ABSTRACT
In America, and in some other parts of the world, the congregation historically has been the fundamental component for the organization of religious groups. Congregations play a role in the formation of local identity, and they present and maintain that identity through the cultivation of relationships among members who collectively affirm them throughout the religious calendar. The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) is a group of progressive evangelicals active during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Since the 1950s, there had been vocal right-wing, fundamentalist, anti-Communist organizations such as Billy James Hargis's Christian Anti-Communist Crusade and Carl T. McIntire's American Council of Churches. An important and influential figure in the coalescence of the Religious Right who worked largely behind the scenes was John Rousas Rushdoony. The 1960s witnessed religious innovation on a large scale, and some of the most striking of the changes occurred within the African American community.
