Connectionalism Beyond the Denom. It is common knowledge that congregations provide a host of services to their local communities, the nation and the world.
Congregations provide public space.
They may do this independent of other groups, but more often these ministry endeavors are done directly or indirectly in partnership with other organizations, or at least with the use of their educational and financial resources. Parachurch groups, networks of megachurches, hordes of church consultants, and websites filled with ideological resources offer new paths and partnerships for the local congregation. One aspect of the ORW project attempts to address that void by examining the connections a congregation makes both within a denominational structure and external to it, in order to accomplish its ministry of nurturing its own and serving its community. This presentation describes our preliminary findings regarding those connections external to a congregation's denominational ties. Therefore, in the next few minutes I want to give you a sketch of the various organizations, coalitions, churches, and individuals who work with, or form partnerships with, our sampled congregations to do their missions tasks and from whom they get their resources.