Polis Center
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The Polis Center is an academic research center with a practical and applied orientation that focuses on urban-related issues, primarily in Indianapolis and other Indiana cities. Our goal is to develop knowledge that will serve the common good and invigorate the sense of community in this city and beyond. The Polis Center also specializes in community information systems, advanced spatial technologies, Geographic Information Systems, and related Web services.
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Item Adult Day Care(1999-07) Slutz, TedLess-than-satisfactory performance by some established care providers, and the general graying of the American population, are generating demand for alternatives in senior care. A small though growing number of congregations have established adult day care programs to provide part-time senior care in a safe environment.Item Advertising Religion: A Necessary Evil, or Just Necessary(2000-09)Many in the clergy are reluctant to advertise in secular media, though lay people are generally more open to the idea. Culture and even theology will determine whether advertising is appropriate for a particular congregation. For advertising to work, it must be well thought out and given time to show results. This issue includes an interview with George Martin, a former Episcopal priest and director of the Church Ad Project, a leading company in the field of religious advertising; and resources.Item Age and Tenure Among Indianapolis Clergy(1998-04) Farnsley, Arthur E. IIThe average Indianapolis pastor is a 50-year-old male. Full-time ministry is usually his second career. He is currently at his fourth ministerial post. These are some of the raw facts that emerge from the initial scan of a database that now includes more than 500 clergy in the city. There is a suggestive similarity between the age of clergy and the age of parishioners. In short: mature adults are over-represented by half in the average congregation we studied. Clergy are older, on average, than other professionals such as teachers. These two facts together do not prove a correlation, but they certainly suggest one.Item Alternative Services(2000-05)New congregations are springing up-sometimes as an off-shoot of established congregations-aimed at members of the so-called Generation X. The services feature guitar-driven music and a conversational preaching style.Item An Analysis of Congregational Programs(2001-02) Quern, Susannah R.; Parks, Dawn L.How are congregations currently involved in providing social services? Does charitable choice make a difference? Our analysis describes the program activities of 400 congregations in 17 urban and suburban neighborhoods. While our census grouped programs into six categories, worship services into four categories, and events into seven categories, for purposes of analysis, we have collapsed these activities into two broader categories: religious programs and social outreach programs.Item Call It Declension…Or Staying Power(1999-02)Scholars use the term declension to describe the deterioration or declining influence of an organization or institution. The theme of declension…encourages the tendency to pay more attention to what religion is not doing and what it used to do rather than to what it is doing and continues to do.Item Changing Expectations for Clergy Activists(1999-10)In this issue, we explore how the public role of clergy has changed over this century. Sometimes that change has been shaped by congregations who expect their clergy to be hands on managers and leaders. Community building often is regarded as an internal, rather than external, activity.Item The Changing Face of Indianapolis Religion(1997-05) Diamond, Etan; Farnsley, Arthur E. IILike a photograph, a survey provides a snapshot of people’s attitudes or behaviors at a single point in time. It often reveals little about the past and how those attitudes have changed. Only by comparing different surveys from different points in time can we begin to see how attitudes have shifted, how the landscape has been altered.Item The Changing Face of Indianapolis Religion(1997-05) Diamond, Etan; Farnsley, Arthur E. IIWe know from contemporary surveys of religious affiliation what the religious landscape of contemporary Indianapolis looks like. In the 1990s, Catholics are the single largest religious group, with Black Baptists and Methodists close behind. But how much does the modern lay of the land resemble Indianapolis of earlier decades, a city many of us still remember? How much has religion in our city changed?Item The Changing Role of Clergy(2001-03)Trends in American culture are producing significant changes in the clergy. Many feel put in the position of managing a small business, rather than a being pastor. At the same time, schools of theology labor under the suspicion that they no longer attract the best and brightest students. The public realm has grown increasingly secular, and clergy no longer command the respect and authority they once did, neither as public figures nor as the leaders of their flocks. The average age of clergy is climbing, as is the age at which new candidates for the ministry are entering seminary. Training clergy within congregations is a growing trend, while charitable foundations pour considerable resources into attracting young people to the clergy.