Description: Congregations today face both old and often new, unprecedented challenges--spiritual, moral, technological, and economic--for which there are no easy solutions. Facing such challenges calls for pastors able to lead with authority in ways at the same time faithful to the gospel and appropriate to the congregation's setting and the issues at hand. Yet many pastors are unsure of their authority, often experiencing conflict as they attempt to lead. Others have abused their authority and brought mistrust and suspicion to ordained ministry, making it difficult for other clergy to lead....

This is the first book to offer a comparative analysis of the impact of the post-war ?Baby Boom? generation on Christianity around the world. Taking a cross-cultural approach, the contributors examine ten advanced countries, including England, France, Germany, Australia, and the United States, and explore the ways baby boomers have helped reshape and redefine ?establishment religions? ? that is, the dominant, primarily Christian institutions. Their conclusions are broad and far-reaching, shedding light on the fate of religion in other countries now modernizing and those countries moving...