The Nation4l Congregations Study (NCS) was ";ndUcted in~njunclion~ith the 1998 Ge~ral~~ial Survey (GSS). The 1998 GSS as/ud respondenl8 woo altend religious. s~rvr.ces 10 na~the" rel,lI'ous congregation, thus generating a nationally representative sampk of rel'gwUB congregat'o~.. Data about these congregaRoIUI wen collecud uia a one-hour interuuw with. OM key znformanta ffll1Uster. pru:st. rabbi, or other staff person or kcukrfrom 1236 congregations. Information w~g ather:d aJJ:>utmul~pk aspecl8 of congregations' social composition, structure, activities, and program":,ng: This .artr.c~de8C~S NCS methodology and presen18 sekcted uniuariote resull8 in four.areas: deTlOrmnat,onalttes, sue, politioal activilie.. and worship practices. i Congregations-the relatively small-scale,l~cal collectiviti~s~d Organiz~tions~~d through which people engage in religious activityare a basic umt~f Amencan~h~ous life. They are the primary site of religious ritual activity, they proVIde an orgamzational model followed even by religious groups new to this country, they provide sociability and community for many, they offer opportunities for political action and volu.ntarism: they foster religious identities through education and practice, and they engage m a vanety of community and social service activities (Warner 1994;, Wuthn~w 1991; V~rba et al. .1~~5; Hodgkinson and Weitzman 1992). This list does not exhaust either the kinds of acti'?~es conducted inside congregations or the ways in which cpngregations relate to commumties. Perhaps it is sufficient, however, to make a prima facie case that congregations~a significant organizational population whose internal features and extex:nal re~ations warrant close attention in their own right. Congregations also represent nch SOCIaland organizational~ttings in which a wide array of sociological questions may fruitfully be addressed.. .. Sociologists have, of course, long recognized congregations' significance as an orgamzational population and their potential as a research site. Although the study of congregations as units of analysis began, in the remarkable work of H. Paul Douglass and Edmund deS, Brunner, by combining case studies .with surveys of large numbers of congregations in a variety of denominations (see, for exanlple, Douglass and deS. Brunner

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This paper uses the 1998 National Congregations Study (NCS) to investigate the demographic and organizational characteristics of female-headed congregations in the United States. Our findings significantly extend knowledge about the demographic characteristics of these congregations. Counterintuitively, female-led congregations are more likely to be found in urban areas than in other locations, and they are more prevalent among African American congregations-particularly those with no denominational ties-and among ethnically mixed congregations. Our findings also confirm previous research on women clergy which indicates that, compared with congregations led by men, there is a paucity of organizational resources in female-headed congregations.Women have become clergy in increasing numbers over the last three decades. Partly in response to this trend, scholars interested in religion, work and the professions, and the study of organizations have amassed a still growing body of knowledge about female clergy and the congregations in which they serve. Researchers have charted the flow of women into ministerial careers and have documented the experiences of women clergy in congregations and in alternative settings (Charlton 1997, Wessinger 1996. They have explored women's ministerial career paths (Zikmund et al. 1998, Nesbitt 1997, Finn 1996, Carroll et al. 1983, documented gender bias among laity and clergy (Nason-Clark 1987, Lehman 1985, and observed gender differencesand similarities-in clergy styles (Lehman 1993).Previous research tells us a great deal about clergywomen themselves, and it tells us some about the congregations in which they serve. Several studies of clergywomen have shown that female-led congregations are smaller and have fewer economic and organizational resources than congregations led by men. Women ministers most often serve as sole or senior pastors in small congregations, only rarely pastoring large congregations (Carroll et althis body of work has documented the existence of a two-tiered, gender segregated employment structure among clergy in American religion.Although some important differences between congregations led by women and those led by men have been discovered from research using individual clergy as the unit of analysis, the absence of a nationally representative sample of religious congregations has placed limits on our ability to investigate in greater detail the organizational correlates of female leadership in congregations. Moreover, the absence of a nationally representative sample of congregations has left certain important facts unknown. Although we know, for example, that some denominations have many more female clergy than other denominations, we have not known the answer to a basic question: what percentage of all US congregations are led by women?