Mobilizing to grow: The persistence and transformation of the Evangelical Formosan Church of Los Angeles
Abstract
The present study analyzes the factors and processes which promote the persistence and transformation of the Evangelical Formosan Church of Los Angeles (EFCLA). A theoretical framework based on the open system and resource mobilization perspective that stresses structural conduciveness, environmental resources, and organizational dynamics was developed to explain how changes in the structural conditions and environmental resources and effects of organizational dynamics promoted or retarded the transformation of the EFCLA. Utilizing a case study design, this study focused on two transformation aspects in the EFCLA: the transformation of the exclusive Taiwanese-speaking membership policy and of the traditional mainline religious practices. The findings reveal that the persistence and transformation of the EFCLA depended on how the organizational dynamics in the church responded to changes in the structural conditions and environmental resources. Also, the findings showed a positive relation between the transformation in the exclusive Taiwanese-speaking member policy and the transformation of the traditional mainline religious practices and EFCLA church growth. Finally, this study suggests that the open system and resource mobilization perspective is an appropiate perspective for studying the development of new immigrant Christian churches like the EFCLA and of other religious organizations like sects and cults.* ftn*Originally published in DAI Vol. 56, No. 7. Reprinted here with corrected title.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Davidson, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Minority & ethnic groups|Sociology|Religion
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