I was asked what I think about the upswing in the trend of church mergers. I first responded with a question of my own:
"Do you want the real answer or the nice one?"
To his credit he asked for the real one and I gave it. You didn't ask, but here is my real answer...
"Merger" is a business term where two separate corporations consolidate all their assets to form one single and larger organization. Usually, this strategy is driven by greed-for money, influence and greater control of a market.
I mentioned to him that this is actually a symptom of a very serious affliction in the kingdom of God-the view of church as a business. The thinking behind a merger is that the church is a business with assets, employees, a board of directors and a commodity it offers to its constituents.
This understanding of church is so prevalent that I imagine right now many are reading that last sentence and thinking it is a true description of what their church is today. Friends, that is how far removed we are from the New Testament.
Delving further into a false paradigm in an attempt to do it better is a bad idea. Why would you....
