Anatomy fo a Church Fight
A Case Study for Leadership Readers
July 1, 1983
The following account of a true-life political crisis in a church was prepared by the Harvard Business School for classroom discussion. LEADERSHIP sent copies to six pastors in five different states and invited them to kibitz-to look over the shoulder of Walnut Avenue Church and suggest where to go from here. After reading the six responses, think what your advice would be. While no outsider can feel the full emotion and pressure of this or any political struggle, it is useful to learn from the difficulties other churches have faced and thus be better prepared. (Several hundred case studies have been written in the areas of theology, church management, ethics, clergy and laity, counseling, and dealing with change. Most are available through the Association of Theological Schools, P.O. Box 130, Vandalia, OH 45377, which publishes a directory called Cases in Theological Education. "Walnut Avenue Church," however, is distributed by HBS Case Services, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA 02163.) Walnut Avenue Church (names and places have been disguised) was congregational in polity and tradition and located in the downtown section of a middle-sized industrial city on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The church, dating back to colonial times, had a membership of 900 of whom approximately 400 were active members. As is typical of most churches in this sociological situation, its membership had gradually been declining over the past several decades as people moved to surrounding suburban areas. Walnut Avenue Church had remained, however, feeling it had a ministry to the city and its people and was highly regarded in church and lay circles as a responsible and dedicated institution. The congregation was highly diverse in age and interests. ...
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