The Development and Transformation of the Religious Non-Profit Organization-A Case Study of the Cheng Feng Teenager's School

[[abstract]]This dissertation aims to study into the development and transformation of Cheng Feng Teenager’s School that was established in 1996 as religious non-profit organizations in Taipei. The study aimed to explore three aspects, such as management and operation of NPO, belief of Christianity, and supply of intermediate education. Taking the perspectives of historical sociology, a multi-method research which include the in depth interview and document analysis is conducted from July 2006 to April 2007. The findings are highlighted as following: 1. In the contemporary Taiwanese society, the religious NPOs have a significant role to play in the intermediate education. 2. From 1996 to 2006 the transformation of religious NPOs has characterized as followings: (1) Religious belief is the springhead of the operation of this Teenager’s School and the supply of the intermediate education of this Teenager’s School. (2) The Constitution of the Teenager’s School has changed from a “religious establishment”to“pure institution and from “pure school” to the combination of education and social work. (3) The management of School has changed from personal decision-making to team working and fundraising has changed from individual to collaboration with other institutions. (4) The scheme has been launched to recruit and training volunteers. (5) The nexus of social network deployed by the School has changed from the Christians to the public. For instance, the relationship between the School and government has sifted from lobbyist to cooperation, and been equally treated by the secondary school. Furthermore, the School has a close relation with the social institution (6) Generally speaking, both the Christianity and universal values has been embedded in the practice of intermediate education. Finally, we suggest that the Cheng Feng Teenager’s School should cooperate with the government, the secondary school, and the NPOs within third sector in order to provide the education for the youth who has been drop out from school.