Search Results (38)

The impacts of the climate crisis compel congregations to reimagine their mission and identity in various ways. Working with data taken from U.S. clergy participating in an online program for education and support on climate and environmental issues, as well as selected congregational leaders from their congregations, this article examines the ways that ministers and their congregations in primarily North American mainline Protestant contexts frame the climate crisis and how those understandings both create tension and open space for new conversations about their Christian and congregational vocation. It also describes how these ministers and congregations engage with environmental issues through means beyond technological solutions and consumption choices, such as collaborating with other community organizations, hosting rituals for grieving or meaning-making, and inviting transformative encounters with the more-than-human world. Finally, it will suggest possible strategies for leaders and their congregations to frame and creatively engage with the environment through various methods. Full article

Questions of finance and economic models are vital for congregational leaders to consider, but they are too often overlooked in research and practice. While we argue that the explicit attention to budgets and balance sheets should be a focus of both congregational researchers and religious leaders, we would also argue that these topics are embedded in congregational life as practices and cultures of giving that are likewise rooted in theologies of money. To examine the theologies of money religious leaders rely on in shaping their views of receiving, managing, and spending resources, our study analyzes the qualitative data of 82 clergy interviews from the National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices (NSCEP). We find that the language of “stewardship” continues to dominate, and we consider how this language has both shaped and masked congregations’ current and future engagement with money matters. Full article

Proclamation of the gospel is a perennial practice of congregational leadership demanding responsiveness to issues, trends, and events impacting congregations, their local and regional communities, and the challenges of the world. How do congregational leaders equip themselves for the important and ever-changing task of preaching? Lifelong learning, the fastest-growing and least-resourced aspect of theological education in North America, provides this opportunity. Through a 2024 survey, this quantitative study provides insight into the lifelong learning needs of Methodist preachers, including differences based on gender and race/ethnicity. Time for additional learning is the major perceived obstacle for preachers desiring to improve their craft. Thus, lifelong learning programs must make the case for how the required time and energy will benefit the preacher participating in such programs. Specifically, the activities of reviewing recordings of sermons (both one’s own and those of other preachers), receiving constructive feedback on sermons, and realizing the collaborative potential of preaching must be structured in ways that prove the value of these investments for preachers. This data on the lifelong learning needs of Methodist preachers has implications on multiple levels: conceptual, institutional, congregational, and personal. Full article

The expectations, plans and goals of future pastors are developed and consolidated during theological studies. These plans and expectations, and the career strategies based on them can have a decisive influence on how gender-based differences with respect to opportunities in the churches develop. Since one of the particularities of the pastoral vocation is that work and private life are closely intertwined and difficult to separate, the personal choices of prospective pastors are crucial in shaping their professional careers. The results of our research based on focus group interviews conducted with female and male Protestant seminarians in Hungary suggest that female theology students are more reserved and cautious in their articulation of plans than their male counterparts. On the one hand, they assume that factors outside and above them may override them and that the conservative church environment may constrain their options. On the other hand, it was repeatedly expressed that, as women, they find it difficult to reconcile pastoral work and family life, and take it for granted that they will compromise more in the professional field. Only a few of the female participants plan to work as independent congregational leaders (senior pastors), whereas this ambition is very typical of male students. Full article

The Religious Workforce Project is a Lilly Endowment-funded effort to map the nation’s changing Christian religious landscape. A quantitative component identifies broad US trends, while our qualitative work focuses on Christian congregations in the Washington, DC metro area and surrounding counties, to understand how congregations staff to fulfill their missions, and to learn how congregational leaders understand the nature of their ministry today. In 2019–2022, we conducted case studies in 40 congregations in a variety of Christian traditions and contexts. For our analysis, we used a framework based on three societal trends that have impacted congregations: long-term member loss in churches, a skewed distribution in church attendance in which most people attend large churches while most churches are small, and a pandemic-induced movement from brick-and-mortar spaces to online spaces. This analysis revealed the consequential impacts of these three trends on congregations and their leaders, and some of the essential skills needed for effective church operation during this “wilderness moment,” a liminal time in the life of the church. We see these impacts not only as responses to external pressures but also as signs of internal reimagining. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for developing effective strategies for church staffing and for preparing future congregational leaders that can adapt to the future needs of ministry. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders disrupted religious life across the United States, forcing congregations to rapidly adapt to unprecedented challenges. While existing research has explored the pandemic’s impact on individual religiosity, this article centers on how congregations were reshaped by the pandemic—sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. Drawing on nationally representative survey data from the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations project and the long-running Faith Communities Today initiative, this article analyzes trends in worship attendance, other forms of commitment to and engagement with congregations, congregational openness to change, and clergy well-being. The findings show that in-person worship attendance continues to decline, while online worship was adopted widely during the pandemic and remains common. Programming, volunteering, and financial giving have rebounded but still fall short of pre-pandemic levels or current needs. Many congregations embraced change early in the pandemic but have since reverted to old routines. Clergy are in relatively good health, yet growing numbers are reconsidering their futures in ministry. These shifts reveal the pandemic’s lasting impact on congregational life and raise critical questions for clergy, lay leaders, and researchers about institutional resilience, innovation, and leadership sustainability. The findings underscore the complex and evolving nature of post-pandemic ministry. Full article

