Welcome to 2012 and Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM). Since 2004, we’ve talked a lot about this intersection of faith and mobile technology and how this has often looked like applications. We’ve talked about the good and bad about these applications, what has improved, and what still isn’t being touched. And yet there’s there is a pervasive resolution that I think you should endear to any mobile ministry efforts for 2012: an application is not a strategy.
We’ll summarize how we come to such a conclusion in this article. Some of these concepts have been covered before, other parts not yet in enough depth to give you a means to continue. But don’t worry, as we encourage you to step into 2012 with your mobile ministry efforts, the goal of this article is that you address mobile ministry as a spoke in a larger wheel of your efforts, no matter where you are in the chain.
This article focuses specifically on these points:
- What is Mobile Ministry?
- What are the specific areas in which mobile has addressed a ministry context?
- Is there anything consistently applicable across those areas of mobile ministry?
- If applications are part of the solution, what else is there?
- What are some resources for applying these points?
What is Mobile Ministry
Mobile ministry is the application of mobile devices, services, and/or experiences for the purposes of forwarding ideals and characteristics of a faith movement.
Mobile computing has a market-led definition (portable, cellular and/or WiFi-enabled computing devices which have screen sizes between 2.2 and 5in, and have some form of primary input that is not mediated by accessory-attached mice/keyboards). We take the stance that mobile computing devices can include any portable computer that is not designed specifically as a clothing accessory.
Mobile services include, but are not limited singular applications of cellular (voice, data, SMS, multimedia), Internet (browsing, email, IM, VoIP, Wi-Fi, GPS), and applications (including the tools to create and distribute, API structures/protocols, development standards/practices, etc.).
Ministry is defined as any activity which forwards the ideals and characteristics of a faith movement, that may be personally motivated, community organized, and/or governmentally implemented.
This definiton is intentionally not grounded on any one religion/faith, and has been [slightly] refined from its more academic-correct beginnings. Discussions towards refining this further should be a part of any conversations brokering mobile as useful in ministry contexts.
Specific Areas of Ministry Applied in Mobile
Over the course of seven years, MMM has observed six specific applications of mobile technology within ministry contexts. This doesn’t mean that there are not, or could not be others. Within these six areas, we have identified unique approaches combining devices, services, and/or experiences which create avenues for personal, media, and cultural transformation through faith-binding activities.
These six areas are as follows:
We will further define and illustrate these areas throughout 2012. Please refer to former articles and presentations on this subject in order to see some of the progression of these ideas. We will endeavor to link to articles tagged with these topics in order to best consolidate the discussion on this site towards these points.
Layers of Mobile
We are careful not to simply define mobile in the context of devices or development. There are three components which encompass the mobile environment which all need to be considered and included within the context that is mobile computing:
- Devices
- Services
- Experiences
We will further define these areas beyond our initial exploration of these throughout 2012. Please refer this article/document for a direct linking to that discussion.
Applications and Beyond
It should be clear within what we’ve explained so far that defining mobile ministry strictly or specifically in the context of downloadable applications is incomplete. Applications are only a part of the usable toolkit for mobile within ministry endeavors. Streams in which mobile can be developed/sold/applied within ministry contexts include:
- Software Applications
- Hardware Applications
- Voice Services
- Video/Audio (Streaming, Downloads, Sharing, etc.)
- Text (SMS, language transcription, etc.)
- Downloadable/Streaming Media (APIs, content libraries, etc.)
- Mixed Media (creation, distribution, specifications, etc.)
- Security
- Reporting
- Personalization
We will further define these areas throughout 2012.
Resources for Moving Forward
Conclusions: An App is not a Strategy, But…
We will not debate the point that for many endeavors, the first door that mobile will open is that through an application store. However, the first door seen is not the only door available. Depending on what it is you are developing, offering, or enabling, an application might not be the best point of entry.
