Church Reform and Leadership of Change

Harald Askeland is professor of religious organisation and leadership at Diakonhjemmet University College, Norway. He has researched and published on leadership and organisational issues in churches and church-related organisations.Ulla Schmidt is professor of practical theology at Aarhus University, Denmark. She has researched and published extensively on church reform processes, in particular church-state reforms and reforms of church governance in the Nordic countries.

• ContributorsList of Tables and Figures1. Introduction / Harald Askeland, Ulla Schmidt2. Reforming Majority Churches: Possibilities and Dilemmas / Isolde Karle3. Motifs and Perspectives in the Reform Process of the Church of Norway / Andreas Aarflot4. Church Reforms and Public Reforms / Ulla Schmidt5. Church Leadership and the Management of Meaning in Times of Change: Notes from the Inside / Bim Riddersporre, Johanna Gustafsson Lundberg6. Church Leadership and Congregational Change: Staff, Volunteers, and the Parish Council / Kjetil Fretheim7. Reforming the Pastoral Managerial Structure in Church of Norway: Exploring Whether and How the Managerial Role of the Dean Has Been Strengthened / Harald Askeland8. Clergy Discipline Decisions in the Church of England and the Church of Sweden Compared / Per Hansson9. A Deliberate Action: Leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark / Karen Marie Sø Leth-Nissen10. From 'Who Is in Charge?' to 'How Are We in Charge?': Is It Time for a Shift in the Leadership Paradigm? / Hege Steinsland11. Change and Development for the Future: Entrepreneurship in the Church of Sweden / Maria Åkerström

National Protestant Churches are challenged from below and from above, and from all sides, to adopt to the modern management standards of theirs societies. Is this what the continuing reformation of Protestant churches should look like? The analyses in these well-researched papers are critical but also aware of the dilemmas facing the churches.