Revitalization and Resurrection? Confronting Decline and Change in Religious Organizations

Abstract

We draw on interviews with 22 religious leaders to develop a model that highlights how these individuals confront organizational change. Our model provides insight into the perceptions of leaders who are negotiating change in an unusual and turbulent organizational context. It also expands knowledge of how change is confronted in situations where organizational decline is exacerbated by widespread shifts within the larger institutional environment. We find religious leaders are attuned to the pressures facing their organizations and that in general, they embrace change. Leaders highlighted the need to encourage change not only in others, but also described a need for personal change; according to our interviewees, bringing about such transformation requires an ability to frame contextual demands for change in constructive ways, adapt and respond to the forces pressing on religious life, and balance tradition with innovation.