Studying Congregations

Time 2020-06-20 17:06:19

Web Name: Studying Congregations

WebSite: http://studyingcongregations.org

ID:6060

Keywords:

Studying,Congregations,

Description:

People of faith around the world gather.  With this website, we explore why and how they do. No matter what form the gathering takes—a parish, synagogue, mosque, temple, prayer circle, etc.—these are transformational human communities with religious and spiritual purposes. Whether your aim is to understand them or to lead them, learning to see these communities in all their human joy and messiness is essential. So we invite you to understand, to explore and to engage.UnderstandThis website builds on two generations of insight by scholars and leaders who have developed ways of thinking about seeing a congregation. We call them frames because by looking through the ecology, theology, culture, resources and process of a gathering, we move toward deeper understanding. That’s the place to start.ExploreExperts in anthropology, social work, theology, sociology, public policy and ritual studies have great insight into these transformational communities. Return often for new findings, search our archives for articles that answer your questions and explore our searchable bibliographic database to start your reading list.EngageIf you are seeking to better understand a congregation—whether your own or another—it’s time to engage in your own research project! But first, assemble your toolkit. Our free PDF downloads are introductions to tools you can use. Educators take note: they're perfect for use in seminary, M.Div., D.Min., religious studies or social science classrooms!Featured Articleattendance, community, congregational culture, congregational size, ecology frame, leadership, theology frameFlourishing Congregations: Not All Are As They Appear11 May 2020Joel ThiessenComment are offAmidst the endless stream of research studies, news stories, and anecdotes that rightly report on religious decline across denominations and congregations, where are the signs of congregational life and vitality, and what can we learn from such settings? These are anchoring questions for our Canadian-based research team at the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University. When you consider the traits of a flourishing congregation, what would you include or exclude from your list, and why? In 2016 and 2017 our team of scholars with expertise in the social sciences, practical theology, and organizational as well as leadership studies set out to answer this question. We did so with interviews and focus groups with over 100... Read More →EcologyThe congregation’s social environment: its neighborhood and region but also its denomination, networks and other institutions.TheologyA theological frame means looking for how congregations reveal knowledge about God.CultureThe culture of a congregation is its identity, its life together: the activities it does, its artifacts, habits, symbols, and the stories they tell.ResourcesThe raw materials of congregational life, including: its members, building, reputation, history, its gifts and financial assets.ProcessThe congregation’s “way of doing things”: its decision making, leadership;its morale, its power dynamics and patterns of relationship.More about What We’re ThinkingFlourishing Congregations: Not All Are As They AppearAmidst the endless stream of research studies, news stories, and anecdotes that rightly report on religious decline across denominations and ...Read MoreStudying Congregations in a PandemicIn the midst of this pandemic, congregations have often been in the news (not always for good reasons). Newspaper columnists ...Read MoreA Good Time for a WalkDuring these long days of physical isolation, long walks around my community of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, have been a welcome ...Read MoreNews for the Studying Congregations CommunityJust about every religious group out there is producing materials to assist congregations in this difficult time. In addition to ...Read MoreDownload PDFFrom the Toolkit: Stepping Back to Watch and ListenThe Studying Congregations Toolkit gives you the tools you need to better understand a congregation. These PDF downloads were created especially for seminarians and religious leaders. Often deepening our understanding of our congregational spaces and communities is as simple as learning to open our eyes to the hidden dynamics and realities at play on the ground. Find out more here!Download PDFAbout UsStudyingCongregations.org is the premier resource for understanding religious congregations in the United States. A collaborative project of leading scholars in the fields of sociology of religion, history, and practical theology, the strategies, resources and tools you will discover on this site have been designed specifically for theological educators, future religious leaders, and anyone else who wants to go beyond the received wisdom to discover what is happening in religious gatherings today.This resource is offered to you as a gift of the Congregational Studies Team, an informal research group that has led the way in researching US congregations. Their work was generously funded by The Lilly Endowment.Read MoreBuy the HandbookPrefer paper? Love a good throwback in time? Want more examples and exercises for understanding your congregation? Buy Studying Congregations: A New Handbook.Buy it now!QuotablesLatina/o draw from a rich history of popular religiosity and resistance, intimate knowledge of Biblical texts, and a close personal relationship to God in order to shape the world they want to create. They are clothing the poor, feeding the homeless, driving members to the voting polls, fasting for immigrant rights, and participating in anti-gang activities (amongst many other activities) at a far higher percentage rate than their Catholic counterparts.Faith and Political Engagement: Latina/o Protestants At the Intersection, Lil Milagro HenriquezAnd while seminaries and various theological education programs may have prepared us ministers to think theologically, interpret scripture, preach, provide pastoral care, and lead worship and ritual, systems of formal training are just now beginning to move outside of these realms into consciously preparing clergy with the general skills necessary to lead any organization, including congregations.Pastoral Leadership that Matters: A UCC Study, Kristina Lizardi-HajbiWhether attenders help others or not is related to things that are within attenders’ control making friends and engaging in private devotions.New Research: Religion as Social Support, Jennifer McClureIf congregations and their leaders do not equip members with skills to address differences constructively, then there is a greater likelihood that conflict will become harmful.6 Ways to Keep Congregational Conflicts Constructive by Joyce Mercer, Joyce Ann MercerWhen families have been part of a community for generations, the stories they share are deep and significant. The places they have lived and worshiped and buried their dead take on a sacred character that goes beyond any doctrine.Why are young adults leaving their churches?, Nancy T. AmmermanThe shared racial or ethnic heritage of participants shapes the values, beliefs, and practices that define a congregation’s organizational culture. From the type of music on Sunday morning to the type of food at Wednesday night potlucks, race is present in congregations.Ask the Expert: Difficulties of Diversity – Why So Few Congregations are Racially Integrated, Brandon C. Martinez and Kevin D. DoughertyOur religious lives have a geography, at least some of it rooted in our places of worship.Space Tour: Queen of Heaven Parish, Brett HooverShouldn’t congregations, whose weekly message usually has something to do with love, grace, forgiveness, or repentance, lead the charge in promoting a less violent culture – especially for the sake of our children?Toys are not Guns: Changing the Way our Children Play, Leah Gunning-FrancisAttending to the health and functioning of a parish congregation, a religious order, or other church community as a whole will necessarily mean that its members must give up something that would have been good for them as individuals – leisure, economic benefits, even work or living preferences – for the good of the group.Building Strong Church Communities: A Sociological Perspective, Patricia WittbergFeatured Interview with Sociologist Nancy AmmermanHer engagement with congregational studiesListen in as Graeme Flett catches up with our project director, Nancy Ammerman, and learn about her own accidental entry into studying congregations as a sociologist of religion. About Professor Ammerman Nancy T. Ammerman is project director at StudyingCongregations.org and Professor of Sociology of Religion at Boston University's School of Theology and College of Arts & Sciences. A leading scholar in the field, her research on congregations includes Congregation and Community (1996) and Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners (2005)

TAGS:Studying Congregations 

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Hot Websites