Sentence examples for established congregations from inspiring English sources
Economists and sociologists of religion have claimed that religious establishment dampens religious vitality, leading to lower recruitment efforts, low attendance, declining membership within established congregations, and the 'crowding out' of non-established congregations.
We find that established congregations do indeed show less religious vitality than non-established congregations.
Plenty, say ministers of some established congregations.
But they would quickly be replaced, he said, adding that the denomination started 1,479 new churches in 1999 and that its increasingly conservative stance had been attracting established congregations as new members, like the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., where the Rev. Jerry Falwell is pastor.
The only clear effect of disestablishment is a dramatic decrease of income for established congregations.
Two thirds of those questioned said they felt they did not fit in with the established congregations they had left, and many did not want to join a new one.
The church had started scrappily, in 1999, with just a few hundred congregants (it was a transplant from an established congregation in Grand Rapids where Bell had worked before), but, largely thanks to Bell, it quickly ballooned in size.
In 1884, after having establish congregations throughout the country, he incorporated the sect under the name of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
And Sibley will be involved with establishing congregations of Baptists who call themselves "Messianic Jews," people who believe in Jesus but consider themselves Jewish.
Even as they struggle with school, work and frequent bad news from home, recent Sudanese immigrants have moved rapidly to establish congregations, often with the help of local Episcopal parishes.
Mr. Levitz contacted the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn, the Orthodox Hasidic group, because he said it had a reputation for establishing congregations throughout the world and for including every type of Jew, "whether they are orthodox, conservative or reform," Rabbi Wilhelm said.
