The United Methodist Church (and other mainline denominations) have many (mostly) empty buildings. To survive and thrive, these churches must learn to work together.

I’d suggest that many UM churches consider merging and become multi-site churches. If you have a strong UM church with limited space and a struggling UM church with an empty building, why not link arms?

(For more thoughts on “merging churches,” click 1) here, 2) here, 3) here, and 4) here.)

While I acknowledge that this is a complicated suggestion, the UMC church could also consider partnering with other churches outside its denomination.

Currently, we are partnering with many UMC churches that use our teaching for no charge. The possibilities of these partnerships are enormous. I’d suggest the leaders of the UMC search for other Kingdom-minded ministries and churches to unite with for a greater impact.

I can’t help but wonder how many struggling churches could have a chance for survival (and more than simply survival) if they shared resources with other churches in their communities or from around the world.