Better Together
On August 10, 2025, the congregations of Northbridge Church and Berean Community Church voted to merge into Northbridge Community Church, which started conducting worship services and other ministries at 3157 Kenosha Dr NW on September 7.
How the Merger Came to Be
On the advice of a wise friend, Pastor Kevin Binkley of Northbridge Church reached out to one of the elders at Berean Community Church, to discuss the idea of merging Northbridge and Berean. The two of them met on April 18, 2025 and talked at length about the doctrine and culture of their congregations. This information was shared with the other lay elders at Berean, who were intrigued and wanted to continue the conversations. In late April, there were several phone calls and emails back and forth to ask questions of each other and learn more about the compatibility of the two churches.
On May 5, the elders from both congregations met together to seek the Lord, get to know each other, and discuss the feasibility of joining forces. All the elders at the May 5 meeting were in favor of continuing the discussion. Soon after, both elder boards separately considered how the Lord was leading them in this matter. Later in May, Berean hosted an open house for team leaders from Northbridge to see the Berean campus. Later that day, a plurality of elders from both churches also met informally with Pastor Tom Walker, a veteran leader in the Berean Fellowship of Churches.
Between May and August, there was much email correspondence and more joint elder board meetings, as well as a joint ice cream social, a gathering of ministry leaders from both congregations, and town halls for both church families.
On August 3, a joint worship service was held at the Berean facility, and both congregations voted to approve the merger on August 10.
The Heart Behind the Merger
The overall feeling from the Northbridge Community Church elders (combination of Berean and Northbridge elder boards) was that this was clearly an opportunity from the Lord, and the primary reason for pursuing this joining of forces was for both churches to be more effective for His Kingdom together than either would be on its own.
From the Northbridge perspective, this opportunity followed the ways in which God had already built their church. At the start, Northbridge was made up of three groups of believers that God brought together to form one new church. Throughout Northbridge’s history, the Lord brought different communities of believers to join in the church’s mission. These experiences had shown what an amazing gift it is to welcome brothers and sisters in Christ into community, and then to work together in our areas of giftedness. The merger follows this pattern, and the Northbridge elders were confident that this merger would provide an opportunity to connect together through worship and service of our Lord.
From the Berean perspective, this opportunity provided a chance to serve with other believers in a way in which they could tangibly demonstrate their unity in Christ to the Rochester community. Additionally, this opportunity gave the opportunity to steward resources that the Lord had blessed the church with to further the kingdom of God. One example is that the Lord had led Berean to renovate and enhance the children’s ministry areas, and now those places are filled with children who need to learn about and see the love of Christ.
Combined, the elders' heart in pursuing this opportunity was to connect believers in a manner in which our gospel witness to our community will be strengthened and our worship of our Savior will be more complete.