Leadership That Fits Your Church

Matching the right pastor with the right congregation is one of the most important — and daunting — decisions either party can make. While there are many pastors and congregations that merely fit OK, there are other matches that fit perfectly.

Leadership that Fits Your Church explores how to find what really works for pastors and congregations. Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce, known for their work with congregational life research, lead you on an enlightening adventure in finding that perfect match. Follow the pastoral transition experiences of three churches: a mainline, Protestant congregation; a conservative church; and a Catholic parish. Each example starts with basic descriptions of pastors and church types, then digs into illustrations of deeper dynamics that yield a good match between congregation and pastoral leadership.

From The Columbia Partnership (TCP) Leadership Series

CYNTHIA WOOLEVER is research director of the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, coeditor of The Parish Paper with Herb Miller and Lyle Schaller, and formerly a professor of sociology of religious organizations at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Hartford Seminary. As a sociologist and consultant, she has focused on applied organizational research, working with congregations, judicatories, and seminaries throughout her twenty-five-year career.

DEBORAH BRUCE (1955-2012) was associate research manager in the research services office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and project manager of the U.S. Congregational Life Survey. She worked in a variety of applied research settings before coming to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She served as an officer for the Religious Research Association and was a member of that organization and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.