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View from the Pew: The Political Consequences of Church Organizational Structure
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Abstract
Religious groups are not immune from those organizational problems that impact
public or private organizations, such as free riding and a lack of financial and human resources. These organizational problems pose serious problems for church leaders seeking to increase the level of civic engagement within their congregations. We adopt an institutional approach to analyze whether religious organizations have the administrative capacity and resources to mobilize for political and social causes within their community. Specifically, we study whether churches that are organized to deliver social services are able to do so efficiently and responsibly because of their large volunteer base and because of their institutionalized, administrative resources. We examine member participation in church activities rather than focusing mainly on weekly attendance at services to further probe participation rates of congregants. Finally, we examine the relationship between membership size and free riding. According to Olson (1965), it is easier for small groups to monitor the behavior of their members in order to prevent shirking. However, we do not know at this point about how much shirking occurs in congregations across the country. Charles Trueheart (1996) writes in his report on the emergence of Protestant megachurches in the United States that “big congregations endow a church with critical mass, which makes possible sizable budgets and economic efficiencies (such as very low staffing ratios) and formidable volunteer pools, and thus the capacity to diversify almost infinitely in order to develop ‘new product lines’ that meet the congregation’s needs and involve members in unpaid service” (Trueheart 1996, 38). Consequently, there may be important differences in the type and level of political activity that can engage a large congregation compared to a small parish. Our findings are based on tentative survey data and information that we collected from congregations in the Phoenix-metropolitan area as part of our on-going investigation of the political consequences of church organizational structure.
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| | Authors: Chin, Michelle. and Warber, Adam. |
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2
Abstract
Religious groups are not immune from those organizational problems that impact
public or private organizations, such as free riding and a lack of financial and human
resources. These organizational problems pose serious problems for church leaders
seeking to increase the level of civic engagement within their congregations. We adopt
an institutional approach to analyze whether religious organizations have the
administrative capacity and resources to mobilize for political and social causes within
their community. Specifically, we study whether churches that are organized to deliver
social services are able to do so efficiently and responsibly because of their large
volunteer base and because of their institutionalized, administrative resources. We
examine member participation in church activities rather than focusing mainly on weekly
attendance at services to further probe participation rates of congregants. Finally, we
examine the relationship between membership size and free riding. According to Olson
(1965), it is easier for small groups to monitor the behavior of their members in order to
prevent shirking. However, we do not know at this point about how much shirking
occurs in congregations across the country. Charles Trueheart (1996) writes in his report
on the emergence of Protestant megachurches in the United States that “big
congregations endow a church with critical mass, which makes possible sizable budgets
and economic efficiencies (such as very low staffing ratios) and formidable volunteer
pools, and thus the capacity to diversify almost infinitely in order to develop ‘new
product lines’ that meet the congregation’s needs and involve members in unpaid
service” (Trueheart 1996, 38). Consequently, there may be important differences in the
type and level of political activity that can engage a large congregation compared to a
small parish. Our findings are based on tentative survey data and information that we
collected from congregations in the Phoenix-metropolitan area as part of our on-going
investigation of the political consequences of church organizational structure.
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