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• W316760981 abstract "Abstract: Whereas traditionally Mennonite leaders addressed concerns regarding declining membership with renewed emphasis on preaching, teaching, admonition and evangelism, today they are turning increasingly to the methodologies of modern empirical research. This essay reviews the emergence and development of sociological research in the Mennonite Church. One of the major forces that the research identifies is modernization, and its negative impact on Mennonite identity. Then follows a review of several reasons for this alleged crisis of identity, an analysis of recent quantitative studies, followed by a discussion of the problems and limitations inherent in modern empirical research methodology. While useful for descriptive purposes, empirical methodology is very limited in identifying the causes of human behavior or providing solutions for problems. The essay concludes by arguing that the dynamics of spiritual realities are very difficult to pin down empirically. ********** In early June of 2005,I received an invitation from Conrad L. Kanagy, a sociologist at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, to attend a consultation on Membership Profile 3, to be held that month at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. This gathering was part of an elaborate consultation process similar to that used during the development of earlier Church Membership Profile studies in 1972 and 1989--studies that endeavored to scientifically survey Mennonite church members on a range of beliefs and practices. (1) I attended the 2005 gathering. Later, in February 2006, I received one of the survey forms and its accompanying cover letter inviting me to help in a study of members of Mennonite congregations throughout the United States. I was chosen by random sampling procedures to be one of the approximately 2,216 respondents to fill out a mailed questionnaire. (2) As an added motivation to fill out the questionnaire, a crisp $2 bill was attached to the letter. My involvement in the third round of survey research--as a consultant and later as one of the individuals surveyed--along with my involvement with the earlier studies, forms the background of this review and analysis of the Church Membership Profile project over the past three decades. (3) Judged by the number of recent essays and articles about a crisis in the Mennonite narrative, or identity, it seems North American Mennonites are anxious about their church's present status and future prospects. (4) In the past, such protestations have sometimes sparked renewal movements, which condemn the drift or even apostasy of the Mennonite tradition and attempt to incarnate repentance and recommitment. (5) But in the past half century a significant methodology has emerged that both promised a new approach for understanding our predicament and provides a new forum for criticism and calls for renewal. The method, of course, is scientific analysis--the modern means of making sense of the nature of our world, including religion and faith. We quantify issues by defining them, measuring them, analyzing them, and finally making predictions and projections for the future. This essay briefly summarizes the emergence of official (6) scientific survey research in the Mennonite Church beginning shortly after World War II and continuing through the most recent publication, Road Signs for the Journey: A Profile of Mennonite Church USA, by Conrad Kanagy, which appeared in 2007 and drew on the results of the third Church Membership Profile. (7) The essay focuses especially on how the church has promoted empirical research on the status of and changes in the Mennonite story. It also analyzes some of the contributions and implications of this measurement approach for telling and critiquing the Mennonite story, culminating in the Church Membership Profile studies. (8) THE ORIGINS OF MENNONITE SURVEY RESEARCH Collecting membership information has a long history among North American Mennonites. …" @default.
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• W316760981 date "2009-10-01" @default.
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• W316760981 title "Measuring the Mennonite Spiritual Journey: A Review Essay" @default.
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