Still standing after all these years: the presence and internet presentation of religious buildings in the Chicago area, 1936–2016

Scholars have examined the changes in religious architecture over time but few have focused on the ongoing presence of religious buildings in communities nor how long-standing congregations interact with their older building. This study utilises two Internet data sources – Google Street View and the websites of religious congregations – to examine the fate and online presentation of the buildings of four Protestant denominations in the Chicago region from 1936 to today: Disciples of Christ, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Presbyterian, and Seventh-day Adventist. The patterns found show the stability of many church buildings over eight decades and how they help anchor some religious groups – even though newer congregations use a number of these structures – yet congregations make unique choices about presenting their buildings through their website. These findings suggest religious buildings continue to influence their original religious congregations, newer groups using the building and neighbourhoods decades after they are constructed.     

Leaders' Attitudes and Computer Use in Religious Congregations

This study explores the attitudes of leaders of religious congregations toward computers. We uncover attitudes toward information (and thus toward computers) that are different from those reported for leaders in other organizational contexts. In short, clergy felt that systematically collecting and storing information and trying to serve as many people as possible could distract them from what is distinctive about their jobs—that the job in a religious congregation is accomplished through personal rather than transactional relationships.     

Beyond the Nuclear Family? Familism and Gender Ideology in Diverse Religious Communities

Religious familism, or ideology about "the good family," has been central to the culture and practice of local religious communities in the United States. Recent research has suggested that the "Ozzie and Harriet" familism dominant among mainstream religious groups in the 1950s religious expansion has remained formative for many local religious communities in the intervening decades. This research suggests that religious familism shapes how gender is symbolized and enacted in local religious communities and leads to differences in the meaning of religious participation for contemporary men and women. However, this work has been based largely on studies of white, middle-class religious communities. In this article, we analyze the relationship between family ideology and gender in three congregations chosen to exemplify those social locations where we would expect considerable distance from the 1950s "Ozzie and Harriet" ideal—one Hispanic Catholic parish, one African-American congregation in the black Church tradition, and one white liberal Protestant congregation that has adopted an open and affirming stance toward homosexuality and same-sex unions. We find considerable innovation in family-oriented rhetoric and ministry, and a range of gendered practices that prove considerably more inclusive than those found in previous research. We also find considerable symbolic affirmation of the value of more traditional gender roles and practices, particularly in the realm of the family, than we expected to find. We explore the implications of these findings for how we understand the production of gender in local religious communities and for the capacity of local religious communities to become truly gender-inclusive spaces.     

Is your church “liked” on Facebook? Social media use of Christian congregations in the United States

Despite the increasing interests in social media platforms among religious congregations, little is known about the patterns of these organizations' social media use. This study examines religious congregations' adoption of Facebook, using the data from the 2012 National Congregations Study. The results show that Christian congregations' involvement in nonreligious activities, both social service and political activities, predicts their Facebook adoption. Congregations' membership size and staff resources are also positively associated with their Facebook use. Other organizational characteristics, including religious tradition, clergyperson's age, and urban location, also explain congregations' Facebook use. Overall, the findings suggest that Christian congregations' adoption of social media platforms is closely related with their community outreach and social marketing activities as well as their resources. This study concludes with suggestions for narrowing the gap in social media use between resource‐rich and resource‐restricted congregations, as well as between urban and rural congregations.     

Marriage in a British Evangelical Congregation: Practising Postfeminist Partnership?

This article explores understandings and practices of marriage in a congregation from the growing British evangelical Christian movement New Frontiers International (NFI). It investigates how those who subscribe to evangelical religion interact with the gendered ideas and behaviour of the more ‘secular’ society they inhabit. The data for this research are drawn from participant observation and interviews with members of the congregation. These are situated in the context of the official discourse of NFI and of contemporary debates about the move to individualized partnership. It is argued that though these evangelicals claim to shape their marriages according to ‘biblical’ patterns, they in fact reflect the partnership practices of their less religious peers. Building on work by Stacey and McRobbie, patterns of marriage and heterosexual partnership in contemporary Britain are conceptualized as ‘postfeminist’; the article locates within this framework NFI's declared – and undeclared – marriage practices. It finds that while they are somewhat more conservative than their ‘secular’ peers, NFI evangelicals are indeed practising postfeminist partnership. Observations are also offered on the impact of religion on people's ability to live out individualized partnerships.     

