Action Research Project Plan

Brad Poorman

December 8, 2005

PURPOSE: The purpose of my Action Research Project is to develop an online Lay Leader training program to be administered by McMurry University.  Lay leaders share the core values of Christian Faith, Personal Relationships, Learning, Excellence, and Service with McMurry University. The program would consist of two learning tracks. Common characteristics for both tracks would be to present lay leaders with practical knowledge and resources. Both tracks would also attempt to develop Communities of Practice where lay leaders can continue to learn how to better serve from each other.

SITUATION/OPPORTUNITY: McMurry University is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The Christian aspect of their mission is very important in distinguishing who McMurry is as evidenced by its Core Values.

Christian Faith as the foundation of life,
Personal Relationships as the catalyst for life,
Learning as the journey of life,
Excellence as the goal of life,
and Service as the measure of life.

McMurry feels in order to fulfill its mission it not only needs to maintain its ties to the Methodist Church, but strengthen them.

The situation I want to improve is the lack of qualified lay leaders in the United Methodist Church. All churches need more qualified lay leaders because volunteers serve many functions within the church. They serve on committees, teach classes, fill in when the preacher is absent, and represent the local congregation at the higher organizational levels of the Church. In order to effectively perform those functions a qualified pool of leaders is needed. In many churches either those qualified leaders don’t exist, or are hesitant to volunteer because of a lack of training.

The General Conference of the Methodist Church recognizes this need and has reaffirmed the tradition of lay preachers and leaders serving within their own Christian communities by the creation of a Certified Lay Minister.

RESEARCH QUESTION: How can the use of on-line tools provide educational training and support for the development of a learning community to help meet the need for trained lay leaders in the United Methodist church and establish a community of practice for those lay leaders to support their continued growth and development of expertise in effective lay leadership?

BACKGROUND RESEARCH:

Aldrich, M.W. (2003). Strong leaders make churches grow. United Methodist Communications. Retrieved November 7, 2005 from http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=5781

Aldrich, M. W. (2003) Getting Christians up from their pews: growing lay leadership in the church. United Methodist Communications. Retrieved 11/3/2005 from http://archives.umc.org/interior_print.asp?ptid=1&mid=5398

Arnone, M. (2001, Oct 19). Catholic colleges use distance education to train lay ministers. Chronicle of Higher Education, 48, 8, 34.

Asbury Online Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2005 from http://www.aoi.edu/index.html

Blake, C., Gibson, J.W., Blackwell, C.W. (2003) Web-based Training: What supervisors need to know. SuperVision; Dec 2003; 64, 12; ABI/INFORM Global pg.3.

Brasher, B. E. (2001). Give me that online religion. Hoboken, New Jersey: Jossey-Bass

Brown, V. (2005). Online Communities Connect Christians in Cyberspace. United Methodist Communications. Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://archives.umc.org/interior_print.asp?ptid=20&mid=6476&pagemode=print

Continuing Lay Training. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2005 from http://clt.nazarene.org

Elder, R. (2005, Oct 24). Online study is growing trend among churches. United Methodist Communications. Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://archives.umc.org/interior_print.asp?mid=10134&pagemode=print

Good News for Parish Ministry. (1999, May 29). New York: America, 180. Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.americamagazine.org/editorials/Edsvol180.htm#ed990529

Green, L. (2004). Church’s future depends on developing leaders. United Methodist Communications. Retrieved November 3, 2005 from http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=5830

Hoover, S.M., Clark, L.S., Rainie, L. (2004). Faith Online. Washington D.C.: Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Institute for Discipleship. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2005 from http://www.institutefordiscipleship.org

LaRue, J.C. Jr. (1999, Mar/Apr). The Wired Pastor. Your Church. Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.christianitytoday.com/yc/9y2/9y2080.html

Lumicon Digital Productions. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2005 from http://www.lumicon.org/index.asp

New lay group formed to improve church management. (2005, Mar 28). New York: America, 192, 11, 4. Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.americamagazine.org/catholicnews.cfm?articleTypeID=29&textID=4087&issueID=525

Satellite Theological Education Program. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2005 from http://step.nd.edu/

Symmetery. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.symmetryorg.com/index.html

The Academy for Spiritual Formation. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://upperroom.org/academy/

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church. (2004). (Section 162). Nashville, TN: The United Methodist Publishing House

UDTSLearning. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.udtslearning.net

United Methodism 101. (updated 10/14/05). United Methodist Communications. Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.umcom.org/pages/news.asp?class=1&Type=2&ID=932&product_id=0

Web as Ministry: Discipleship. (n.d.). United Methodist Communications. Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=4842

