In my study of community, I came across this article: In Building Communities, Marketers Can Learn From Cults. In the article, the author gives these questions to help determine whether some "gathering" is a true community. I would like for the Missional Outreach Network to be a real community and to grow closer together. So I have listed these questions below, with some possible answers.
- Does it satisfy a real need? Do its members learn more, have more fun, get more done or get support? Does is have a clearly articulated purpose?
I hope that this site fills the needs of those with a heart for missional outreach to find like-minded people. The stated "purpose" that I have is "Connecting People & Resources to fulfill the Mission of Christ." These people and resources would include Christians, church leaders, community leaders and members, study materials, book recommendations, music, photos, links, videos, etc.
- Is it clear about who belongs and who doesn't?
I have stated that the site is available to people across fellowship who share a common interest in missional
outreach
- Is there interaction between members? Do they contribute, do they participate, do they work together to achieve the common purpose? Being an audience is not a community.
This is one of the best features of the site.Interaction is built into the technology, and there is a lot of interaction on the site. What could increase this interaction?
- Do they feel responsibility for each other and the community at large? Are there roles, responsibilities and jobs performed by the membership?
I think that certain members certainly feel this responsibility towards some. This feeling probably, however, extends most strongly to those members who know one another outside of the online forum. So, to help with this feeling, we could have more events that bring the online community together. For instance, having John Dobbs, Jon Mark, Carlos Acosta, Joe Diaz, and more come out to the seminar helped draw us together more, and has already led to more online interaction.
- Is it self-policing? Do people censure or eject unruly or unreasonable members?
We have not had much of this. But I have had people alert me when spammers have hit the site.
- Are there guidelines, rules, or norms of behavior?
Respectful dialogue is the unspoken norm, and this has rarely been violated. It is stated on the site that spammers will be ejected.
What do you think of these questions and answers? How can we make MON into a more closely knit community?
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