Many pastors, faith leaders, and community organizers are isolated and under-connected to communities of praxis that can accompany them as they go about their social change work, helping them to ground their organizing in their faith lives. There is a crisis of leadership development and training. This paper argues for a rethinking of leadership development as grounded in conceptions of relational power, value-based organizing, and deep solidarity. Leaders, it is often said, are those who have followers. This definition takes for granted models of leadership that were first developed in the 1940s in Alinsky-style networks and adapted in the 1980s and 1990s in the neo-Alinskyite movement. This article extends this approach to home in on what leadership development amounts to in broad-based community organizing so as to help congregations and faith leaders see how community organizing can be an enactment and expression of their faith lives. Organizing strategies of leadership development can sit at the heart of congregational development. Developing leaders is about transformative critical reflection on premises of meaning schema. Leadership development is connected to leaders developing in the sense of exploring new ways of seeing the world and acting on them. By refocusing the organizing strategy of leadership development around relational power and deep solidarity, pastors, faith leaders, and community organizers can build stronger institutions. Full article

Drawing from narrative interviews with eight Protestant pastors in the U.S. and Canada, this paper explores community-building under the conditions of late modernity through the lenses of individualization and sensemaking. Exploring pastoral approaches to what Ulrich Beck calls “institutionalized individualism”, this paper argues that pastoral sensemaking manages polarities between the societal demand for self-construction and the human need to belong, between an individual’s freedom to make a life (or god) of their own and the fact that such work requires a community. Pastoral leaders manage this polarity through sensemaking strategies that strengthen and clarify the central values and practices of the congregation while also managing the boundaries of the congregation, envisioning the congregation as a retreat center in some cases and as an intentional community in others. In an age of individualization, pastoral leadership requires the dexterity to move between dynamic collective and individual identities, making processes of belonging a collaborative sensemaking effort in which boundaries are drawn, enacted, erased, and redrawn in new ways. Full article

Congregational leaders in the US must navigate a political landscape marked by increasing political polarization and a notable rise in support for ideas aligned with Christian nationalism. While gender, race, ethnicity, and religious affiliation have long shaped political lines, the US population has steadily become more entrenched in partisan political divides. Recent research shows the relationship between religious identity and willingness to use violence to support political and religious ideologies. These trends profoundly affect faith communities, challenging theological perspectives, social dynamics, and civic engagement. This paper examines how political polarization and Christian nationalist impulses within mainline Christian congregations impact congregational leadership. This study identifies key factors driving these changes through qualitative analysis of case studies and quantitative research. It explores their implications for community cohesion and the broader societal fabric. The findings suggest that while some communities experience heightened internal conflict and fragmentation, others adapt by engaging in dialogue, story-sharing, and education. The paper concludes with recommendations to counter political polarization and ideological extremism through increased understanding, nuanced theological reflection, and political awareness. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on congregational leadership and political engagement, highlighting the need for nuanced strategies to address the challenges of political polarization and Christian nationalism in the US today. Full article

This study explores the impact of digital innovation on religious leadership in the Swiss context, based on qualitative interviews with church leaders and personnel. The findings reveal diverse attitudes towards digital media use, shaped by personal, theological, and contextual factors. The study identifies key motivators for embracing digital innovations, including theological imperatives to contextualize the gospel, the need to meet people where they are in digital and analog spaces, and ethical responsibilities to engage in the digital sphere. Interviews highlight a range of digital competencies and show that successful digital transformation depends on collaborative team dynamics and resource availability. Although digital practices are viewed as supplements rather than replacements for analog church life, they are seen as crucial for engaging modern society. The study concludes that digital innovation offers opportunities for multi-professional collaboration, strategic resource allocation and the development of empowering educational formats, ultimately aiming to foster a balanced, reciprocal relationship between digital and analog church practices and personal encounters, both within the individual local congregation and far beyond. Full article

From young children to elders in the community, the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence is indiscriminate of age, ability, gender, culture, or status. Many communities continue to wrestle with the pastoral and practical implications of welcoming children into worship as full, distinct participants, yet within the biblical narrative, children are included as full participants in experiencing the Spirit’s gifts and empowerment and encountering God’s dynamic presence. Emerging from the discipline of practical theology and a review of New Testament pneumatology from Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12, this paper argues for the full inclusion of children within the church’s worship life as welcomed, distinct participants. Contributing to the emerging field of children’s spirituality, we offer faith-forming pedagogical practices to engage children in congregational songs as participants and as those filled with the Spirit as leaders. This article contributes to the fields of worship studies and children’s spirituality by exploring hospitable approaches in corporate worship and congregational songs that affirm children’s capacity to lead in distinct ways where their own spirituality is formed alongside that of the congregation. Full article

