Mergers and adoptions are becoming a hotbed in the Phoenix area that is bound to expand.
By Ronald E. Keener
Adoptions between churches are becoming more common. No, not the kind of adoptions that cry in the night and wet their pants.
Where mergers of two separate churches are familiar, adoptions can be somewhat different. (Two mergers were reported on in the February issue of Church Executive.) As for adoptions, one church leader says: “Traditionally the process is started and directed by the adopting family based upon their criteria and desire to adopt. After considering all of the possibilities, the family finally chooses.”
But the process for Central Christian Church in the east valley of Phoenix, and CrossPoint Church of northwest Glendale, AZ – 42 miles apart – proved counter-intuitive, says Jeff Small, executive pastor of Exalt Ministries at Central Christian, where 10,000 people worship each weekend at now four locations.
“In this case the child – CrossPoint – chose the family – Central – and we said yes,” says Small. “The distinction of adoption comes from the fact that CrossPoint is becoming Central and not a merging of the two. In a true merger two organizations meet somewhere in the middle, and a new entity is formed. This is not the case here: They are becoming a part of the Central church family.”
“Although we are always open to whatever direction God wants to lead us, we were not looking to open a campus in the West Valley, nor were we looking for churches needing help. In this case CrossPoint found us, and in the beginning our role was one of support and coaching. The adoption emerged out of that nearly two and a half-year journey. It all began when the leadership of CrossPoint wanted to find a mentor church. Initially it started with an invitation for (senior pastor) Cal Jernigan and Central’s elders to meet with their elders for advice on direction and sustainability for CrossPoint,” Small recounts.
What was it that the two churches found attractive in each other?
Tom Kopp, lead pastor at CrossPoint, which was begun in 1963 and has a weekend attendance of 800, notes that “the Glendale campus saw that Central was a church with strong leaders who were very humble and more Kingdom focused than Central focused. We were also drawn to the philosophy that sees the need for all campuses to have the same DNA while recognizing that each campus has a unique personality. We saw that Central was a church that we wanted to belong to.”
For his part, Jernigan recalls that “a few years back, when asked to consult with them, something just clicked between our leaders and theirs. There was a high ‘get it’ factor when we would talk. When they seriously asked us to consider having them become a part of Central, we began a dating process, which led to an engagement period, which culminated in a marriage.
“As each step advanced, more serious conversations would take place. We just really liked each other and found that we shared many of the same values and dreams. One thing the leaders at CrossPoint said really caught our imagination, ‘We would be a better CrossPoint if we were Central.’ What that simply meant was that by joining forces something better would happen through synergy,” Jernigan says.
Central doesn’t have a particular strategy for reaching specific numbers, says Jeff Small, but rather “our multi-site strategy is driven by our goal to reach more people with the message of the Gospel. Each of our current campuses is an opportunity that emerged along with a solution to the wonderful problem of growth.
“It may sound overly spiritual, but the strategy is simply to stay open to what the Holy Spirit is doing and prayerfully consider any opportunities God opens before us on our journey. We are not a church that has set a goal for a certain number of campuses by a certain time.”
One of the strengths at CrossPoint, says Small, is that the people on the Glendale campus have a high level of trust in the leaders of their campus. This has allowed them to feel comfortable with this process of adoption. The church also has a strong recovery ministry and a high value for outreach.
“Both churches place a high value on reaching people far from God and growing them in their relationships with him. Both churches believe strongly that disciples should be reproducing themselves in others,” Small says.
“Because CrossPoint has had more limited resources, we are focused on upgrading the quality of several aspects of ministry on the Glendale campus, infusing the Central DNA throughout the ministries of the Glendale campus, and lots of communication to keep everyone moving in the same direction toward one common vision.”
The teaching in Glendale will be delivered primarily via video with a few key weekends covered in-person by the campus pastor, Tom Kopp, or members of the teaching team. In this challenging economy, Small says that the church’s finances have been doing well.
“Our total giving at existing campuses continues to grow,” Small reports. “We have seen increases of 3, 5, and 7 percent in total giving the past three years, even with the current economic conditions. We anticipate this year will be even better, and we are on track for that.”
Some staff change is expected, but Central has been able to retain the small number of Glendale staff by working with them individually to fit within the ministry teams. No one has been released due to the adoption process, Small says.
As for the future, Small says, “We believe that the model we are pursuing is both sustainable and scalable, that we could indeed add additional campuses. We are leaning away from our initial idea of building a large destination campus and instead opting for the development of more medium-sized campuses, 30 to 40-acre sites strategically placed around the Valley.
“We are simply trying to figure out where people are driving from to attend our campuses, then seeking to bring the church to them instead. We are not initiating conversations with any other established churches about becoming a part of Central’s ministry, but are taking into consideration some possibilities as we have been approached. We will continue to plant new churches as well,” Small shares.
The reach to the West Valley also required a new look at the nomenclature and identity of Central Christian to the point where the official name needs to match the growing vision beyond the former East Valley focus. Central Christian Church of the East Valley [Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek] has now become Central Christian Church Arizona and www.CentralAZ.com.
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Merger vocabulary
ReAlignment merger: a church that informally aligns with the vision of a stronger, vibrant and typically larger church.
ReDevelopment merger: a struggling church that’s adopted by a stronger, vibrant and typically larger church.
ReStart merger: a struggling or dying church that’s fully absorbed by a stronger, vibrant and typically larger church.
ReVision merger: two churches, both strong or growing, that formally affiliate with each other under a new unified vision and leadership.
— From 125 Tips for MultiSite Churches and Those Who Want to Be, by “The MultiSite Guy” Jim Tomberlin, Scottsdale, AZ.
www.multisitesolutions.com.
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Central Christian’s Four Campuses
Our Mesa campus moved to its current 33-acre site in October 1986. We have three major buildings and five portable buildings totaling 144,000 square feet. The last permanent building was opened in 1996. We currently see about 3,500 people each weekend on our Mesa campus. Mesa is growing 3 to 5 percent rate per year since we opened Gilbert in October 2007. The Mesa campus has experienced the greatest amount of change with our next project being a children’s facility that will replace our portable buildings.
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Christ’s Church of the Valley ‘weds’ Parkway Christian
In the West Valley of Phoenix, Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria resides on a 100-acre campus, and was founded 28 years ago by 63-year-old senior pastor Don Wilson. Leaders there talk about the congregation being focused and, yes, marketed, on men within the age group of 25 and 45, on the premise that once you get the men to come, the family will follow.
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