Premise of the book:
Congregations can effectively merge with another church or churches with shared values and missional focus, strategic discernment conversations, and adoption of the appropriate merger model.

What this book does:
Better Together is an excellent resource on church mergers. The authors with their extensive experience, study and research have produced an exceptional guide for clergy and laity who are exploring a need or interest in merging with a church or churches. They share common challenges and issues with most mergers, along with developing strategies, and the exploration of various merger models.

Contents:

Part One: The New Merger Landscape
Chapter 1: God is Doing Something New
Chapter 2: Four Models for Healthy Mergers
Chapter 3: Missional, Multisite, Multiethnic, and Other Merger Motives

Part Two: How Healthy Churches Mergers Work
Chapter 4: Stages and Speed of a Merger
Chapter 5: How to Measure Success
Chapter 6: Why Merger Fail
Chapter 7: Financial and Legal Aspects
Chapter 8: Personnel Changes

Part Three: Your Next Steps
Chapter 9: Determining Whether Your Church is a Good Merger Candidate
Chapter 10: How to Start the Merger Conversation
Chapter 11: Self-assessment for Merger Readiness
Chapter 12: Exercise
Chapter 13: Managing Pain and Change
Chapter 14: Where Do You Go from Here?
Appendices

What are some important insights:
Tomberlin and Bird share many insights, questions and how-to-start conversation examples throughout this resource. Church mergers range from or a combination of strong, stable, stuck and struggling congregations. There are varying types of mergers: restart, replant, partnership, adoption, and collaboration. Mergers are not a strategy for maintaining the status quo. They are a strategy for dramatic change. Mission-driven church mergers have tremendous potential to exponentially expand the impact of strong, vibrant churches as well as to revitalize plateaued and declining churches.

Possibilities as a resource for churches:
Better Together is an excellent resource for denominational leaders, clergy, and church leaders who desire to strengthen or expand their mission fields through mergers or intentional partnerships.