Congregations

IST 2006 Congregations (Hybrid)

Fall 2017

Instructor:       Antony Alumkal

Office Phone: 303-765-3131

Email: aalumkal@iliff.edu

To  download syllabus as a Word file, click link below:

AlumkalIST2006CongregationsHybridFall2017v1.doc

Course Description

An introduction to the social scientific literature on congre­gations. Students will learn basic methodology for analyzing congregations and their surrounding communities. A review of the empirical literature on congregations will cover issue such as congregational cultures, leadership styles, adaptation to community change, racial/ethnic diversity, fund-raising, and membership growth and decline.

Contacting Me

Email (not Canvas) is the best way to contact me during the week. If you have lengthy issues to discuss, we can set up a time for a phone conversation, Google Hangout, or Skype. If you will be in Denver, it is also possible to arrange for a face-to-face meeting.

The course aims to introduce students to the following:

1. Variations in congregational cultures.
2. Basic methodology for conducting an analysis of a congregation.
3. How congregations are affected by denominational and other institutional contexts.
4. How congregations reflect racial, ethnic, and theological traditions.
5. The relationships between congregations and their communities.
6. The challenges financial issues pose to congregational leaders.
7. Being critical consumers of social scientific research on religion.

1. The following books are required texts for the course.

Ammerman, Nancy. 1997. Congregation and Community. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Ammerman, Nancy, Jackson Carroll, Carl Dudley, and William McKinney. 1998. Studying Congregations: A New Handbook.  Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Becker, Penny Edgell. 1999. Congregations in Conflict: Cultural Models of Local Religious Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Christopher, J. Clif. 2015. Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship. Revised Edition. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Wellman, James K. 2008. Evangelical vs. Liberal: The Clash of Christian Cultures in the Pacific Northwest. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

2. The following readings are available as pdfs on the Canvas site:

Floyd-Thomas et al. 2007. Black Church Studies: An Introduction. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Chapter 7.

Kim, Sharon. 2010. “Shifting Boundaries within Second-Generation Korean American Churches.” Sociology of Religion 71:98-122.

Marti, Gerardo. 2012. “The Diversity-Affirming Latino: Ethnic Options and the Ethnic Transcendent Expression of American Latino Religious Identity.” Pp. 25-45 in Sustaining Faith Tradition: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion among the Latino and Asian American Second Generation. New York: New York University Press.

Marti, Gerardo and Gladys Ganiel. 2014. The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press. Introduction.

3. The following readings are available for free download.

Hadaway, C. Kirk. 2011. FACTs on Growth 2010. Hartford: Hartford Institute for Religious Research.

http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/facts-growth-2010

Lizardy-Hajbi, Kristina. 2015. Engaging Young Adults. Hartford: Hartford Institute for Religious Research.

http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/research-reports-2015

Mamiya, Larry. 2006. River of Struggle, River of Freedom: Trends among Black Churches and Black Pastoral Leadership. Durham, NC: Duke Divinity School.

http://pulpitandpew.org/pulpit-pew-research-reports

Roozen, David. 2015. 2015 American Congregations Report: Thriving and Surviving. Hartford: Hartford Institute for Religious Research.

http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/research-reports-2015

Thumma, Scott and Warren Bird. 2015. 2015 Megachurch Study.

http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/megachurches.html

A. The first type of assignment in the course will be regular postings on Canvas. These will be twice a week (with the exception of the final week of the course and around Gathering Days, plus a few breaks) with deadlines on Mondays and Thursdays at midnight Denver time. The class will be split up into smaller posting groups to keep the conversations manageable. You will be expected at minimum to make two kinds of posts for each deadline day. First, you should make a substantive response to the assignment question. (The assignment questions will be posted in advance on Canvas). Second, you should make a substantive response to another person’s post from the previous posting day. (If it is Thursday, you should respond to a post from Monday. If it is Monday, you should respond to a post from the previous Thursday). The responses should involve more than simply saying “I agree” or “I disagree” by adding more analysis (e.g. discussing why the statement may be true), nuance (e.g. saying that you believe the statement is true in some cases but not in others), or application (e.g. here are some implications for pastors of congregations). Multiplying two (times a weeks) by two (types of posts) means a minimum of four posts a week. Feel free to post more times, but I am more concerned about the quality of posts than the quantity. If you post at all required times and your posts are good quality, you can expect to get full credit (that mean an A).

B. Students are required to attend the two Gathering Days sessions: October 13, 1-5 pm and October 14, 8 am-Noon.

C. Each student must choose a congregation to study and write up a pilot research report. If you are working at a congregation, you are free to study that one if you wish. The due date is noon (Denver time) on November 16, submitted on Canvas. It should be 15-20 pages (double-spaced) and include the following:

1. Brief history of the congregation.
2. Demographics of the immediate location.
3. Profile of the leader(s) and an analysis of their style(s) of leadership.
4. Profile of the membership.
5. Denominational and other relevant networks.
6. Current goals and challenges for the leaders and for the congregation as a whole.
7. A list of 3-4 research questions that you would investigate if you had time and money for a lengthier study. Discuss why these questions are important and how they can be answered. If answering the research questions would involve interviews, describe whom you would interview and what kinds of questions you would ask.
8. Throughout the report, you should make references to the course readings. For example, you can argue, “this congregation looks like Becker’s family model” or “this congregation does not fit neatly into any of Becker’s congregational models.” Papers that do not reference the course readings will be marked down significantly.

The research for this report will likely involve some combination of observing services and other meetings and interviewing congregation members and clergy. Since this is a short-term project, it is okay for your findings to be tentative and for you to discuss what you suspect might be true in the congregation. Just be sure to discuss what observations lead you to your speculations.

Students often draw from official church histories. It is best to paraphrase and use select quotation where helpful. In other words, do not cut and paste several pages of text. 

As with all Iliff papers, be sure to use proper citation for sources and quotations. I do not specify which citation style you need to use, so use whichever one you prefer. (Hint: Go to http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/socrel/for_authors/instructions.html to see the citation method commonly used by sociologists. This is one of the easiest methods.)

Discussion Group Posts: 30%

Gathering Days Participation: 20%

Final Paper: 50%

My assumption is that students in a masters program can be expected to produce above average academic work. Therefore, the modal grade I assign is B+. An assignment will earn a B+ if it 1) fulfills all of the requirements and 2) demonstrates that the student has a solid (though not necessarily flawless) understanding of the con­cepts in the course readings and lectures. An assignment will earn a grade higher than a B+ if it fulfills the assignment and demonstrates exceptional insight into the course concepts. An assignment will earn a grade of B or B- if there are minor to moderate shortcomings in either fulfilling the assignment or demonstrating understanding of course concepts. Grades below B- are reserved for assignments with major shortcomings in either area.

This course may be taken pass/fail, but you must request this (by email) during the first two weeks. You do not need to provide a reason for your request.