Ecclesiastical Acting Beyond the Parish. A practical-theological theory of specialized ministries
Final Report Abstract
In addition to the dominant local congregation, the Protestant regional churches in Germany have developed different forms of organization and action that are not characterized by territorial but primarily functional structural patterns. A large number of them are referred to under canon law with the generic terms "ministries", "works" and "institutions" (DEW). To date, these have hardly been the subject of explicit reflection on church theory. The project fills this research gap in an interdisciplinary approach with perspectives on canon law, church history and contemporary history, organizational sociology and church theory. In their history of development, DEWs have compensated for gaps in the local congregation in the course of social transformation processes and have been developed into a functional secondary structure within the churches. They exemplify how churches (want to) remain socially connected by reproducing social differentiation processes and social dynamics, but also how they deal with their own plurality of organizational and social forms as well as different theological approaches. DEW take on different tasks - both within the church (specialist services and professionalization) and in society in terms of presence and dialogue in non-church locations and in corridors with (civil) social fields (pastoral care in institutions and society-related fields of work). They thus stand for processes of internal organizational development as well as for profiling as a "public church" in a late-modern society. Due to their multifunctionality, DEWs have responsive structures both internally and externally, which make them an intermediary organizational form between the classic church forms and the social environment. DEW form church presences which, due to their functional, exemplary, more thematic, lifeworld and subject-related constitutional logics, can address people beyond local congregational references and thus contribute to increasing the reach of church-based communication of the Gospel. Their network-like forms of organization and action are associated with different possibilities of community, ranging from selective to continuous participation. With their thematic and exemplary work profiles, they embody the image of a church that is oriented towards the real world and focused on the well-being of individuals and society. With their special profile, DWE offer prototypical potential for a people's church in transition, in which territorial patterns are dissolving and becoming more fluid in the direction of functional patterns. With their special profile, MWEs offer prototypical potential for a people's church in transition, in which territorial patterns are dissolving and liquefying in the direction of functional patterns.
Publications
-
Fluide Formen von Kirche. Dienste, Werke und Einrichtungen in Gesellschaft und Kirche des 21. Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart 2024 (ISBN 978- 3-17-044701-8)
Philipp Elhaus & Uta Pohl-Patalong
