The Congregational Studies Project Team

The Congregational Studies Project Team is an informal coalition of scholars and researchers who share an interest in congregations.  The eleven team members meet a few times each year for discussion of common projects and for mutual professional support.  Its members, in various combinations, have written numerous books on congregations and sponsored national conferences and institutes on congregational studies.  The Lilly Endowment funds the continuing work of the congregational studies project team. 

For nearly thirty years, the Congregational Studies Project Team has led the way in inviting scholars to engage in serious, rigorous research on congregational life and encouraging religious leaders to draw on academic research to enrich their ability to provide effective leadership to local religious communities. During the next two years, the Team invites younger scholars and religious leaders, from any discipline, whose focus is on the practices of local communities of faith, to enter into a program of research and networking. Participants can enhance their ability to do excellent research that will also provide the wisdom with which gatherings of faithful people and their leaders can see more clearly and act more faithfully. For more information see the Engaged Scholars grant program

The Congregational Studies Team includes: Nancy Ammerman (Boston University), Penny Edgell (University of Minnesota), Nancy Eiesland (Emory University), Larry Mamiya (Vassar College), Bill McKinney (Pacific School of Religion), Omar McRoberts (University of Chicago), James Nieman (Hartford Seminary) Robert Schreiter (Catholic Theological Union), Stephen Warner (University of Illinois, Chicago), and Jack Wertheimer (Jewish Theological Seminary).