Group Organization (Blog 2, Week 3)

 Describe a group you are a member of (online community, church, job, etc.) and how it is organized. Is there management? How is information distributed within the group?


I am a member of a Methodist church back at home which definitely has a form of management. Our church is overseen by a district superintendent for our district and a bishop to make sure the church and other methodist churches in our area are "running smoothly". They organize the churches in the district to support a certain mission project or study a certain book of the Bible during a particular month. District leaders also help share information of one church with other churches in the district. The next level in the "hierarchy" would be the pastoral staff at my church including our pastor and the assistant pastor. They oversee other church leadership and head/help appoint the church council which oversees the body of the church. We have different committees for lay leaders, education and leadership (organizing Bible studies and small groups), trustees (maintain church grounds), finance (count money/distribute it), missions, music, children's ministry, youth ministry, and the list goes on and on. Heads of these committees regularly meet with the pastors and then meet with the other committee members to get things accomplished. There are also weekly staff meetings for all actual staff which further organize and discuss the runnings of the church. Basically, there are many different levels in the organization of the church so things get accomplished; the specialization and division of different committees also helps to insure this. Although the members of the congregation don't often talk to the district superintendents or even the pastors, they know what is happening in the church because of the different levels. 


The way information is distributed within the group has changed over the years. At first information (events happening that  weeks/prayer requests/etc.) was given in the announcements at the beginning of each church service and occasionally through phone calls during the week, soon bulletins were also given out every Sunday morning so we'd have schedules throughout the week, now the church website is the easiest way of getting the most accurate information about church happenings. The bulletin is posted there, along with updated church announcements and highlighted events. During high school, I worked for the graphic designer who was creating the new church website. It was interesting to see how much the church leadership wanted to join a more digital age. It went from being a site with the church's address, picture, and staff pictures, to having recorded sermons, up-to-date information, and even online tithing. This shift literally occurred over the span of a couple weeks. Since then, certain Bible studies and groups within the church (youth group/young adults mostly) have even began organizing and sharing information through Facebook, however our church as a whole is not there quite yet.