From Geography to Affinity

Changes in denominational life in North America have left congregations with two difficult choices. On the one hand, they can choose to act as though their ministries and programs can still best be established by national denominational offices. On the other hand, they can choose to act as though their denominational identity is completely irrelevant to their mission. Underlying these difficult choices, writes Lyle E. Schaller, is the tremendous flux in the relationship between national denomina