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What We’re Thinking

What’s Up With the Clergy?

By Nancy AmmermanSeptember 26, 2023

There’s been a lot of buzz recently about the state of health and happiness among…

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Helping or Hindering? The Impact of Congregations’ Networks on Their Vitality and Sustainability

By Jennifer McClure HarawaySeptember 6, 2023

When we think about relationships in congregational life, we often think about relationships between attenders…

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Listening to Congregations

By Nancy AmmermanAugust 29, 2023

When we say we are ‘observing’ congregational life, we often think about using our eyes…

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COVID-19 and the Changing Meaning of Attendance

By Brenton Kalinowski and Elaine Howard EcklundAugust 16, 2023

How many people attended religious services last week? That used to be a relatively simple…

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COVID-19 Poses New Leadership Challenges

By Brenton Kalinowski and Elaine Howard EcklundAugust 7, 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused strain on religious organizations and their leaders. They have been…

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When Congregations Share Their Properties:
5 Principles for Good Decisions

By Paul D. NumrichJuly 21, 2023

My recent studies of congregations have shown me that a shared parking lot often isn’t…

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Resources Abound!

By Nancy AmmermanFebruary 14, 2022

The University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture is especially focused, not…

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Check Out the Latest Research on Congregations

By Nancy AmmermanOctober 21, 2021

Explore projects that are gathering religious research and are offering resources to congregations on their…

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Supporting Transformation During Times of Congregational Change

By Anna HallSeptember 15, 2021

Even as change has become ever-present in our lives and those of our churches during…

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What Next?
How Has the Pandemic Changed Your Congregation for Good?

By Nancy AmmermanAugust 23, 2021

If ‘congregation’ implies gathering, March 2020 created a seismic shift that has fundamentally altered congregational…

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Finding God in a Pandemic and Beyond:
Online and Ordinary Sacred Places

By Deborah Ann WongJuly 6, 2021

Where does one go to find God? Quite commonly, a place of worship. Even people…

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Networked Congregations:
Together and Apart

By Deborah Ann WongJune 23, 2021

Worship is a central activity of congregations everywhere, but what has happened during these months…

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Teaching about Congregations

By Nancy AmmermanJune 10, 2021

Are you teaching about congregations in an upcoming semester? Just curious about existing data on…

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Gender & Congregational Life Survey

By Nancy AmmermanMarch 26, 2021

Studying congregations always means paying attention to the different ways people are involved – especially…

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Exploring Congregational Connections

By Jennifer McClure HarawayMarch 12, 2021

No – those aren’t coronaviruses you see! They are connections between congregations! As much as…

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New Congregational Research Abounds

By Nancy AmmermanNovember 16, 2020

There are a lot of congregational studies going on these days! The Lilly Endowment (sometimes…

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What We’re Reading

By Nancy AmmermanSeptember 2, 2020

For all the emptiness and chaos, this is also proving to be a time of…

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Faith-Based Programming:
Four Tips for Congregations

By John P. Bartkowski and Susan E. GrettenbergerAugust 24, 2020

How should congregations aiming to initiate or expand their social service programming go about doing…

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Learning about Denominations

By Art FarnsleyJuly 9, 2020

When students and others observe a new congregation or parish it is helpful to know…

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Flourishing Congregations:
Not All Are As They Appear

By Joel ThiessenMay 11, 2020

Amidst the endless stream of research studies, news stories, and anecdotes that rightly report on…

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Studying Congregations in a Pandemic

By Nancy AmmermanApril 21, 2020

In the midst of this pandemic, congregations have often been in the news (not always…

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A Good Time for a Walk

By Nancy AmmermanApril 7, 2020

During these long days of physical isolation, long walks around my community of West Roxbury,…

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News for the Studying Congregations Community

By Nancy AmmermanMarch 30, 2020

Just about every religious group out there is producing materials to assist congregations in this…

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What’s your ‘Sung’ Theology?

