Called to service: The changing institutional identities of American denominations

This article outlines the ways that religious schools, hospitals, and socia l service institutions have affected their sponsoring denomination or churc h group in the past. Three basic channels of influence are described. The i nstitutions impacted the sponsor's very identity and purpose, they defined the requisites of holy activity, and they served as a channel for membershi p recruitment and leadership development. Implications far denominations an d other religious groups of the current attenuation of ties with their form er institutions are then explored.