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Welcome
to the inaugural issue of InSites into American Religion,
a quarterly e-newsletter published under the auspices of the Resources
for American Christianity web site.
Volume One Number One February 2004 |
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Each newsletter issue will contain two feature articles. The first feature will be a summary of religion research findings drawn from several of the web sites covered by this newsletter. A second feature article will be an in-depth review of the content offered by one of the more than 20 web sites associated with the InSites into American Religion project. Congregations and Social Service Whatever one’s view of President Bush’s faith-based initiative, one thing is clear: The president is right when he says religious congregations make a difference in people’s lives. Recent studies show that the majority of congregations across the country provide a safety net for people in need, offering everything from food and clothes to tutoring and day care. Furthermore, these studies show congregations do good works across all denominations and religious affiliations. Muslims mosques, for example, provide the same level of community caring, as do churches and synagogues, according to the Faith Community Today (FACT) survey of 14,301 congregations conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Among Christian denominations, the studies show a consistent can-do attitude when it comes to assisting people in need. Liberal Protestants rate only slightly higher than moderate Protestants and evangelical Protestants when it comes to doing good works. And although bigger churches with bigger budgets do more, small churches –with 50 or fewer members--carry their share of the burden. Just about the only thing the studies disagree on are the numbers. The FACT study shows that 9 out of 10 congregations are engaged in providing some kind of social service. The National Congregations Study of 1,236 congregations, analyzed by University of Arizona sociologists Mark Chaves and William Tsitsos, finds that only 57 percent of congregations, or more than one of two, support some kind of ministry to people in need. Whatever the exact number, the studies demonstrate that congregations are critical players in delivering social services. Left to be determined is how their role might grow under the President’s initiative. There is virtually no disagreement on the kinds of social services congregations provide. Studies are unanimous in finding that congregations are most likely to take on short-term, emergency care, especially providing food, clothing and shelter. Less common are educational programs, such as tutoring and literacy, and health-related programs intended to help people with substance abuse, AIDS and unwanted pregnancy. This type of emergency care may run counter to the role President Bush envisions for religious communities in his faith-based initiative. In his January, 2003 State of the Union address, Bush singled out a drug rehabilitation program run by the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, La., which says it relies “solely on ... the Word of God to break the bands of addiction.” Chaves and Tsitsos’ study says short-term and fleeting emergency needs of individuals than to be engaged in face-to-face and personalistic activity aimed at fundamental character transformation,” the authors write. Another study of 549 congregations
by sociologist Nancy T. Ammerman, then at Hartford Seminary, now at
Boston University, points to a further wrinkle in the way congregations
provide assistance. The study, part of the “Organizing
Religious Work Project,” shows that congregations are
most likely to partner informally with two or more faith groups to According to this study, one third of congregations partner with secular nonprofit organizations and a smaller number, 29 percent, partner with governmental groups, such as public schools and community policing departments. These connections rarely receive financial assistance from the government. Overall, the study finds the average congregation partners with six community outreach organizations. Large mainline Protestant churches are the most likely to have multiple collaboration partners. But as the study points out, social service work comes in addition to the primary work of the congregation, which it identifies as worship and fellowship. At a time when many are wondering how congregations can help implement the president’s initiative, and do more to salve society’s wounds, that final cautionary note is worth remembering. “While congregations are intimately involved in the good work that is done in every community, their primary task is not the delivery of social services or supporting cultural organizations,” Ammerman writes. “Across every tradition and in every region, congregations agree --their highest priority is providing opportunities for vital spiritual worship.”
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Pulpit
and Pew website
The Pulpit & Pew project is an
interdenominational effort aimed at “strengthening the quality of
pastoral leadership in churches, parishes, and other faith communities
across America.” The several year project is being undertaken by J.M.
Ormond Center at the Divinity School at Duke The Pulpit and Pew project draws on the many years of superb research work in the area of pastoral and congregational leadership by Jackson Carroll. The design of the project brought together many well-known scholars of religion to research a wide variety of over a dozen topics related to the state of clergy in the US and the changing pressures on congregational leadership. Project reports, summary articles, and dissertations have already been produced from this project. Many of these fine reports are available on the project web site. One of the most intriguing recent reports
focuses on What
Preachers are Reading. This interesting report, also featured
in the August 23, 2003 Christian Century, highlights the findings
from a study done in 2001 in which 833 clergy from over 80 denominations
were polled on how often they read and what types of books, authors and
journals they read. The study found that there are significant
differences between the reading patterns of Catholic, moderate
Protestant and conservative Protestant clergy. |
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| Hidden
in most web sites are gems of knowledge, pages known only to the web
developers. In this regular column we hope to uncover and highlight some
of those treasures. Enjoy!
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| True
to its name, this section will highlight an interesting, useful and
educational feature of one of the affiliate web sites. The section will
also identify newsworthy information about conferences, grant programs
and deadlines, and new informational resources.
Practice your faith
News
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| The
Tech tips section will include handy items of interest regarding web
resources, techniques for Internet searching and browsing and other
facts to facilitate doing ministry in our technological world.
Where to get Reports on Churches and Social Service
Internet too big for you?
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InSites is a quarterly E-newsletter designed to educate the public about the web resources from religion institutes and projects related to the initiatives in religion of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. This is a joint project of Scott Thumma, Hartford Seminary and Joe Coalter, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Scott Thumma is the newsletter editor, with assistance and writing by Samantha Gonzalez and Yonat Shimron. An abbreviated version of the e-newsletter is distributed quarterly via email. If you would like to receive this email please send a subscription email to InSites@hartsem.edu and request either the html or text version. An Adobe pdf version of the newsletter is available online for printing and distributing. To open a pdf document you must have the free Adobe reader installed on your computer. Download the program at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Everyone is free to print and distribute the newsletter. Permission to excerpt and reprint portions of the newsletter content is hereby given. Send an email to InSites@hartsem.edu for more information about the newsletter or to offer suggestions and feedback. Beginning spring 2004, an archive of previous issues will available at the Resources for American Christianity web site at www.resourcingchristianity.org Please forward the newsletter to a Friend! |
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This
quarterly electronic newsletter is dedicated to promoting the work and
research of over twenty web sites of religion institutes, programs and
projects related to the initiatives in religion of the Lilly Endowment,
Inc. The newsletter
offers informative summaries of research and news contained on these web
sites in an effort to make this information more widely known and used. 
get
the work done. Typically, this kind of partnering is done without a
staff or a formal name. Food pantries and clothes closets are often run
this way.
University
and is directed by Jackson Carroll. The web site to support this project
is rapidly becoming a rich resource of excellent articles and research
reports about clergy leadership.
A listing of
Programs Offering the Ph.D. or Th.D. Degree in Religious and Theological
Studies can be found on the Fund for Theological Education web site at
Wanting to expand your understanding of
spiritual disciplines? Check out the newly designed Practicing our
Faith web site at 
All the studies mentioned in this article
have reports and other information online that anyone can obtain for
free.