Abstract

Local United Methodist Churches in the Kansas Area have at various times networked together for the purpose of establishing parishes to meet the needs of the communities they serve. What has often occurred is a focus upon the internal needs of their respective local churches. Instead of attempting to change the conditions under which people live, local parishes tend to meet the needs of people under the conditions in which they live. They engage in a social band-aid therapeutic approach to ministry and not a justice approach. By doing a statistical and organizational analysis of two such parishes, it was discovered that the criteria they utilized was financing the apportionments, membership enhancement, and pastoral appointability. By utilizing the resources of system philosophy, a model was developed and proposed that would enhance the networking possibilities of local parishes. The criteria of differentiation and fit, and the utilization of various linkage strategies enabled me to show how local parishes could network with other community institutions to change the conditions under which people live. Such strategies would enable local parishes to become players in their respective communities and not just payers