Conceptual Map and Research Method for a Branching Religious Ecology

Distinguish a congregation, sect, movement, ministry, religious association, and independent church by organizational form.

Distinguish schism, secession, reform, revival, and church planting as processes of religious change.

Distinguish federation, merger, absorption, decline, and extinction as organizational outcomes.

Classify an unfamiliar Christian group using explicit theological, organizational, and historical criteria.

Explain why many congregations can coexist in one city without each having originated through schism.

Identify the unit of analysis, causal mechanism, evidence, and assumptions in a scholarly argument.

Create a standardized source record containing citation data, source type, stable link, relevance, difficulty, and reading time.