For Methodism and the Evangelical United Brethren, this was the time of the transition from movement to denomination with the rise of powerful general boards and general agencies. This was the post World War II church in all its strength and status. Fourth comes a period of breakdown of long-established structures. The institutional mechanisms appear not to be working. Systems have outlived their usefulness.
Authority is questioned.
The times, they are a-changing. Extinction, slow and painful. The movement drifts toward chaplaincy-primarily care for those within its own walls, and the movement dies. Minimal survival because of internal conflict and lack of a communal vision. A scaled down institution seeks maintenance leaders who will ground all differences and conflicts, and for whom order is the primary objective and conflict is swept under the rug.