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Wesley Ministry Network. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2005 from http://www.wesleyministrynetwork.com

Wesley Theological Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.wesleysem.edu/layministry

Weyerhaeurser Center for Faith & Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2005 from http://www.whitworth.edu/FaithCenter/ClergyLay/Certificates/LayMinistry.htm

What I have learned from these resources is that the United Methodist and Catholic Churches have determined that there is a shortage of lay leaders. One method being employed to address the problem is online training programs for lay leaders. Surveys show that there is a robust community of the online faithful that will use the Internet for serious religious study and reflection. Online training is generally accepted as an effective way to deliver courses. These training programs are offered by several denominations with most programs being associated with universities. However there are a few commercial ventures. These programs vary widely in their method of content delivery and the communication tools used. Attempts to build communities of practice appear to have been more successful at individual churches than at training sites. While there are potential pitfalls, they can be minimized by incorporating good practices that will help nurture these communities of practice to maturity.

POSITION IN COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE: My community of practice is a committee that was formed to investigate the possibility of creating a Lay Academy that will be associated with McMurry University. My position is as a member of that committee. The committee is comprised of the President of McMurry University, the Vice President of Information Services (me), a professor in the Religion Department, the University Chaplin, the District Superintendent for the Abilene district of the United Methodist church, and a local pastor. I anticipate my major functions will be as the keeper of the vision. I will also be the developer of the on-line communication options. I will work with the course designers, offering suggestions and options of how to utilize on-line tools and resources.

MY ACTIONS (Cycle 1) :

The research question for the first cycle is basically what should be offered? More specifically what programs should be offered, how to offer them, what should their structure be, and when should they be offered?

The first action I will take will be to meet with the committee developing the Lay Academy. The goal of that meeting will be to discuss the following topics and if necessary set a plan of action to answer any questions that arise.

Is offering a Certified Lay Minister program feasible at this time?

What other programs should be offered by the Lay Academy?

Should these programs lead to a certification and should they consist of multiple courses?

What should the content look like and who will create it?

What should the duration be for these courses? (Semester long, month long, week long, etc.)

How should these courses be offered? (Face-to-face, online, mixture, etc.)

What should the structure be for these courses? (Self-paced, instructor lead, etc.)

How should the courses be scheduled? (How often, what days and times would maximize participation)

I suspect many of these questions will require further research or surveys of potential participants. Therefore my second action will be to gather the pertinent data to help the committee make decisions.

ARTIFACTS TO COLLECT:

I will be collecting the following:

1) A list of programs to be offered by the Lay Academy. This list will probably come from the committee members and a survey of the laity.

2) A general description of the courses, their length, content, and structure

3) An expected schedule for offering the courses

EVALUATION: I will evaluate the outcomes of this cycle to determine whether the original plan is feasible. For example, the committee may decide that due to the indecision by the church about the curriculum requirements for the Certified Lay Minister designation to shelve that program for now. Another possibility result that would lead to a drastic reevaluation is if there is no interest shown for a program of this nature from the lay people in the church. These outcomes would cause the committee to reevaluate the viability of the plan for the Lay Academy. Based on the outcomes from this cycle that deal with curriculum, initial plans could begin to form concerning what online tools would be most applicable.

PLAN (Cycle 2): While the outcomes and my reflections on Cycle 1 may change my plans, I currently think the second cycle question would be “How can the program best be delivered given the money and manpower available?” It would consist of the following:

1) Develop a basic budget and begin discussing financing options

2) Begin to assemble a team to develop curriculum.

3) Evaluate how 1 and 2 meld with previous information and decisions to shape what the Lay Academy will become?

Decisions on the budget and financing will play an important role in shaping the look of the Lay Academy. Whether we are able to hire curriculum developers, purchase servers, hire technical personnel, and do any marketing will all depend on the funds available.

PLAN (Cycle 3): Of course outcomes from the first 2 cycles can greatly affect the goals for cycle 3. Assuming no major derailments occur during the first 2 cycles then I believe the third cycle question will be “How do we administer and market the Lay Academy?” It will consist of:

1) Assemble on-line tools

2) Develop curriculum for first courses

3) Stop and evaluate what the Lay Academy has developed into.

4) Recruit the necessary personnel to run the program

5) Set schedules

6) Develop Marketing Plan

I would like to have the third cycle consist of an actual course offering since that would help answer the research question. The actual delivery of a course would allow reflection about what was offered and how it was delivered. That would lead to revisions to that specific course as well as the program in general. However I have become aware that there is a lot of work to do in starting a program of this sort and I believe it will take more than three cycles to achieve it.