For Whom the Blog Trolls

My apologies to Mr. Hemingway.

I’ve been thinking (I know, watch out!), whom, exactly, am I hoping will participate in the community this blog builds?  My answer is below and includes a lot of different kinds of people.  I’m guessing, though, that as this community builds, I’ll only be half right.  Nevertheless, I think it would be helpful to know what I think is possible.  Here’s my list, given in approximate order of their interest:

People who Design

Working-level pastors.  These are the pastors who have direct, hands-on responsibility for the development and conduct of their church’s ministries.  Just who these pastors are depends on the size and structure of the church they serve.  For a small one-, two-, or three-pastor church all of the pastors are likely to be in this category.  For a medium-sized church this category is likely to include all but the senior pastor.  For a church that is larger still there may be a layer of supervising pastors above those who have this direct ministry responsibility.  In any event if a new ministry is to be crafted, these are the pastors who do it, and these are the pastors who should have a significant interest in how to design.

Ministering Lay Leaders.  In many churches there is a close partnership between pastors and lay leaders.  No church has enough staff, so some ministries must be designed and led primarily by lay people.  They need to be thinking about how to design.

Program-level leaders of para-church ministries.  These people are the para-church equivalent of working-level pastors.  While pastors often have the help of engaged lay leaders, parachurch program leaders are often out there all alone.  Still, program leaders are called upon all the time to design and need to know how.

Christian Geeks.  (I use the term geeks lovingly.  Many people consider me one of them.)  These are church members (and, rarely, a pastor or two) who are fascinated by technology and see places where it could help in ministry.  It is obvious that they can manage the technology that is employed in ministry, but, because geeks are comfortable designing things, they often understand the design of a ministry as a system and can suggest improvements and direction from that unique perspective.  Besides, it’s often nice to have someone who likes to design helping those who just want to “get on with it.”  A forum for them should be quite helpful.

People who Oversee Design

Supervising Pastors.  In all but the smallest churches (and by number this is by far a majority of churches), working-level pastors generally report to a more senior pastor.  While these supervising pastors are not usually directly involved in the design of a ministry, they nevertheless have responsibility for it and (1) should be aware what’s in a ministry and how it will work and (2) may from time to time during design be called upon to provide or approve decisions on design matters.  For this reason they should have at least some familiarity with design processes and can be instrumental in assuring that better design methods are employed.

Parachurch Executives.  As for program-level leaders, executives of para-church ministries are the equivalent of supervising pastors in churches.  Like supervising pastors these executives are accountable for their ministries and should have some familiarity with design methods so that they can knowledgably enter discussions and decisions as needs arise.

Church Elders and Church and Para-church Board Members.  Elders and Board Members typically do not participate directly in ministry design, unless they also participate as a part of a specific ministry team.  On the other hand these leaders are often called upon to authorize or provide funding for a design.  While they do not need to be able to design, they can benefit from knowing how designs are done and understand why one method might be better than another.

These are those For Whom the Blog Trolls.