Church e-merges to reach out to wider community

How do you successfully merge two churches? Trudi Smyth and Dan Bennett tell how they and their teams did just that to form Beacon Elim church

For twelve years, there had been two Elim churches in Malvern, each established in its own individual community. So it was somewhat unexpected when pastors Dan Bennett and Trudi Smyth were caused to consider whether they should merge The Source and Malvern Hills.

But in a move both say was prompted by the Spirit, Beacon Elim church was successfully formed, and has since gone on to launch new community activities.

So how did the merge come about?

Before, the 20-strong congregation at Malvern Hills church had been meeting at Elim’s International Centre since the movement came to Malvern in 2009. “We had a strong group of devoted Christians there who acted as a bridge between Elim and the community,” says Trudi, who pastored the church.

“That was important because there was a lot of local suspicion when Elim first arrived, but we were in regular contact with people in the village and ran many outreach events to build relationships.”

Meanwhile, in another community in Malvern, The Source had been planted as an independent evangelical church before deciding to join Elim.

“Coming out of Covid we had around 60 people, which included children and families, and were meeting on Sundays at the parish hall,” says Dan, who pastored The Source for seven years before the merge. “We’d taken a lease on an old gospel hall too and totally refreshed that.”

Each church was engrossed in life after Covid, then Regional Leader Paul Hudson emailed both pastors in May 2021 to suggest a meeting to discuss “all things Malvern”.

Trudi was immediately curious.

“I thought, ‘they want to merge us’, although there had never actually been any firm conversations along those lines.

“So when Paul asked me why I thought we were meeting, I replied, ‘to merge the two churches?’ and that’s when the conversation began.

“As we discussed it, it felt like a no-brainer: there were two Elim churches in Malvern, so why not pool resources? It’s not like either were struggling or had any financial pressures, but the timing just felt right.”

Dan takes up the story, explaining that things moved rapidly from there.

“We brought the elders in to join the conversation and things really quickened in pace. We were ready for our first joint meeting on 1 May 2022.

“As Trudi says, I think we all realised this was a window of opportunity God had opened, and we needed to make things happen.”

Dan says some advice from his mentor helped as he and Trudi worked to bring their congregations together.

“He said, ‘Dan there’s a significant difference between a takeover and a merger. You’ve got to decide which this is.’

“For us, it was always a merger, led jointly by both of us.”

Getting practical
One of the first practicalities to address was where the new Beacon Elim would meet. Dan and Trudi, along with the support of the eldership, chose the parish hall.

Another was to decide when to meet. A post-Covid rhythm of meetings had been established at The Source that Trudi and Dan decided to continue. “On most Sundays, we meet at the parish hall,” says Dan, “but on the fourth Sunday of each month, we meet at the gospel hall for a communion service followed by ‘Coffee House Sunday’ which people who wouldn’t ordinarily come to church are invited to.”

This combination helped unite the two congregations that formed Beacon Elim. The relaxed coffeehouse set-up of the fourth Sunday helped to get people talking, Dan says.

Trudi adds: “In those first few months, I remember coming into the parish hall and feeling like a visitor. You could see the Malvern Hills and The Source people sitting in their groups.

“But after a time, I remember looking around during a lunch one Sunday, and everyone was mingling. The two congregations had become one church family.”

Another crucial area was branding the new church.

“We needed to sensitively make the language of ‘Malvern Hills’ and ‘The Source’ part of our past and to gather together under our new identity of Beacon Elim,” says Dan.

With this came the integration of ChurchSuite, WhatsApp, bank accounts, websites, social media and more.

And then, of course, there was merging two leadership teams. How do two pastors lead one congregation together? “Whenever anyone asks me this I always say we came with no agenda,” replies Trudi.

“We co-lead together. It wouldn’t suit every situation and personality, but it works really well for us.”

Dan adds that he and Trudi naturally gravitate to certain tasks, although neither are protective of these and help each other when needed.

Outreach activities

With the business of merging largely behind them, Trudi and Dan have enjoyed launching several new community outreach activities over the past few months.

These include Fun for Families – a relaxed Saturday family space run each month by Dan and his wife Rachel.

There is also Encounter, a Sunday even- ing for people to worship, pray and move in the gifts of the Spirit, and Little Peeps – a community baby and toddler group launched last January.

“Just before Christmas, we had our first Beacon Elim young adults group too,” says Dan.

With the practicalities of merging the churches mostly completed, Dan and Trudi are looking to 2024. This, explains Trudi, began with a focus on prayer to kick the year off.

“We held a week of prayer on the back of Elim’s national prayer event and our first eldership meeting was prayer-focused too,” she says.

Dan adds: “Now we’ve found our feet the first part of the year will be about consolidating and building what we’ve got going on still further.”

And what would they say to any other churches considering a merge?

“I can imagine there are other Elim churches having these conversations,” says Dan.

“The most important thing is that it has to be something both pastors sense the Spirit is bringing into being.

“If you genuinely, sacrificially know this is what you’re meant to be doing, and you bring your congregation on the journey with you, communicating with them every step of the way, you can work through everything else.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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