I’ll Think of Something: Improvisation in Small Church Service Programs
This paper examines the improvisation practiced by leaders in three emergency feeding programs on the south side of Chicago. It contributes to the theoretical understanding of religious leadership. Scholars recognize that religious leadership is improvisational, but little research has been done abo...
| Published in: | Review of religious research |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer
2012
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| In: |
Review of religious research
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| Further subjects: | B
Leadership
B Ministry B Improvisation |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper examines the improvisation practiced by leaders in three emergency feeding programs on the south side of Chicago. It contributes to the theoretical understanding of religious leadership. Scholars recognize that religious leadership is improvisational, but little research has been done about how and when leaders improvise. This paper demonstrates that leaders in these feeding programs innovate frequently, but it argues that they do so in a limited way. Unlike improvisers in music, theater, or business, who innovate to increase variability, these kitchen improvisers exercise creativity in order to lessen variability and produce predictable results. The paper identifies the structural factors that promote and inhibit improvisation. It argues that space for improvisation is constructed by human need, institutional mission, and supply uncertainty, but that space for innovation is simultaneously limited by organizational expectations and the structure of volunteer labor. The paper suggests that the structural factors limiting improvisation in these programs also limits creativity in other areas of church work. |
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| ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s13644-011-0044-z |