To Be Known, Accepted, and Involved: Investigating Organizational Assimilation in Christian Churches

ABSTRACT

Church membership is changing due to technology, globalization, and Millennial perspectives on religion. Additionally, churches are organizations without clear delineations between members and nonmembers, and there are few role expectations for attendees. Yet maintaining and growing membership is a necessary and important part of church organizing. Using Gailliard, Myers, and Seibold’s (2010) Organizational Assimilation Index as a framework, this study investigates how members identify their assimilation experiences in Christian churches. Qualitative data from 233 participants provide evidence of three general markers of assimilation in this context: (a) building relationships with other members, (b) being involved in church activities, and (c) learning church culture at both the organizational and religious levels. We present findings that identify specific attributes for each theme and discuss how our findings extend current conceptions of organizational assimilation within organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational assimilation
• organizational communication
• religious organizations