Mission Impossible? Choosing Goals and Implementing Them

Abstract

In Part II of this book the focus is on organizational issues and problems faced by the four case congregations. This is in keeping with the study aim of responding to ‘grass roots’ problems in congregations. It is also an essential part of understanding congregations as organizations. As Demerath and Hammond (1969, p. 167) argued when they studied religious organizations in the United States, ‘organizations cannot be realistically understood merely in times of harmony and in terms of their public face. Instead they are best revealed at moments of crisis and conflict.’