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Congregations as social service providers: Services, capacity, culture, and organizational behavior.
Abstract
Social welfare is traditionally discussed as a mixture of public,
private, communal, and familial enterprise. Indeed, most textbooks and
programs focus on the changing balance between these four circles of
care. In the United States, a fifth and recently prominent circle of
care exists and plays a major role, namely congregation-based social
service provision. In this article, we first explain why faith-based
care is so paramount in the United States, including a short
discussion about the political developments in faith-based efforts. We
then show the scope of congregational involvement in social service
provision based on a large study of congregations. The rest of the
article is dedicated to key administrative challenges regarding this
mode of social service provision with a focus on their capacity,
cultural characteristics, and organizational behavior. The latter
topic is divided between start-up of new projects by congregations and
issues related to running social programs in congregational settings.
We conclude with a summary and discussion about the place of
congregations as social service providers in the American welfare
arena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
(journal abstract)
Journal
(2004)
vol28
no3/4
pages47-68
Categories
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Nonprofit Service Sectors
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Faith/Religious Communities
