Mainline Protestants’ national offices branch into every field, from liturgy to gender equality to disaster relief. But as they seek to halt decades-long declines, a number of denominations are trimming their branches and tending to their roots: local congregations.
Many are moving to decentralize power, shifting resources and responsibilities from national headquarters and elected churchwide assemblies to regional bodies and local leaders.
“There used to be a mentality of, as goes the national office, so goes the denomination,” said David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.
“They are finally getting the idea that the future of their denominations are tied to the vitality of their congregations,” said Roozen, co-editor of the 2005 book “Church, Identity and Change: Theology and Denominational Structures in Unsettled Times.”
But the moves have prompted protests from some longtime members who worry that lay voices will be muted and long traditions of democratic decision-making will be jettisoned in favor of expediency. To read more, click here.
Despite the trend toward flat and fluid networks the Anglican Mission moved to a top-heavy bureacracy with its National Resource Center and Board of Directors approving all mission projects and funding for these projects. The Anglican Church in North America is moving in a similar direction.
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