For 2012, consider your opportunities and challenges within ministry, and whether mobile is the best route. If it is, then you will want to start looking at where you sit in terms of those areas of mobile, and then whether you are targeting devices, building a service, or managing an experience. After that point, it becomes clear how you should approach mobile. It may very well be that you do need an application – but now it will have a specific target, you can begin planning and setting up your team and content appropriately. If it means you need to outsource the development of your mobile solution, you do so with knowledge of more than simply “make it work on this device.”
At the intersection of faith and mobile technology, what are you pointing towards? In 2010, don’t let your strategy (or lack of one) turn mobile into a dead-end for your effort.
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Mobile Ministry Methodology (v1)
Thursday, April 12th, 2012For the years that I’ve been looking at this intersection of faith and mobile technology through the lens of MMM, one thing has honestly escaped much of the conversation around the topic: if this intersection is valid, then what do people do to get past that intersection and into some relevant demonstration of their faith. In effect, what’s the method to the madness?
Being able to devote much more time to MMM in the past two (2) years has granted my thinking and action spaces to do just that – figure out the methods and some streams of activity within them. You’ve seen this in part if you’ve followed this site for sometime and watched its evolution. In this post, I kind of want to pull all of that together into what amounts into a mobile ministry methodology. The goal of this methodology is to literally demonstrate the definition of mobile ministry in the midst of practice and application.
What is A Mobile Ministry Methodology
The Mobile Ministry Methodology is a framework designed to assist individuals, ministries, and organizations determine the value, prospects, process, and successes of mobile ministry projects. Derived from SDLC methodologies, this framework is designed to keep the a singular goal in perspective despite tendencies for scope creep.
Please note, this is a framework. Therefore, activities within each phase might differ depending on the project. That said, the phases are quite rigid in keeping the focus of the project on both ministry and mobile applications.
Phase One: Determine if you are working on a mobile ministry project
The first step of this methodology is to determine if you are indeed working on a mobile ministry project. While it might seem that any project utilizing mobile devices and services is a suitable ministry project, the determining of whether it is a mobile ministry project falls towards whether the goals and activities within the project affirm the definition of mobile ministry:
(short version of definition)
If your answer to this question is that you are not working on a mobile ministry project, this methodology and process will not be helpful to you. If the goals of your project would like to line up with ministry, as well as keeping that technical component of being mobile, a good place to check the motives and goals of the project can be found using the following Biblical references:
Phase Two: Identifying the Frame for Mobile Ministry
There are several contexts in which mobile technologies have been used, or mobile behaviors tracked and observed. However, all of these are not specific illustrations of ministry (faith-building, faith-tradition extending, faith transformations can all be used as terms here). When mobile intersects with ministry, and the resulting actions are a change in behavior towards both technology and faith, then we can say that mobile ministry has occurred. MMM’s investigation and logging of activity in this space has identified these contexts (displayed here in their primary and secondary frames, linked to articles published here which correlate):
* These topics had their primary tag changed in the course of developing these articles; process is underway to normalize these.
Phase Three: Identifying the Primary Focus for Mobile Ministry Activity
Activities within the previously mentioned frames of mobile ministry have engaged in one or a combination of three focus areas:
Previous discussion on these.
The focus is determined by the core and learned competencies which area needed in order to direct the mobile ministry effort. Many mobile ministry projects will involve two or all three of these at some junction, but the primary focus clarifies how in the later steps you can better identify gaps, resources, and implementation items.
Whether you are using one or all three of these layers, it is helpful to have within your project person(s) which have specific knowledge of the devices and their capabilities, the programmable and political natures of the services to be implemented, and/.or then a definition of the experience for users, administrators, operators, developers, and any other stakeholders. Within these layers of mobility are a wealth of forks which will determine the success or failure of your project if they are not accounted for at this junction.
Engaging the Project Activities
Once you have identified the framing and focus, the methodology begins to take place. While this might look different for specific outfits, the software development lifecycle (SDLC) methodology actually grounds the following phases of the methodology/process:
Phase Four: Establish the Three Pillars
The first phase for the mobile ministry methodology involves what we call the three pillars: goals, issues, and resources.
