Inner-worldly and other-worldly outreach: organizational repertoires of protestant mission agencies

ABSTRACT

Over the last few decades, an increasing number of American Protestant mission agencies have been engaging in evangelism and humanitarian activities. What explains this growth and what are its future implications? Applying theories of organizational ecology and religious identity, I examine intra- and inter-organizational factors influencing rates of engagement in the Evangelism and Relief & Development sectors. The study finds that ecological theories, especially of density dependence, that have more commonly been used to study secular organizational foundings and deaths prove compelling in explaining mission agencies’ transnational behaviors. Second, contrary to some common assumptions, Evangelical agencies are no different than Mainline Protestant agencies in expanding their activism to include evangelistic or humanitarian activism, suggesting that despite their theological differences, agencies that are commonly dedicated to transnationalism have more that unites than divides them. I conclude by reflecting on what these patterns imply about continued growth prospects in each sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Evangelicalism
• organizational development
• organizational ecology
• quantitative research
• religion
• transnationalism

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their feedback and suggestions. Thanks are also due to the undergraduate students who assisted in constructing the dataset on which this study is based from hard copies of the mission agency catalog: Shaoyue An, Jonathan Hussung, DeVonnae’ Woodson-Heard, and Max Zhong.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Data availability

Although the data for this study are not yet publicly available, they may be obtained from the author upon request. These data were converted from hardcopy editions of the Mission Handbook, which is publicly available for purchase. Additional steps are currently being taken to prepare the data for submission to the Association of Religious Data Archives (ARDA).

Geolocation information

Data concern the activities of Protestant mission agencies based in the US operating globally. Information on agency activities are not specific to any particular country of operation.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. Other examples include activities associated with radio and television programming, the publication and distribution of Christian literature, administrative support for overseas missions and missionaries, fundraising, education and training, advocacy pertaining to larger social or political issues such as abortion and education, and support and development opportunities for specific social groups such as people with disabilities or drug addictions (see Scheitle 2010).

2. The datasets used in the analyses are not publicly available since they were constructed independently from hard copy issues of the Mission Handbook. However, both datasets (for rates of engagement in Evangelism and Relief & Development respectively) are available from the corresponding author upon request.

3. The inflexion point was calculated using the formula: $d\hat{\mathrm{r}}/d{B}_1=d({\beta }_1{B}_1+{\beta }_2{B_1}^2)/d{B}_1={\beta }_1+2{\beta }_2{B}_1=0$, where β₁ and β₂ are the coefficients for density, B₁, and density-squared, B₁², respectively.

4. For piecewise-constant exponential hazard rate models, each coefficient represents the baseline effect for each age group, controlling for all the other variables. There is therefore no need for excluding one category for interpretive purposes as would typically be the case for dummy variables.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Dean’s Research Grant ($4500) from the Goizueta Business School, Emory University (no grant number).

Notes on contributors

Jared Bok

Jared Bok is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Reno. His research interests are in religion, culture, globalization, and organizations. He has published in the Journal of Scientific Study of Religion, New Political Economy, and Social Movement Studies.