SOULES@ecs.umass.edu (10/08/89)
Greetings from Hampshire County, Massachusetts. My congregation is in process of considering emplimenting various changes in our structure. Oddly enough, we have had a difficult finding resources. There seem to be very few books written about alternative church structures. We are considering: 1. Expanding the current building to accomodate more people. 2. Establishing satellite fellowships around the county. 3. Changing the role of the 3 pastors to work in the context of a decentralized church structure. 4. Time-shared use of the facility by quazi-seperate congregations. The philosophical areas of concern: 1. Will the more comfortable environment of an expanded building hinder or help the people be more responsive to the work of God? 2. Should we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet what we consider to be real needs, when our brothers and sisters in the USSR and Mozambique would probably be amazed that we consider ourselves needy? I would appreciate any comments you would care make. Timothy Baird Soules UMass-Amherst The above thoughts are my own. They represent UMass in no way whatsoever. [You might want to cc any responses directly to the author. I have a suspicion that he does not read this group. --clh]