Well, there are very real difficulties in merging churches. What would motivate us to work through these problems and actually have a merger? First, we address the practical considerations. There are many.
- As economists like to say, there are certain economies of scale. A larger church can hire a pulpit minister and a youth minister for less money than the two churches were spending on two pulpit ministers. The members are better served and the leftover money can be applied to other ministries.
- Larger churches can use their talent more efficiently. The best teachers teach. The best leaders lead. The best song leader leads singing. The overall quality of the church’s ministries increase.
- Teens, college students, and singles can enjoy larger fellowship communities. Young people are greatly encouraged when they have more friends at church.
- The singing is better.
- The church will be more likely have the resources to take on more ministries. A larger church can better support a clothing, literacy, or food distribution ministry. A larger church will be more likely to have the leadership needed to run these ministries.
- Talent is better used. A man capable of being an elder for a 500-member church won’t be wasted on a 100-member church. A woman capable of managing a preschool won’t be limited to teaching nursery.
- In short, as a church becomes larger, talents and resources that would have been used to serve the members can be rededicated to serving the lost and the needy.
Go to any town with scores of Churches of Christ–a Nashville or a Dallas. Seek out the most effective ministries to the lost and the needy. Almost all will be headquartered at a larger church. The small churches aren’t bad, uncaring people, but their small-scale operations suck all the resources the churches have into internal service. Size really and truly makes a huge difference in how effectively we can be salt and light.