By Nancy AmmermanMarch 6, 2020

Here’s a research project for anyone curious about the theology that is being preached when…

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Embodying Welcome

By Nancy AmmermanJanuary 28, 2020

In every religious community that has life there are people who embody and extend that…

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Beyond the “People”:
The Stories Congregational Buildings Tell

By Nancy AmmermanJanuary 6, 2020

Two stories back in 2014 had me thinking about that old children’s finger play –…

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Thinking about How We Gather

By Nancy AmmermanDecember 6, 2019

In recent years, many people have wondered whether new forms of religious gathering might be…

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Seeing & Staying:
Rural Congregations and Rural Communities

By Nancy AmmermanOctober 23, 2019

Many students of congregational life focus their attention on religious gatherings in the city. It’s…

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Why is Church so Hard for Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

By Susan Crawford SullivanOctober 1, 2019

“Church should not be another place of struggle. Like school can be a struggle, or…

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From Sidewalks to Ports:
Expanding Congregational Connections

By Wendy Cadge and Michael SkaggsSeptember 11, 2019

Ninety percent of the consumer goods we use daily come to us through the global…

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We Will Feast:
Studying New Ways of Congregating

By Kendall VandersliceAugust 1, 2019

I attended my first dinner-church service on a warm Thursday evening in the summer of…

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Great Data for Curious Leaders

By Andrew WhiteheadMay 16, 2019

If you are a congregational leader or lay worker in a local church, you’ve likely…

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Where are the Children with Chronic Health Conditions and their Families?

By Andrew WhiteheadMay 8, 2019

Most congregations pride themselves on being open and welcoming to newcomers. They might station greeters…

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The Practicalities of Change:
Racial Integration in a South African Church

By Marthe HesselmansMarch 27, 2019

In South Africa churches may be among the last bastions of apartheid, but some churchgoers…

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Thinking about Conflict

By Joyce MercerMarch 19, 2019

The recent General Assembly of the United Methodist Church has resulted in much soul-searching and…

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Competition in the Neighborhood?

By Mark T. MudlerFebruary 21, 2019

Why would a church ask a departing pastor to sign a non-compete agreement? In December…

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The Bittersweet Reality of Multiracial Churches

By Korie L. EdwardsFebruary 5, 2019

Multiracial congregations are all the rage, it seems, at least among Protestants. Conferences are being…

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What to do about the building

By Nancy AmmermanDecember 5, 2018

A recent article in The Atlantic proclaimed ”an epidemic of empty churches.” And the very…

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Who is Your Neighbor? Who Decides?

By Nancy AmmermanNovember 27, 2018

Immigration has become one of the most difficult issues facing people throughout Europe and North…

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Finding Resources in Unexpected Places

By Nancy AmmermanNovember 16, 2018

Mike Mather has spent most of his adult life pastoring churches in neighborhoods most people…

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Faith and Political Engagement:
Latina/o Protestants At the Intersection

By Lil Milagro HenriquezNovember 5, 2018

From the outside, Allen Temple Ministerios Hispanos (ATMH) is unimposing. Located deep in poverty-stricken East…

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Theologians in the Field

By Nancy AmmermanOctober 15, 2018

Over the last couple of decades, the field of practical theology has increasingly drawn on…

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Taking Time:
Understanding Neighborhood Engagement as a Long-Term Process

By Ellen ChildsOctober 9, 2018

The Huffington Post recently published an article about Shobi’s Table. The article discusses a number…

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The Songs We Sing

By Nancy AmmermanSeptember 24, 2018

An important part of the culture of every congregation is the music they experience together. …

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Doubt in the Pulpit: How to Handle Tough Questions

By Ellen ChildsSeptember 10, 2018

New York City’s Riverside Church has a new pastor, Rev. Amy Butler, is not new…

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Working Together in Spite of Differences?

By Nancy AmmermanAugust 30, 2018

Understanding a congregation’s context is complicated these days – but never more important. The communities…

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Being Faithful Rememberers: Bringing Congregational Histories Out of the Attic

By Nancy AmmermanAugust 23, 2018

The Congregational Library and Archives in Boston has the exciting task of preserving – and…

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Building Your Community: The Process of Assimilation

By Ellen ChildsJune 21, 2018

One important aspect of your congregation is recognizing the boundaries of who is included versus…

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Different Needs: Urban and Suburban Congregations

By Ellen ChildsMay 3, 2018

The Houston Chronicle published a piece outlining the multi-site, First Methodist Church in Houston. One…

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Muslim women perform Ramadan prayers at Heartsong Church, suburban Memphis.

When Congregations Share Their Properties:
5 Principles for Good Decisions

By Paul D. NumrichApril 25, 2018

My recent studies of congregations have shown me that a shared parking lot often isn’t…

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Six Ways to Keep Congregational Conflicts Constructive

By Joyce MercerApril 17, 2018

Question: We are watching congregations all around us be torn apart by conflicts. How can…

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From the Archives: “A View of Your Neighborhood: A Walking Tour”

By Ellen ChildsApril 8, 2018

One of the best ways to get a feel for the community around your congregation…

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Why Belong?

