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

Commitment & Belonging, Ecology Frame, Featured-Fieldnote, Networks & Relationships, Resources Frame, Social Service & Activism

When we think about relationships in congregational life, we often think about relationships between attenders within a congregation. But what about relationships between congregations as organizations? These relationships can involve friendships between ministers, joint events, collaborations, and other partnerships. And different kinds of relationships can have different consequences.   My research has looked at two…

Faith-Based Programming:
Four Tips for Congregations

Buildings & Spaces, Ecology Frame, Neighborhoods & Contexts, Networks & Relationships, Resources Frame, Social Service & Activism, United States & Canada

How should congregations aiming to initiate or expand their social service programming go about doing so? We recently published The Arc of Faith-Based Initiatives (2018, Springer) and have both examined congregational social services for about two decades. Our research suggests four critical considerations. What’s your programming focus and will it fill a void? The field…

From Sidewalks to Ports:
Expanding Congregational Connections

Ecology Frame, Ecology-Feature, Interviews, Neighborhoods & Contexts, Social Service & Activism, Walking Tours

Ninety percent of the consumer goods we use daily come to us through the global shipping industry, a sector invisible to most of us and rarely thought about by congregations. Growing attention focuses on the conditions under which goods are made, but what about the people who transport those goods to us? Every day, across…