Urban congregations as incubators of service organizations

A growing body of research has begun to describe the variety and pervasiveness of community services offered by religious congregations across the United States. This study investigated the process whereby a congregation forms a new community service entity by tracing patterns in its development from formation through emancipation. Based on a sample of twenty‐three spin‐off organizations engaged in housing services in three cities (Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis), this exploratory study found that religious congregations provided very limited forms of incubation for new entities. Although the congregations exhibited considerable involvement in governance, their inability to undertake management of daily spin‐off operations notably contributed to the eventual separation between parent and organizational offspring.     

The organization of religious congregations: Tackling the issues

This article considers responses to the practical problems of organization that arise in religious congregations. Accumulated research findings on the organizational features and issues of congregations are synthesized and discussed under three themes: purposes and goals, the role of clergy, and growth and change. Theoretical frameworks that have been used to analyze congregations are reviewed, and it is suggested that further useful insights can be obtained by conceptualizing congregations as nonprofits and by building on knowledge about their organization and management. At the same time, the author argues, there are distinctive features of congregation organization that demand the development of more specialist theory.     

LGBT Religious Activism: Predicting State Variations in the Number of Metropolitan Community Churches, 1974–2000

Armstrong and Bernstein (2008) critique the emphasis movement scholars place upon activism within the formal political sphere, proposing, instead, a multi‐institutional approach which argues that protest can occur within any social institution and that the desired outcomes of activism can include cultural outcomes. The goal of this article is to expand the range of social movement targets studied through an examination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activism within the institution of religion. In the United States, religion, particularly Christianity, is used as the primary justification for defining same‐sex sexuality as undesirable and denying LGBT individuals full citizenship. The LGBT community challenges these traditional Christian definitions of same‐sex sexuality in numerous ways, including through the creation of LGBT‐affirming congregations. I examine the development and spread of congregations affiliated with the United Federation of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), an LGBT‐affirmative denomination, across all 50 states from 1974 to 2000. Drawing upon organizational ecology, resource mobilization, political opportunity, and theories of religious switching, I find that the distribution of UFMCC congregations challenges the usefulness of traditional explanations for activism.     

An Investigation of Religious Support of Public and Private Agencies in One Community in an Era of Retrenchment

This article examines the ways in which religious congregations in Greensboro, North Carolina support the efforts of local social service agencies. Findings from a survey of 147 agency directors, 2 focus groups (one with congregational volunteers, and one with clergy and agency directors), and extensive interviews with 6 agency directors, are reported. It is noted that the religious community and the social service community broadened their relationships as a result of the Reagan administration's domestic policies and that there is a surprising set of interconnections between the two systems.     

Christian Religion,Society and the State in the modern World

This paper is an attempt to explain why religious beliefs and practice have strongly declined in some parts of the world, in particular in Europe, while in other parts religion continues to play a central role in the public sphere and in private life. It is argued that the following factors determine the patterns of religiosity in contemporary Christian societies: substantive differences between religious doctrines and denominations with respect to theological teachings but also the use of rituals and symbols; the level of welfare state services; and the historical connections between church and state. These theses are empirically investigated in two ways: first, through a quantitative, multilevel analysis of the effects of individual and context variables on individual religiosity in 28 Christian countries around the world; and, second, through short case studies of four countries – Norway, Ireland, the United States and Chile – each exemplary of a specific type of state–church relations over time.     

ONE UNDER GOD? RELIGIOUS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND PIONEER LATINO IMMIGRANTS IN SOUTHERN LOUISIANA

Studies of immigrants and religion tend to focus on established communities, organized as de facto congregations. In the early days of the development of an ethnic community, however, the provision of religious needs is more likely to come from existing local congregations. Using the model of religious economies, I analyze the case of a Baptist mission ministering to Latino immigrants in a rural southern Louisiana town. The pioneer immigrants constitute a change in religious demand, an area not considered by the economic model. They constitute a market niche for local religious entrepreneurs. Given the characteristics of this new community, however, a modified version of the de facto congregation will emerge, where professional clergy is not involved. Relying on participant observation and interviews with the parties involved, I describe the challenges that pioneer immigrant present for a religious entrepreneur.     