Background: Family caregivers provide most (75–90%) of the essential unpaid care and support for individuals living with chronic conditions, disabilities, and age-related needs in the community, with about half performing medical tasks traditionally performed by professionals. Caregivers also assist with 15 to 35% of the care in congregate care settings. Yet despite their critical contributions to patient care, caregivers face stress, declining well-being, and insufficient recognition in healthcare systems. Addressing these challenges requires innovative, person-centered approaches to training healthcare providers. Co-design or co-production are participatory research methods that involve individuals with lived experience to ensure relevance and impact. Objective: This study sought to understand how participatory co-design principles influenced learning, collaboration, and engagement among diverse participants in developing a caregiver-centered education program for healthcare providers. Actionable recommendations for optimizing co-design processes are provided. Methods: Eighty-five participants from a team of 155 collaborators, including caregivers, healthcare providers, educators, policymakers, and leaders, participated in ten focus group sessions conducted in Zoom breakout rooms. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Thorne’s interpretive description and Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Participants described the co-design process as fostering collaboration, inclusivity, and skill enhancement. Exposure to diverse perspectives expanded transformative understanding and prompted reflection on caregiver support within professional practices. Skilled facilitation ensured equitable engagement. Challenges included information overload and personal time constraints. Participants liked using breakout rooms to mitigate the dynamics of large group management. Still, they recommended pre-meeting materials, flexible scheduling, and expanding stakeholder diversity (e.g., rural, Indigenous, and immigrant caregivers). Conclusions: Co-design fosters meaningful, caregiver-centered education through collaboration and inclusivity. Addressing logistical challenges and representation gaps can further enhance the impact of co-design and empower multi-level, interdisciplinary partners to inform equitable healthcare education. Full article

This study explores the relationship between Christian religious leaders’ beliefs about the science and religion interface and their understanding of the causes and treatments for depression. We focus on Christian religious leaders because they often serve as first responders for congregants seeking help with mental health issues and are influential figures in maintaining the authority of religious institutions. Previous research has neglected the role of religious leaders’ perceptions of the science–religion relationship in shaping their views on mental health. Relying on responses from approximately 1200 Christian religious leaders from the National Survey of Religious Leaders in the United States, this study adopts ordinal logistic regression to examine how epistemological conflict, epistemic openness, and views of institutional conflict shape religious leaders’ interpretations of and treatments for depression. This study contributes to knowledge of science and religion, religious leaders, and mental health in the United States. Full article

This sociological study describes the exceptional qualities of the 2016 Notre Dame liturgies. My criterion of evaluation is authenticity, defined as faithfulness to a transcendent purpose in liturgical performances. The four areas of prayer, singing, participation, and visualization at Notre Dame are first compared to those of Papal Masses, a Protestant celebration, Sunday masses during the pandemic, and the daily 30-min Masses on American television networks. At Notre Dame, all the aspects of the liturgy were choreographed by the rector-master of ceremonies and visualized through theological concepts. The entrance procession was different each week, ranging from only two acolytes and the celebrating bishop to about fifty priests and several bishops. The performance of the choir was adapted to the needs of the weekly liturgies. The participation of the congregation was encouraged by professional singing leaders, and visualization through vertical and horizon images conveyed a sense of pilgrimage toward eternity. Is this a model for the universal Church, or specific to the French Church? The election of a pope from the Global South suggests that Catholicism has moved away from European models toward greater engagement in the world. Full article

In Southern Africa in recent years, the governance and ecclesiologies of mega-Pentecostal churches have been drifting away from upholding collective and complementary fivefold ministries to individualistic and selfish five-in-one ministries. Studies indicate that a fivefold ministry advances inclusive ecclesiological leadership, edification, and transformational integral mission. At present, mega and related forms of emerging neo-Pentecostalism have developed exclusive, prophetic, apostolic, and executive ecclesial leadership, which are characterized mainly by authoritarian governance, celebrity leadership, leader-centered ecclesiology, and congregational manipulation and exploitation. Such church governance and ecclesiologies enable leaders to indoctrinate their subordinates and congregants to submit to and depend on them for everything. The effect is that followers are rendered dormant, under what this submission describes as five-in-one ministry, which leaves one person claiming to possess all ministerial gifts and leadership capabilities and relegating everyone else to being idle followers. Although much has been published about African Pentecostal leadership and ecclesiologies, studies on African megachurch governance, leadership styles and ministries are few. Through a literature review and participant observation, this paper uncovers and troubleshoots the effects of five-in-one megachurch governance and ecclesiologies in Africa. It discerns and addresses drivers of the five-in-one ministry and makes recommendations, such as reforming megachurch governance, leadership styles, and ecclesiologies; integrating ecumenism with leadership development; and developing inclusive economic sustainability. Full article