By Nancy AmmermanMarch 28, 2018

Why belong? That’s what lots of people are asking themselves these days.  And it’s what…

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From the Archives: “Using Ritual to Assist in Change”

By Ellen ChildsMarch 21, 2018

An article from the York, Pennsylvania Dispatch outlined how two churches used ceremony and ritual…

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Piecing Together Resources

By R. Stephen WarnerFebruary 7, 2018

By R. Stephen Warner     During worship at Immanuel Lutheran Church (Evanston, Illinois) on…

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From the Archives: “Why are young adults leaving their churches?”

By Nancy AmmermanFebruary 4, 2018

Question:  Why are all the young adults leaving the churches that their families have been…

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From the Archives: “What do we know about congregational size?”

By Ellen ChildsJanuary 22, 2018

Question: What do we know about congregational size? In the United States, most congregations are…

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Congregational Conflict: Listening to the Conflict

By Ellen ChildsDecember 6, 2017

Conflict is a natural part of human interaction — there will be differences in opinion…

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How to Ask Good Questions

By Ellen ChildsNovember 20, 2017

An important part of any study is having a clear research question. The language of “research…

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When a Shared Parking Lot Isn’t Just About Parking

By Paul D. NumrichOctober 10, 2017

|| Written by Paul D. Numrich, Methodist Theological School in Ohio and Trinity Lutheran Seminary || What…

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From Evaluation to Engagement

By Roman WilliamsOctober 10, 2017

Figuring out whether or not a program works poses an interesting challenge. It’s something that…

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Before the Disaster Strikes

By Nancy AmmermanSeptember 12, 2017

  As disasters strike – all too often, it seems – we often see churches,…

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Social Engagement and the London Megachurch

By Sarah DunlopAugust 19, 2016

The Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK has funded a three-year study of…

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Lent & Ramadan under the Same Roof

By Christopher BrittainJuly 20, 2016

“Calling ISIS ‘Muslim’ is like going to KFC, sitting down to eat a bucket of…

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Producing Religion Online: Two Case Studies

By ter Kuile & ThurstonApril 20, 2016

[message_box title=”From the Editor” color=”blue”]This article features interactive content. To see additional commentary hover your…

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Walking with Cameras

By Roman WilliamsApril 20, 2016

A variation of the walking tour is a great way to explore a congregation’s context: walking with…

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Pop-Up Shabbat: A Dinner Community Case Study

By ter Kuile & ThurstonMarch 28, 2016

[message_box title=”From the Editor” color=”blue”]This article features interactive content. To see additional commentary hover your…

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Taking the Measure of American Congregations

By Nancy AmmermanMarch 16, 2016

The 2015 report from the National Congregations Study  allows interested students of congregational life to…

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Engaging Congregations with Photovoice

By Roman WilliamsFebruary 10, 2016

Photovoice (PV) is a technique that enables researchers to identify needs and stimulate social change…

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Affiliation Matters

By Nancy AmmermanNovember 3, 2015

The latest Pew Religious Landscape Survey is full of interesting insights into changes occurring in…

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How Are We Doing?

By Nancy AmmermanSeptember 3, 2015

One of the reasons people get interested in learning more about a congregation is often…

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The Disabled Church: Desiring Difference within Congregational Life

By Rebecca SpurrierAugust 19, 2015

How does a congregation make time and space for the disabilities and differences of those…

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When Congregation-Based Activism Is…Complicated

By Rebecca Barrett-FoxAugust 11, 2015

Though most conservative Christian organizations, denominations, and congregations have abandoned explicitly homophobic rhetoric in their…

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Congregations and Community Involvement: The Impact of Friendships and Congregational Size

By Jennifer McClure HarawayMay 8, 2015

Contributor Jennifer McClure shares her recent published research examining the intersection of network connections, congregational size, and community…

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Faith and Political Engagement: Latina/o Protestants At the Intersection

By Lil Milagro HenriquezApril 17, 2015

From the outside, Allen Temple Ministerios Hispanos (ATMH) is unimposing. Located deep in poverty-stricken East…

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Ethical Considerations in Visual Research

By Roman WilliamsApril 10, 2015

This post is the last in a series by the Congregational Studies Visual Methods Fellow,…

