New Circles of Learning for Engaged Scholars Studying Congregations
Web-based Educational Resources
Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH), in collaboration with the Congregational Studies Team and Hartford Seminary, with funding from the Lilly Endowment, will embark on a three-year project to develop a state-of-the-art website that will provide learning opportunities for scholars and practitioners who are focused on understanding and leading congregations and other local communities of faith. The Congregational Studies Project Team is a thirty-year collaboration that has produced the widely used Congregational Studies Handbook (1986) and Studying Congregations (1998). Founded in 2005, the Center for Practical Theology at Boston University provides an infrastructure for sustaining, deepening, and expanding important relationships and connections between Boston University School of Theology and local congregations, denominational offices, and religious centers. This website will be an important addition to the Center’s work.
Project Goals
The aim of the project is a functioning, dynamic website that is widely accessible as an educational resource. It will include (a) up-to-date materials about methods for investigating congregations and tools for interpreting what is thereby discovered (building on existing insights from Studying Congregations and other previous research); (b) examples and case studies about congregations, some newly developed and others repurposed, in both written and audiovisual formats; (c) feature articles and podcasts of current interest, featuring Team members, younger scholars who are and have participated in the Team’s fellowship programs (click here), and others; (d) forums for building an online community of those interested in engaged scholarship, using blogs, social media, and other interactive tools, and; (e) a limited range of archival materials from the history of congregational studies.
We expect that the website will make possible vastly expanded access to first-rate insights and instruction in congregational studies and a new web-based network of those committed to engaged scholarship that benefits faith communities. This will expand in significant ways the circle of those involved in engaged scholarship about congregations and faith communities, updating and expanding existing materials with audiovisual cases, interactive learning tools, and new content reflecting contemporary knowledge and the changing scene for congregations in the U.S. and beyond.
The work to be undertaken will build on planning activities undertaken by the Team during 2011, including a major consultation with and report from Toolbox Studios, a web design and consulting firm. This report helped to clarify what needs to be taught and shared, who the imagined audiences might be, and various online options for achieving those ends. It was grounded in an elaboration of the values and purposes that guide the Team’s activities as a whole. That report is an extensive document detailing the scope of the proposed project, how it might be implemented and supported.
Project Personnel and Responsibilities
Project Coordination. Nancy Ammerman, Professor of Sociology of Religion in the School of Theology and in the Sociology Department of the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as the Program Coordinator for this website development project. She will be the primary liaison between Hartford Seminary, the Team, and the work of website development, and she will facilitate the institutional connections within Boston University and supervise the Website Director.
Website Development and Direction. A Website Director will be hired as a fulltime Research Fellow for three years (June 2012-May 2015). This person will have primary responsibility for creating an engaging web-based pedagogical resource that will enhance research on communities of faith and assist the work of religious leaders. This will include overseeing design work, soliciting content, and producing and evaluating web-based learning tools. This person will be designated as a Research Fellow in the School of Theology. The incumbent will hold a PhD or ThD in a relevant field and have familiarity with congregational studies research, as well as competence in web-based technologies.
Technical Services. The Website Director will work with the Program Coordinator in negotiating an agreement within the budget of the grant for the BU Interactive Design office of Information Services and Technology to provide necessary support, including strategic planning, information architecture, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design, custom WordPress theme and plugin development, and rich media development.
Administrative support. Administration of the grant will be housed in the School of Theology. The project will also benefit from consultation with the Center for Practical Theology and the staffs of the Theology and University libraries.