What Congregations Do

What Congregations Do September 28, 2015

Mark Chaves observes (Congregations in America) that it is difficult to say what congregations do, and that for two reasons. On the one hand, a congregation’s “ministry” may actually be the work of a tiny minority of a congregation., On the other hand, congregations in the US are widely and deeply involved in many activities and programs that aren’t organized by the congregation itself. He endorses Paul Douglass, who said in 1927 that a congregation is “a network of enterprises loosely knotted together rather than a closely woven fabric. Its unity is administrative rather than local” (204).

What do congregations do outside the congregation? In part, they involve themselves in denominational activities. But their activities are not limited to denominational structures: “Many of what we now consider standard and natural features of congregations became so because of such movements, which often cross denominational lines and also shape congregations unaffiliated with any denomination. Sunday schools, youth groups, choirs, and gospel choirs all became more or less standard features of American congregations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries because successful social movements encouraged congregations to adopt these activities. Women’s missionary societies—a congregational feature with less staying power than Sunday schools, youth groups, or choirs—also were created largely in response to a nationally organized women’s foreign mission movement dedicated to establishing an auxiliary society in every local church” (209-10).

Not all the outside inspirations are strictly religious either. Congregations joined the Civil Rights movement or became sanctuary churches because of “social movements.” Chaves observes, “notable percentage of American congregations build or rehabilitate houses today because a national organization, Habitat for Humanity, provides a structure that facilitates such work” (210).


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