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Catholicism in the Castro: Parish Life in Context

By Ellen ChildsMarch 26, 2015

The National Catholic Reporter published a five-part series on San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer Church,…

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Refocus the Conversation: About “Attracting Families”

By Ellen ChildsFebruary 25, 2015

Is your congregation attempting to reach out to “young families?” Jan Edmiston works at the Presbytery…

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#Ashtag and Sharing Religion on Social Networks

By Ellen ChildsFebruary 19, 2015

Look at all these priests sharing #ashtag selfies today http://t.co/BHXVI0H5qH pic.twitter.com/fX1USKhs39 — Mashable (@mashable) February…

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Pay What You Want: An Examination of Dues

By Ellen ChildsFebruary 5, 2015

The New York Times posted an article about the changing sources of income for some…

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Membership Decline: Facing the Real Issue

By Ellen ChildsJanuary 30, 2015

Christianity Today is highlighting the plight of rural vicars in congregations in England. Churches are…

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Bringing Programs into Focus: Using Photos for Evaluation

By Roman WilliamsJanuary 22, 2015

Evaluation is an important, though frequently neglected, component of any program. Some congregations use word…

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The Building as an Asset: Thinking Differently about Congregational Programs

By Ellen ChildsJanuary 20, 2015

The Christian Century posted an article in 2015 proposing thinking about a congregation’s building as…

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Female Catholic Priests: Muddied Organizational Waters

By Ellen ChildsJanuary 7, 2015

The Kansas City Star is reporting that Georgia Walker — a woman — became a…

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Death in Declining Congregations: A Case Study

By Ellen ChildsDecember 15, 2014

More and more congregations within the United States are declining, and with that decline come…

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Pastoral Leadership that Matters: A UCC Study

By Kristina Lizardy-HajbiDecember 8, 2014

Leadership matters. More specifically, pastoral leadership matters. In every setting of congregational life, talk of…

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Congregational Snapshots: Understanding and Engaging Congregations through Cell Phone Photographs

By Roman WilliamsNovember 25, 2014

This is the first post in a  series by the Congregational Studies Visual Methods Fellow, Roman…

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Eyeing the Budget: Content Analysis of Priorities

By Ellen ChildsNovember 18, 2014

When you’re having a problem within your congregation, you should 1) figure out a research…

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Faith-Based Property Development: Using Your Resources

By Ellen ChildsNovember 10, 2014

Urban congregations across the country are dealing with aging buildings and declining rates of attendance,…

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Congregational Conflict: Listening to the Conflict

By Ellen ChildsNovember 5, 2014

Conflict is a natural part of human interaction — there will be differences in opinion…

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Maintaining Boundaries: The Process of Enforcing Expectations

By Ellen ChildsOctober 30, 2014

New members to any group need to learn the unspoken rules and norms of the…

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How to Read Social Science Papers

By Ellen ChildsOctober 16, 2014

Maybe you’ve found a great quantitative social science journal article that seems interesting, but the structure…

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Examining a Jewish Enclave: Ecology and Resources

By Ellen ChildsSeptember 24, 2014

Michelle Boorstein at The Washington Post wrote an article about a small Jewish community in…

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Developing the Role of Laity in Catholic Churches: Plans and Goals

By Ellen ChildsSeptember 17, 2014

The Catholic Archbishop of southeastern Wisconsin, Jerome Listecki, issued a declaration shifting priorities within the…

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No One Should Have To Do This Alone!

By Ellen ChildsSeptember 15, 2014

The UCC blog, carducc.wordpress.com, posted a blog entry from Gail Cafferata, a researcher examining issues of…

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Research in Congregations: National Congregations Study, Wave 3

By Ellen ChildsSeptember 12, 2014

The results from the 2015 version of the National Congregations Study  (NCS) cover many topics,…

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Gentrification in LA: From the Religion and Civic Culture Blog

By Ellen ChildsAugust 27, 2014

Check out this post from the Religion and Civic Culture blog on gentrification in the…

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Discomfort in the Pews: Working With Multiethnic Congregations

By Ellen ChildsAugust 25, 2014

Corey Widmer wrote an interesting piece at Christianity Today about his work within a multiethnic…

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Congregations’ role in Community Support: A View on Ferguson, MO

By Ellen ChildsAugust 22, 2014

During times of struggle, congregations often ask themselves “what can we do to help?” The…

