At the Church AGM we introduced the possibility of a merger with Halswell Baptist for the sake of what we could do together in mission in south west Christchurch. On Tuesday night we had a follow-up meeting at Halswell. We decided to give a weekly update to both churches so everyone is aware of progress. Below is the first of these updates
Discussions with Halswell Baptist
After the affirming church meetings at Halswell and Spreydon we have begun investigating what the ‘two church’s becoming one’ would actually look like. On Tuesday night this week we had a meeting of the Halswell elders and pastors and a small group of Spreydon pastors and elders to look at the next steps. This was a great conversation in which a process to move forward on was discussed as below.
We are considering a mission-inspired merger in which the two churches become one church. Because this is a mission-inspired merger the key questions we need to keep in mind are:
· Could we accomplish more together than separately?
· Would our community be better served?
· Could the Kingdom of God be further extended by our merger?
Looking ahead we saw four phases in the journey ahead each has an anticipated time frame alongside them.
NEGOTIATION - May-Nov 2012
During this phase we will have thorough discussions about all aspects of becoming one. For example what will this mean for services, for global mission support, for the children’s programmes etc. This will involve a number of key meetings with ministry leaders, elders and staff. Information of the progress of these meetings will be updated each week.
IMPLEMENTATION - Nov 2012 -Feb 2012
Having investigated all the implications of ‘becoming one church’ a recommendation to merge, is brought to the two churches and after deliberating and praying a church vote is taken.
The key in this phase is establishing the post-merger leadership and integration process before the merger is approved.
Through-out the negotiation and implementation phases either church can stop the discussions at any point.
CONSOLIDATION - Feb - April 2013
The two churches become one in an inaugural joint service. The new chapter for both congregations does not begin with a question, but a statement, ‘we’re doing it!’
INTEGRATION - April -Oct 2013
This phase is like a marriage as the two congregations begin the hard work of learning how to live as one church. It is the move through the ‘yours, mine to ours’ phase.
