Mainline to the Future: Congregations for the

While others lament the declining attendance of mainline churches and blame it on an out-of-date tradition, Jackson Carroll offers a more hopeful perspective, arguing that they key to future vitality can be found in the same tradition. According to Carroll, the tension between tradition and change has always been part of the Protestant heritage, and he argues that now is a time when being faithful requires adaptation.

Jackson W. Carroll is Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams, Jr. Professor of Religion and Society, Duke Divinity School, and Director of the J. M. Osmond Center for Research, Development and Planning.

Introduction

ix

Changing Society, Changing Churches

1

(25)

Ecclesial Patterns in the United States

2

(6)

``We've Always Done It This Way''---Or Have We?

2

(3)

Additional Influences on Congregational Diversity

5

(3)

Whatever Happened to Tradition?

8

(18)

Posttraditional Society?

9

(1)

Traditions and Their Importance

10

(5)

Detraditionalization

15

(2)

Forces Driving Detraditionalization

17

(9)

Responding to Posttraditional Society: Resistance and/or Accommodation

26

(28)

Culture as a ``Tool Kit''

27

(2)

Responses to Unsettled Times

29

(21)

Resistance

30

(4)

Accommodation

34

(3)

Accommodation and Resistance: Posttraditional Congregations

37

(12)

African-American Variations

49

(1)

Summary Reflections

50

(4)

Tradition, Freedom, and the Challenge of Posttraditional, Congregations

54

(22)

Tradition and Freedom: New Testament Perspectives

58

(9)

The Argument for Tradition

59

(1)

The Argument for Freedom

59

(1)

Movement or Institution?

60

(4)

Combining Tradition and Freedom

64

(3)

Testing the Spirits

67

(1)

A Continuing Role for Tradition(s)?

68

(8)

Raising Dry Bones: What Can We Learn from Posttraditional Congregations?

76

(27)

Caeat Emptor

77

(3)

Some Lessons from Posttraditional Congregations

80

(23)

Erring on the Side of Freedom: Reflexive Ecclesiology

81

(1)

Strong, Shared Leadership

82

(5)

Hard Eggs or Spanish Inns?

87

(4)

Embodying the Vision: Small Groups As an Example

91

(3)

Strictness or Seriousness?

94

(9)

Notes

103

(8)

Works Cited

111

(7)

Index

118

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Mainline to the Future: Congregations for the 21st Century

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials