LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — Two flourishing Kentucky Baptist churches have voted overwhelming to merge as part of a strategic move for kingdom growth.
More than 98 percent of the members of GracePointe Baptist Church and Beechland Baptist Church approved the merger in a vote Sunday.
While financial difficulties are usually a factor in church mergers, that is not the case here. “The churches are five minutes apart — we are fishing in the same pond,” said Mark Bishop, who pastors both churches. “This is not a financial move, but a strategic move. The leadership and congregants of both churches believe that we are ‘better together.’
“Both churches have grown in the last two years,” he said, acknowledging that it is not normal for churches to merge that are larger and financially independent. Between the two churches, Sunday morning worship attendance is just under 1,000 people…