therise,fallandriseagainoftheparachurchsector（48页）.docVIP

The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of the Parachurch Sector Abstract: Interest has been sparked in recent years by the appearance of religious organizations existing outside the boundaries of traditional structures such as congregations and denominations. These “parachurch” organizations have raised important questions concerning the changing nature of American religion. However, this is not the first time such organizations have had a significant role in the United States. The early 19th century also saw a large parachurch population consisting of religious publishing, mission, and moral “societies.” Using original data from historical newspaper records ranging from 1800 to 1859 I explore the rise and decline of these societies. I then connect this history to the contemporary rise of Christian nonprofits using a different original data source on two thousand of the largest such organizations in the United States. I argue that instead of being disconnected cases of history repeating itself, the historical and contemporary parachurch phenomena are connected by a continuous dynamic between religious individuals and congregations and the structures they utilize for their internal and external needs. The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of the Parachurch Sector Moral societies, Sunday schools—tract societies—Bible societies—missionary societies, and funds to educate and make preachers, are now in the full tide of operation… --Leland, 1826 (Quoted in Hatch, 1989, Pg. 100) A new breed of nonprofit organization—the parachurch—is dramatically reshaping the religious world—and taking religion beyond the walls of the traditional church… --Willmer, Schmidt and Smith, 1998 A Washington Post article discusses “a nationwide Christian ministry for teenagers with disabilities” (Horiuchi 2005). CNN features a story about a religious organization serving men addicted to pornography (Rovou 2007). USA Today contains a story about a ministry trying to