left and right. Did you know that church planters are finding welcome homes in merger churches? That 40% of multisite campuses come through a merger? That healthy mergers are working in many other ways, such as pastoral succession strategies and denominational revitalization/replant strategies? We’re convinced God is up to something, and we’d love to hear your take on it.

Slide Deck

Warren Bird, Ph.D., researches cutting-edge churches and works with their leaders to multiply their evangelistic and disciplemaking impact. He is widely recognized as among the nation’s leading students, researchers and writers about megachurches. He has authored or co-authored over 30 books, receiving several awards along the way. For example, he received the prestigious Gold Medallion Award, the top honor given by the international trade association for Christian publishers. He has also contributed collaborative chapters or sections to 7 other books. He has published almost 200 magazine articles and more than 30 major research reports. He has served on advisory boards for several magazines and several other book projects. Today he is Vice President of Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit designed to enhance trust and certify integrity in Christ-centered churches and ministries.

Jim Tomberlin and MultiSite Solutions have assisted hundreds of churches in multiplying their impact through intensive multisite, church merger and multiplication consultation. Over four decades of diverse ministry, Jim has pastored a church in Germany, grown a megachurch in Colorado and pioneered the multisite strategy for Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. Since 2005 he has been consulting and coaching churches in developing and implementing multi-congregation strategies. In 2019 Jim merged MultiSite Solutions with Tony Morgan and The Unstuck Group to expand its capacity to assist more churches.