home

Ways Churches Can Respond to Contextual Change

Churches respond to contextual change in a variety of ways. Gary Goreham and Richard Rathge described some of the ways churches respond to contextual change in "Impact and Response of Rural Transition on Rural North Dakota Churches: An Exploratory Study" (article 4-4). Goreham and Rathge investigated how rural transition impacted rural churches and how they responded. They considered buildings and property, youth and adult programs, community outreach, lay leadership, pastoral duties, attendance and membership, religious education, church finances, and congregational mood and dynamics. Goreham and Rathge suggested that the transition's impact and the church's response may be related to the size of the community.

One method churches may use to respond to contextual change is organizational restructuring. Marvin Judy in "Parish Development Aids" (article 4-5) outlined seven ways to restructure church organizations for cooperative ministry. These include the extended ministry, enlarged circle, larger parish, group ministry, yoked field, federated church, and consolidation. Additionally, he offers guides for church meetings and self-inventory for churches considering cooperative ministry.

Similarly, Marshall Schirer and Mary Anne Forehand compared six different organizational structures in "Types of Cooperative Ministry" (article 4-6). These included the multi-church parish, yoked parishes, extended ministries, satellite ministries, cluster groups, and shared facility arrangements. They described some of the advantages and disadvantages of each of these forms of cooperative ministry. In addition, their "Suggested Agreement to Share Facilities" (article 4-7) outlined ways for a church to share facilities with other congregations.

Randolph Cantrell, James Krile, and George Donohue analyzed the impact of yoked churches on communities in "Church Activity and the Yoked Parish: A Structural Adaptation to Scarcity" (article 4-8). They found many rural Minnesota churches from various denominations shared programs, services, and ministerial staff. However, yoked churches were less likely to be involved in local community issues than churches that had not been yoked. Pastoral staff in yoked churches typically had less time for community issues. The authors suggested that yoked churches may offer viability to the congregation, but they aren't as likely to become a resource for community viability.

A second response to contextual change could be to establish area ministries. John Photiadis in "Area Ministry" (article 4-9) described their function at the multi-denominational level or the multi-congregational level rather than at the single-congregational level. They are designed for support, advice, and/or action to local congregations.

A highly active area ministry is the Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA). Michael Carter and Greg Hoover in "Local Churches Improving Life in Appalachia: A Collective Action Commentary" (article 4-10) described the work of CORA to show how an area ministry can serve the social, economic, and spiritual needs of a region's residents.

Another response to contextual shifts is for local congregations to become involved in various forms of social action and social ministry. We may differentiate between "social action" and "social ministry," Social action addresses social problems, and social ministry addresses social problems but is based on Christian discipleship. Wolfgang Bielefeld, Randy Cantrell, and George Donohue in "Economic Activism of Minnesota Churches in Two Regions" (article 4-11) examined how churches are involved in their communities' economic issues. They found that industrial and economic strength and community and church size were related to church economic activism.

John Wilson, Ida Harper Simpson, and David Jackson reviewed whether rural residents were active in the church in "Church Activism Among Farm Couples Measuring the Impact of the Conjugal Unit" (article 4-12). They found that husbands and wives facilitated each other's involvement in the church, although wives had a greater impact on their husbands than vice versa. Husbands allowed their non-church activities to shape their church involvement more than did their wives.

How is your church responding to changes in the community? The projects at the end of the unit should provide some tools.