BEYOND THE BIBLE AND THE CROSS: A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF CHINESE ELDERS' PARTICIPATION IN CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Mainland Chinese elders constitute a unique group in popular Christian participation and conversion. This work aims to explore the social contexts and cultural facets of Mainland Chinese elders' Christian practice in the United States. Based on face-to-face, in-depth interviews with 20 Mainland Chinese elders as well as participant observation at selected congregational settings, this study suggests that the existing theories on aging and religion as well as religious practice among immigrants are inadequate to explain Chinese elderly immigrants' participation in Christian congregations in the U.S. Instead, social isolation and lack of social support system resulting from immigration and aging process serve as the major drive for the elders to pursue social and cultural recognition from Chinese Christian gatherings. Besides religious services, social service functions of churches and opportunities for fellowship are other factors that explain Chinese elders' church involvement. In conclusion, we argue that social and cultural services are needed to particularly assist Chinese seniors to adjust and adapt to their elderly lives in the host country.     

Building a Faith-Based Human Service Agency

Abstract

Interest in faith-based organizations has increased substantially since the Bush administration made them a priority in the presidential campaign of 2000 and established a special office in the White House to promote their involvement in government supported human services. The primary goal of this initiative is to encourage faith-based organizations, usually understood to mean congregations, to engage their members in supporting services to those most in need. While most research on faith-based organizations is limited to the past decade or two, very little is known about how they operate. This case study of Community Ministries of Rockville, Maryland (CMR) is designed to address this issue. CMR differs from most faith-based organizations in that it neither represents a single congregation nor the traditional faith-related social service agency like Catholic, Jewish, or Lutheran Social Services. The case study features the twenty-five year history of the Executive Director of a faith-based human service organization supported by twenty congregations. It concludes with the identification of major challenges and lessons learned.     

Gendered Congregations,Gendered Service: The Impact of Clergy Gender on Congregational Social Service Participation

Using data from the 1998 National Congregations Study, I present empirical evidence that shows that the gender of a congregation's leadership makes a difference in the likelihood that a congregation will participate in a social service programme. The results from binary logistic regression indicate that the odds of congregations with women head clergy participating in a social service programme are four times greater than those with men head clergy. In addition, as the percentage of women on a congregation's governing board increases the probability that a congregation will participate in a service project also increases. The specific types of social service programmes a congregation pursues also differ by gender of leadership, with women‐led congregations significantly more likely to pursue service projects that could be labelled feminine while avoiding programmes that are clearly feminist. To explain this gendered behaviour I incorporate Acker's (1990 ) theory of gendered organizations.     

The relationship between bonding and bridging social capital among Christian denominations across Australia

This article is an intricate empirical examination of the relationship between bridging and bonding with respect to subcultural differences in religious denomination and faith orientation. The respondents were 2,710 Christian church attendees from nineteen denominations across Australia. They were surveyed with a closed‐answer questionnaire covering the topics of faith, demographics, involvement in the congregation, and involvement in the wider community. The results revealed a positive relationship between bonding and bridging social capital, with a high level of bonding associated with a high level of bridging for all denominations and faith identities. There was no evidence that high bonding within the congregation restricted bridging beyond the congregation. The results support the notion that the relationship between bonding and bridging may vary with societal subcultures.     

青年基督徒的信仰与生活实践

基于对武汉市一位青年基督教徒的个案式访谈,描述了他的信教史、生活观念和信仰实践以及他对中国宗教和社会、教会与组织之间关系的看法和认识,揭示出了信仰是如何在他的观念和实践中表现出来的,以及他是如何借用一般生活经验和中国的社会问题、文化问题来为他的信仰辩护的。以微观的角度对一个个案进行深入的分析,有利于认识了解基督徒的信仰生活状况,以及基督教在中国传播发展的条件、状况和影响。     

Megakirchen als religiöse Organisationen: Ein dritter Gemeindetyp jenseits von Sekte und Kirche?