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Changes in the Mass: Institutions and Church Cultures

By Ellen ChildsAugust 15, 2014

When the Vatican announced changes to the way individuals should express signs of peace during…

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Religion as Social Support

By Jennifer McClure HarawayAugust 12, 2014

All around us, we face requests for help. Colleagues may ask us for advice, friends…

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The Shared Parish: Latinos, Anglos, and the Future of U.S. Catholicism

By Brett HooverAugust 8, 2014

As faith communities in the United States grow increasingly more diverse, many churches are turning…

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Why young Chinese Americans don’t go to church

By Seanan Fong, Russell Jeung, and Helen KimJuly 28, 2014

Question: Why don’t young Chinese Americans go to church? Lying at the intersection of America’s most…

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The Reality Behind “Spiritual But Not Religious”

By Nancy AmmermanJuly 23, 2014

Question: I hear a lot about people being “spiritual, but not religious.” What does that…

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Congregationalism in American Churches

By R. Stephen WarnerJuly 21, 2014

The focus of this site is the study of congregations, understood in the most basic…

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Organized Religion and the Rise of the ‘Nones’

By Ellen ChildsJuly 18, 2014

Rabbi Eric Yoffie published a commentary on Huffington Post outlining what he sees as an over-exaggeration…

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Changing Roles of Congregational Leaders: Management Skills

By Ellen ChildsJuly 9, 2014

David Gibson at the Religion News Service describes the changing roles of Catholic priests in…

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Framing Congregations: Redemption through a Visitor’s Lens

By Ellen ChildsJuly 7, 2014

NPR featured a story about a Washington Post reporter who simultaneously reported on drug crimes while being addicted…

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Language, Culture, and Congregations

By Ellen ChildsJuly 1, 2014

The Huffington Post posted an article outlining the complications historically Spanish-speaking congregations have in adapting…

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Congregational Profile: LifeGARDEN

By Ellen ChildsJune 27, 2014

LifeGARDEN, a mission of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove, MN, is a…

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PBS Special: Endangered Churches as Resources for the Community

By Ellen ChildsJune 24, 2014

In 2014, PBS aired a Religion & Ethics Newsweekly report on closing churches in Philadelphia.…

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Calling all History Buffs: Houses of Worship through Time

By Ellen ChildsJune 20, 2014

The University of Minnesota is working on a project focused on data on congregations of…

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Faith on the Avenue: Book Overview

By Ellen ChildsJune 18, 2014

If you haven’t yet, pick up a copy of Katie Day’s Faith on the Avenue. It’s…

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On the Horizon: Religious Competition and Creative Innovation

By Ellen ChildsJune 16, 2014

From 2014-2017, the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) undertook a three-year project…

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St. Lydia’s Dinner Church

By Ellen ChildsJune 13, 2014

St. Lydia’s Dinner Church, in Brooklyn New York, is a different type of church. They…

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St. Paul’s Congregation: A Historical Timeline

By Ellen ChildsJune 6, 2014

The Alley News is a very local newspaper, based in the Phillips Neighborhood in Minneapolis.…

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The Strengths of Committees

By Ellen ChildsMay 21, 2014

Dan Hotchkiss at the Alban Institute wrote an interesting piece on the strength of committees.…

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Using Ritual to Assist in Change

By Ellen ChildsMay 16, 2014

An article from the York, Pennsylvania Dispatch outlined how two churches used ceremony and ritual…

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Using the Census:
A Case Study from Oak Park, IL & Anderson, IN

By Ellen ChildsMay 14, 2014

An important part of any congregational study is understanding the history and ecology of the community.…

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Making a Megachurch: Hebron Baptist Church

By Ellen ChildsMay 9, 2014

In the book A Particular Place: Urban Restructuring and Religious Ecology in a Southern Exurb,…

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Vision in Ministry: Developing a Vision Statement

By Ellen ChildsMay 7, 2014

Vision statements are organized statements outlining an organization’s vision for itself. Many organizations (both secular…

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The Particular Roles of Interim Pastors

By Ellen ChildsMay 5, 2014

The Billings Gazette featured an article discussing interim pastors and the particular roles they play. The…

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One Building, Two Rabbis, Alternating Services

By Ellen ChildsApril 28, 2014

The New Jersey Jewish News reports two interdenominational congregations are sharing one building. The two congregations…

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Interfaith Experiences, Individual Growth

By Ellen ChildsApril 23, 2014

The blog post below was written by Congregational Studies’ Team Engaged Scholar Ria Van Ryn…

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The Spirit’s Tether: Family, Work and Religion among American Catholics

By Mary Ellen KoniecznyApril 16, 2014

My book The Spirit’s Tether: Family, Work and Religion among American Catholics, was the product…

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Difficulties of Diversity – Why So Few Congregations are Racially Integrated

By Brandon C. Martinez and Kevin D. DoughertyApril 14, 2014

Question: Why are so few congregations racially integrated? Racial diversity in congregations is a popular…

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What do we know about congregational size?

