Theories and Spectrums: What Pressures Do Parachurch Agencies Face Toward Losing Their Founding Missions?

Abstract

This article investigates seven parachurch agencies that have a holistic approach to Christian mission, specifically in order to examine how certain theories and spectrums might explain mission drift. Organizational fields theory can help identify issues relating to institutional fields while focusing on how parachurch NGOs/NPOs are moulded by institutional rules. Parachurch organizations in the field of socio-humanitarianism are coerced into achieving the agenda of secular institutions and governments rather than that of the Church. These pressures and challenges constrain Christian agencies to drift away from their original holistic mission-objectives.