Organising God's Work: Challenges for Churches and Synagogues / Edition 1

by M. Harris, Harris

Overview

This book provides an organizational perspective on the local congregations of Christian and Jewish churches and synagogues. It will meet the need of those who work in congregations--clergy and lay people alike--for an accessible, non-judgmental analysis of the day-to-day work challenges they face. It will also fill a gap in the literature of four academic fields: social policy and administration; non-profit and voluntary-sector management; the sociology of religion; and organizational behavior.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312215019
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/11/1999
Edition description:	1998
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Margaret Harris is Assistant Director at the Center for Voluntary Organization in the London School of Economics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
• Part I: Organizing Congregations
• Local Churches and Synagogues
• Cause for Concern: Emerging Organizational Issues
• Three Churches and a Synagogue: Four Case Congregations
• Part II: Challenges for Congregations
• Mission Impossible? Choosing Goals and Implementing Them
• King Pin or Facilitator? The Ambiguous Role of Ministers of Religion
• Willing Spirits? The Position of Lay Staff and Volunteers
• Taking things Gradually? Change, Growth and Organizational Structures
• Serving a Useful Purpose? Dilemmas of Caring
• Part III: Congregations in Perspective
• An Organizational Perspective on Congregations
• A Public Policy Perspective on Congregations
• Appendix: Research Approach and Fieldwork
• Notes
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index

Editorial Reviews

This is an important and timely book, with a wealth of information for scholars, policy analysts, and institutional practicioners themselves. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

From the Publisher

Provides a new perspective on the local congregations of churches and synagogues. It looks at them as organizations and shows how, irrespective of denomination and religion, congregations face a number of similar issues in our rapidly changing religious and public-policy climate, i.e. setting goals and priorities, motivating volunteers, facilitating organizational change, maintaining authenticity, the role of women, and the relationships between lay people and clergy. It also reveals the important contributions that contemporary congregations make to social welfare and to the maintenance of civil society. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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