AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS IN A PROGRAM OF MINISTRY AT THE BETHEL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, READING, PENNSYLVANIA

The African Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the leading Black denominations in the world. Organizationally it is led by the judgement and authority of bishops who are its sole chief leaders. These bishops have absolute power and goverance over the lives of the clergy, and the churches served by its clergy. A bishop in the A.M.E. Church can move or transfer a pastor simply by deciding upon its necessity. This type of movement in the church is called itinerancy.; Ususally when a pastor receives an assignment from a bishop to a church, it is for one year. Never is it longer. Sometimes it is shorter. So, to remain beyond that one year, the individual clergy person must be annually reassigned by the/a bishop who has jurisdictional responsibility and authority. The one negative feature of this system of movement in the A.M.E. Church is that it has created within the psyche of both the church and its pastors a kind of death syndrome, cyclically operative each 12th month of the particular church year.; Since few people plan for material behavior beyond the grave where personal participation is involved, so likewise these churches and pastors live/survive as if they need no plans for material involvement beyond their year. Consequently, this has produced in many instances A.M.E. churches in fact operating without intentional direction.; The main objective of this project was to change the management psyche of one A.M.E. church, and from that determine if in fact it is worth the effort to talk modern management techniques in all churches, or churches at all. The project was approached from the assumption that year to year operations produce limited unclear goals. The desired organizational-management behavior was, that the chosen congregation would become a church with healthy realistic projections for existence beyond the designated year. This was done by developing and implementing a management by objective results program of ministry at the Bethel A.M.E. Church of Reading, Pennsylvania.; Chapter II of the thesis project is the Conceptual Framework section. It is here that the relationship boundaries for the study were established, with the understanding given to the areas of dynamic at play within the church under M.B.O.R. development. Additionally, the ministry of the Apostle Paul was scrutinized to determine if he (Paul) was an Intentional M.B.O.R. manager in his sojourn throughout Asia Minor during the period of the early First Century Christian Missionary Journeys. Chapter III enlarges upon the process of the study.; The strategy to produce change within the Bethel-Reading Congregation lasted eighteen months. Phase One of the study was designed to evaluate the congregation's management functional level prior to the implementation of M.B.O.R. During that period extensive membership interviews were conducted so as to obtain data to identify goals and objectives. In Phase Two management process by M.B.O.R. was taught to the membership with high concentration given to the leadership body. In Phase Three an actual M.B.O.R. system was employed, monitored, and evaluated.; After analyzing the results of the project, it was observed that significant change had taken place in the management life of Bethel Church, Reading, Pennsylvania. The church, in fact, became an M.B.O.R. church. At the present it has high visibility, measurable success, and realistic achievable 13-year projections. To determine what the long term effects of this study are, the congregation will have to be observed for a period much longer than the eighteen months of the total study.; Finally, it is felt that what has happened at Bethel Church, Reading, Pennsylvania, is something that can happen at all churches, provided the appropriate management techniques are employed.