ABSTRACT
This chapter explores prevalent assumptions about what religious organizations are and do, how they fit into the realm of the independent sector and networks of social service provision, and what is then reasonable to expect of them or for them. It reviews some basic facts about the nature, scope, operations, and support of religious organizations. Congregations are the basic units of organized religious life in almost every spiritual tradition visible on the American landscape. Membership in a particular congregation is often the most important element of individuals’ religious lives. When considering faith-based agencies independent of congregations, that is religious nonprofits more broadly, there is some evidence that their mission and service activities are distributed by industry in ways that parallel other public benefit or advocacy organizations. Congregations are, in fact, often exemplars of what it means to be community-based.
