Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 “Who We Are” and “How We Do Things Here”: Local Understandings of Mission and Identity
- 2 The Congregations of Oak Park, River Forest, and Forest Park
- 3 Houses of Worship
- 4 Family Congregations
- 5 Community Congregations
- 6 Leader Congregations
- 7 Mixed Congregations
- 8 An Institutional Approach to Local Culture
- 9 American Congregational Religion
- Appendix A Data and Methods
- Appendix B The Interview Questions
- References
- Index
6 - Leader Congregations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 “Who We Are” and “How We Do Things Here”: Local Understandings of Mission and Identity
- 2 The Congregations of Oak Park, River Forest, and Forest Park
- 3 Houses of Worship
- 4 Family Congregations
- 5 Community Congregations
- 6 Leader Congregations
- 7 Mixed Congregations
- 8 An Institutional Approach to Local Culture
- 9 American Congregational Religion
- Appendix A Data and Methods
- Appendix B The Interview Questions
- References
- Index
Summary
Main Street Baptist Church traces its roots back to the Protestant fundamentalist movement of the early twentieth century. The congregational history says that the fundamentalist/modernist controversy “was a primary force in making Main Street Baptist Church what it is today.” The church was formed by members from five local churches of different denominations who left their original churches because of doctrinal differences. The history says that
The framers of the church constitution and statement of faith worked to create a church that would be independent of any denominational ties and faithful to the cardinal doctrines of Scripture, particularly those currently under attack in liberal churches and seminaries.
In interviews, members echo this understanding of their congregation's history. For example, one of the elders told me that
The church was [pause] formed as a reaction, seventy-five years ago, to its, what it perceived as a drift from the fundamental evangelical position of the other churches in the area.
Until 1977, the congregation had a different name and was housed in a small building on a side street in Oak Park. When a fire destroyed that building, the congregation eventually arranged to buy from a struggling Presbyterian congregation the impressive Romanesque building on Main Street where they are housed today. They changed their name and, in 1979, Rev. Billy Graham conducted their dedication service.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Congregations in ConflictCultural Models of Local Religious Life, pp. 126 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999