A Commission to Change: The United Methodist Church in Detroit, Michigan, 1950-1980

Abstract

In the last decade, nonprofit organizations have become the focus of much inquiry and research. Before Reagan's invitation to volunteer, before Bush's Thousand Points of Light, the United Methodist Church in Detroit was behaving as a nonprofit organization bent on changing its urban environ ment. Although sincere attempts were made to influence its community and congregations, the church often responded to external pressures by re adjusting its goals, thereby diminishing the potential for significant, long- lasting social or political change. Like other nonprofit organizations, the United Methodist Church, limited by its size and its dependence on volun tary contributions, organizational democracy, and organizational networks, was more often a respondent to change than an agent of change.