This would be similar to the project initialization and analysis phases of an SDLC/Agile methodology. It is within your dissection of the issues and and resources in which an analysis of the feasibility of your project will come to light.
Phase Five: Design and Test
Design and Testing should happen in concert with one another. It will be clear after the identification of the goals and issues what exactly needs to be focused on. Design should therefore take place in two phases – staging prototypes/examples and test-ready prototypes/examples. I am personally of the opinion that you spend more time refining the design than testing multiple iterations, but I know of many people having different philosophies here. I’d also recommend that any design and testing (especially if we are talking applications, software, and workflows) should take place with live data, and not dummy data.
Testing is about whether you are making realistic steps towards your goal, and have you developed an experience with your product to match the expectations after that goal is met. Anything that you are testing that does not have direct correlation to solving the issues which prevent your goals from happening should be dismissed (or in some cases, lowered in priority). Testing should also be designed to correspond to the availability of your resources in concert with how the results of the testing knock off all or some of the issues raised in the previous phase. There is potential for projects to spoke into additional requirements or opportunities as a result of the testing/testing data, so I would recommend that anything learned that does not positively effect your specific goals, be dropped for another project or future iteration of the current project.
The testing scripts should be designed so that they can be used in the Post-Implementation phase for reporting and support needs.
Phase Six: Implement
Implementing a mobile ministry project can be a difficult proposition. If this is an application, implementation might look like a slow-beta period, or a larger “let’s see what happens” kind of release. When it is a business process, implementation cannot afford such slow releases, and usually includes additional time and resources towards addressing items that could not show up in testing, implementing training, and finishing the reporting queue.
Your public feedback queue and media channels should be established and utilized at this point. Mechanisms such as Twitter, Facebook, Get Satisfaction, etc. are excellent for acquiring and monitoring specific feedback, while also lending a (hopefully) positive light on your ability to manage the roll-out of your product.
Phase Seven: Support, Report, and Reinitialize
Supporting your product includes having the appropriate documentation (text, video, etc.), publicity support, and consistent presence (support forums, email channels, etc.) which allow you to take in and categorize compliments and issues related to the implemented iteration of your project. Support does not necessarily include fixing all of those items which are brought to your attention – some items need to be input into the queue for re-initialization into another project.
As with your testing queue, the reporting structure that you use to watch usage, trends, and spot potential problems down the line should be in place here. Your report data might come from server logs, emails, or a combination of several streams of data, to which are collected in a regular report by which project managers an stakeholders can have a concise view of the project as it related to the specific goal.
Reinitialize means that you’ve met enough the goals of your project, and due to the data gained within the design, testing, implementation, or support/report streams, that you have an update to the project that you can do. Again here, the goal needs to be specific, but also not deviate greatly from the original product’s goal. It is not uncommon to go back to the drawing board and rebuild at this point.
Review of the Mobile Ministry Methodology Phases
View these phases in a graphical process map:
This process map was created in Google Docs for collaborative purposes. The Google Docs version will always be the latest iteration of this.
Items Not Seen In this Methodology
This methodology has been designed to be very generic. How you or your team manages their tasks, template documents, or other assets is not the point of this methodology. It is a framework to assist you/your team to understand from the outset of the project how to focus your efforts without losing focus of the faith and technological implications of your product. If at the end of your project, you have clearly demonstrated that you have forwarded some/all of the key ideals or behaviors of your faith tradition, then you can successfully say that you have engaged within mobile ministry.
If you have any comments or questions towards this methodology, please do not hesitate to email or send a message via Twitter. Its my expectation that this methodology will enable groups, such as those involved within the Mobile Ministry Forum, better identify successes, challenges, best practices, and other aspects of mobile ministry that have been hard to define and implement.
Associated Resources
Tags: best practices, definition of mobile ministry, flow chart, layers of mobile, methodology, Mobile in Analytics/Marketing/Development, Mobile in Discipleship/Education, mobile in media, mobile in missions/evangelism, mobile in personal/moment, mobile in spiritual/theological/psychological, process, process flow, resources
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