Congregations in Transition: A Guide for Analyzing, Assessing, and Adapting in Changing Communities

by Carl S. Dudley, Nancy T. Ammerman

This hands-on guide helps congregations meet the reality and challenges of today's constantly changing urban and suburban church communities. Congregations in Transition, written in an easy-to-follow workbook format, is designed to help communities of faith focus on the changing needs of their members and explore the opportunities and options open to them.

Genres: Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 2002

Reviews

[Rev. Linda]

A good resource for pastors whose congregations want to grow, change, or consider other options: Adapt to a changing surrounding community, merge with another church, or close. Has some really good forms for putting the exercises into place. This is a text for a course I am taking at Phillips Theological in June: "Creating Vital Congregations for Social Change." -- From the publisher: This hands-on guide helps congregations meet the challenges of today's constantly changing urban and suburban church communities. Written in an easy-to-follow workbook format, it helps communities focus on the changing needs of their members and explore the options open to them.

[Andy Hickman]

Resourceful book.

“One of your first tasks in understanding the culture of your congregation is to take an inventory of the important pieces of the outside culture your members share. … information … that includes questions about education, occupation, ethnicity, and residence, for instance.” Ammerman, Culture, 80.

Nancy T. Ammerman, “Culture and Identity in the Congregation,” in Studying Congregations, eds, Nancy T. Ammerman, Jackson W. Carroll, etc (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998).