By Ellen ChildsApril 7, 2014

Question: What do we know about congregational size? In the United States, most congregations are…

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Space Tour: Queen of Heaven Parish

By Brett HooverMarch 28, 2014

Pilar spoke to us in a rapid clip as she gave us a parish campus…

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Changing the Way “Things are Done”: Process Review

By Ellen ChildsMarch 19, 2014

The Process Frame is the frame that helps us consider the way things get done…

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By The Numbers: How Many Were There?

By R. Stephen WarnerMarch 17, 2014

Question: What can survey research tell us about church attendance? Social scientists have been tracking…

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Thinking about Congregational Mission

By Ellen ChildsMarch 14, 2014

The Minneapolis Star Tribune posted an article about the 50th anniversary of St. Paul’s Lutheran…

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Why would anyone attend a Megachurch?

By Gerardo MartiMarch 10, 2014

Question:  Why would anyone attend a Megachurch? It just seems to be about hype and…

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Commitment to the Congregation: Measurement Best Practices

By Ellen ChildsMarch 8, 2014

How do you study how committed people are to your religious group? Do you look…

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Environmentalism and the Black Church: New Frontiers

By Ellen ChildsMarch 1, 2014

An article from the Religion News Network highlights Trinity United Church of Christ, a Black…

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The Introduction of Newcomers

By Ellen ChildsFebruary 13, 2014

The people who make up a congregation changes regularly — new babies are born, individuals and…

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Lower Denominational Control: Effects of Changing Church Forms

By Ellen ChildsFebruary 11, 2014

Mark Chaves’ 2011 book, American Religion: Contemporary Trends, outlines a number of ways in which…

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Rituals as an Indicator of Congregational Culture

By Ellen ChildsFebruary 8, 2014

One important way to examine your religious community’s culture is through its rituals. Rituals say something about…

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Toys are not Guns: Churches Changing the Way Children Play

By Leah Gunning FrancisFebruary 6, 2014

In February 2013, our congregation had a month long celebration of Black History Month activities. …

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Building Strong Church Communities: A Sociological Perspective

By Patricia WittbergFebruary 3, 2014

At their deepest level, human beings are social creatures, in the image, Christians would say,…

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Church Shouldn’t Be This Hard

By Ellen ChildsJanuary 28, 2014

Tom Ehrich wrote a commentary at the Washington Post outlining why “church shouldn’t be this…

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Whitebread Protestants – Social Food to Create Community

By Ellen ChildsJanuary 13, 2014

Chapter 2 of Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture by Daniel Sack focuses on…

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Growing Churches: Religious Vitality in Canada

By Ellen ChildsJanuary 8, 2014

A National Post article examines Protestant mega-congregations in Canada and offers interesting insights into what…

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Perceptions of “Black Worship” in Multiethnic Congregations

By Ellen ChildsDecember 11, 2013

In Gerardo Marti’s book, Worship Across the Racial Divide, he discusses the life and vitality…

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Bishop Tests Congregation’s Compassion

By Ellen ChildsDecember 9, 2013

A Mormon bishop from Salt Lake City, David Musselman, recently transformed his appearance to that…

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Gender in the Pews

By Ellen ChildsDecember 6, 2013

A 2013 article in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel explores the issue of gender in…

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Worship Songs and Theology

By Ellen ChildsNovember 27, 2013

The Baptist Standard published a short piece about the ways in which theology shapes and…

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Multiculturalism In Congregations Is More Than Just Diversity

By Ellen ChildsNovember 10, 2013

For many congregations, having a more racially or ethnically diverse congregation is a goal, as…

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Understanding “Chreasters” – Members who Attend at Christmas and Easter

By Ellen ChildsNovember 9, 2013

The issue of how members become “Chreasters” – people who attend at Christmas and Easter…

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