Due to the rapid growth and expansion of so-called Megachurches, the religious landscape of the United States has been changing greatly over the past decades. The term Megachurch usually refers to evangelical congregations which draw at least 2,000 attenders to their regular weekly services and often significantly more. Megachurches can be thought of as representing a novel form of congregation. This study explores their specific organizational features. It addresses the following questions: (1) How do Megachurches cope with the structural strains caused by their rapid growth? (2) What are the organizational factors which are contributing to their success? The investigation consists of two parts: First, we examine the growth doctrine of the Megachurches, which draws its legitimation from religious sources and has to be viewed in a larger context of churches and religious audiences in the United States. Second, we focus on the internal organization structures that reproduce the patterns of dynamic stability underlying this growth doctrine.     

Religious Pluralism and School Provision in Britain

Popular education in Britain grew out of the social conscience of the Christian churches. Government investment in schools only began in the last quarter of the 19th century and even where schools were funded it was primarily to plug the gaps left by the voluntary organisations. Throughout the 20th century, Britain had a dual system of provision by which state and churches cooperated in the provision and funding of schools. The last 30 years have witnessed an interesting development in Britain in the political response to religious diversity and education. Some members of the more recent religious minority communities have sought to join the dual system by seeking funding for religious schools on the same basis as the Christian churches. In the last 5 years, several schools run by minority religious groups have received state funding. In its latest Green Paper, the government argues the case for greater diversity in educational provision and looks to increasing the participation of Christian and other religious groups in educational provision, not least by reducing the financial quota which religious bodies have to pay towards the upkeep of such schools. In the light of continuing problems with personal and institutional racism at many levels of British society, and the well-documented increase in Islamophobia, this paper explores what model of pluralism is likely to suit Britain's future society best and what form of educational provision might prove the most effective in promoting it.     

Does disestablishment lead to religious vitality? The case of Switzerland

Economists and sociologists of religion have claimed that religious establishment dampens religious vitality, leading to lower recruitment efforts, low attendance, declining membership within established congregations, and the ‘crowding out’ of non‐established congregations. Conversely, these authors have told us, disestablishment will lead to more religious vitality. Remarkably, even though these claims rest on the connection between establishment and the organizational and membership behaviour of local religious congregations, no research has directly examined that connection. We use the 2008 Swiss National Congregations Study as well as historical data to assess the effect of different levels of religious establishment on both established and non‐established congregations. We find that established congregations do indeed show less religious vitality than non‐established congregations. Contrary to the claims of the economic literature, however, these covariations are not caused by differences in religious establishment on the cantonal level. Both our quantitative and historical analyses show that disestablishment has not led to religious vitality for either established or non‐established congregations. The only clear effect of disestablishment is a dramatic decrease of income for established congregations. Based on quantitative and historical evidence, we suggest that differences between established and non‐established congregations are produced by differences in religious tradition and immigration flows, not by differences in levels of establishment.     

Organizational Resources and the Gender Gap in Congregational Lay Leadership

The purpose of this study is to examine how organizational resources affect the gender gap within lay (volunteer) leadership in religious congregations. Using institutional theory as a framework, this study situates congregations within a larger field of organizations competing for legitimacy. Congregations with higher levels of resources—such as wealthier members, better-educated members, or larger memberships—are more likely to be connected to the core of the field and therefore more likely to have gender egalitarian practices in order to signal their legitimacy. Therefore, I hypothesize that women in resource-rich congregations will have greater access to volunteer leadership positions than women in congregations that are resource deficient. I analyze 70,942 individuals in 344 religious congregations from the 2001 U.S. Congregational Life Survey using multilevel modeling. I show that religious congregations with more members, better-educated attenders, and wealthier attenders have smaller gender gaps in volunteer leadership positions. Congregational resources can mitigate the gender gap in lay leadership, and women within resource-rich organizations have greater access to positions of authority.