The Theology of Ministry Design

Since alignment to the Christian story and the Missio Dei is the fundamental grounding of Christian mission, it is important to explore the areas of convergence between the philosophical commitments of design thinking, and Christian theology. The metaphor of design, the act of designing, and the values that drive the design process can find grounding in a Biblical anthropology and theology of mission (with some unique constraints). So, for synthesis, I’m aiming to take the values of design and integrate them with the Biblical and theological rationale for ministry contextualization, so that we might have the foundations for a “theology of ministry design.”

Renewal as the Vision for Design. First, why should Christians have a vision for design? As I’ve demonstrated, design thinking is concerned with meeting human needs, and concerned with solving complex social problems for the common good. Design has a human-oriented center, and “renewal” (of some type) as its ostensible goal. There is, of course, the opportunity for design to serve the idolatries of technological convenience and power, or the various visions of non-Christian ideologies, but to the extent that ministry design is aiming for redemption and renewal of people, towards Biblical flourishing, and toward social shalom and the common good, it shares much in common with design thinking. The renewal and flourishing of people’s soul, heart, mind, marriage, family, vocation, friendship, leisure, community, workplace, and city are all under the realm of “flourishing,” and can all be seen as noble domains for robust design thinking by churches and ministries, to contribute to this aim.

Christians as Learners. Design thinking is fundamentally multidisciplinary. It has as much to gain from art as from science, and can learn from pop culture, sociology, or biology. There is a true inter-relatedness of knowledge that design thinking welcomes, because it wants any perspective possible that might generate a new insight on a problem or a new possibility on a solution. In design thinking, reality is your friend — assumptions or projections about reality are a limitation to be actively overcome by asking good questions and challenging assumptions. Intellectual humility and social empathy are the keys to generating data and insight for problem solving. In the same sense, Christians historically hold to a view of God and epistemology that allows for divine insight and common grace across all knowledge domains. Good missiology can benefit as much from social science, economics, and technology as it can from theology, philosophy, and biblical studies, assuming it is properly normed by the Biblical narrative and Biblical telos. Christians are to have the humble confidence to be active, participatory learners, highly in tune with the people and culture around us, and ably pursuing insight about human nature and the world we live in from every discipline. If “truth” is an essential attribute of God, then in a sense, we should be bringing the entire wisdom and counsel of God and his good world to our missional task.

The Power for Design. Christians ought to have a robust and distinct motivation for design-based problem solving. The theological heart of Christianity, “justification by faith,” says that Jesus has fundamentally secured the eternal future of the Christian, and grants him or her divine approval in the present, and the presence of the Holy Spirit as a promise of the future. In other words, Christians have the most security possible to take bold risks, the most freedom to fail, the most willingness to look squarely at the hard lessons of failure, and the most freedom to take risks again. A spirit empowered mission cannot be anything other than truly apostolic, entrepreneurial, and innovative, because it has the highest incentive for urgent fruitfulness (the Great Commission) and the deepest safety net imaginable. A robust theology of grace gives real courage for the innovation task, and a generative mindset of abundance and freedom, not scarcity or fear. Christians motivated by this fuel can bring a radical and innovative “design” ethic to mission, pressing forward into new paradigms and pathways for local ministry.

Designing For People. Design is “human centered,” and while mission finds its grounding in God, it is not a stretch to say that mission is also “human centered,” insofar as it is designed to communicate the Gospel to people where they are. The Great Commission was the command to “make disciples,” in alignment with Jesus’ previous command to “love your neighbor,” and even to “love your enemies.” In Acts, the earliest marks of the church were common service to the poor, and the generous sharing of all things with their community. The most essential ethical directives in the life of Christ are toward the well-being of one’s neighbor (especially the poor). We inherit a “human centered” and “community centered” mission that implores us to serve people well in the name and image of Christ. Good ministry and good design both come from a foundation of relational care and relational common sense — observing the needs of one’s neighbor — particularly neighbors who have more complex problems to navigate — and loving them well through creative service.

Getting Close to People. To that end, good design borrows from mission in its essential “incarnation.” Part of the critique of the business sector from design thinking is that it is too removed, and not sufficiently “embodied” with the people it exists to serve. The essential missional step was God “incarnating” among people, and walking among the “others” that existed. Good mission, then, is incarnational, and requires a certain proximate nearness that lends itself toward observation, empathy, and creative solutions. This resonates, of course, with what we are learning about innovation itself — the best innovations are often found in “local” contexts, not in board rooms of well resourced organizations. Whether an individual, a missionary, a pastor, a church, or a global organization, real mission requires real incarnation and active local participation, and design thinking will argue along that this is an essential step for real problem solving, solution discovery, and solution generation.

Design Constraints. Design thinking, particularly in the product-development business, is constrained by technology, or price economics, or business strategy, or customer desires, or more. The magic of design for business is in the deft navigation of all of the design constraints to find the best way forward. In mission, we operate with the same creative navigation, but among a different set of constraints. The Biblical narrative is our primary constraint — we evaluate by asking, “Is the shape of our mission in line with the spirit and essence of the Kingdom of God as modeled in Christ?” This is our first evaluative norm. The priority of the Gospel message is a constraint, ensuring that a ministry or message doesn’t obfuscate the clarity of the teaching of the good news. There is a prophetic constraint, taking into consideration the hidden “idols” of a culture or community that would tend to invite design (mis)alignment (say, materialism, for example), when what is really needed is bold prophetic critique. Ministry design should be as relevant, and clear, and plausible as possible, but never outside the boundaries of its key constraints.

Designing in Community. Design is a collaborative, community project. It seeks a diversity of perspectives, skills, and insight in order to widen the lens as far as possible on diagnosing, understanding, and generating insights for action. A good design team pulls from multiple industries and sectors, even if the particular problem to solve is particular to one of them. It seeks as much adjacent insight as possible. In the same way, the body of Christ is given a plurality of gifts and abilities, and beyond the spiritual gifts, the body of Christ possess a richness of practical gifts that are not often engaged. Asking design questions around how to more effectively conduct discipleship, small groups, children’s ministry, membership, building development, communications, community outreach, or mercy ministry, will have the potential to engage the full skill set of men and women in a church or ministry organization. Inviting collaborators to bring their best thinking to solve Kingdom problems is an activating, mobilizing action. Design thinking affirms that men and women of diverse backgrounds and skill sets can work together, and our theology of the Body of Christ affirms that we all have the gifting to contribute toward Kingdom solutions.

Designing for Fruitfulness. Design thinking is iterative, which means it is also evaluative. It is seeking “alignment” with its beneficiary, which is indicated either by a purchasing decision (business sector) or by some sort of transformational outcome (social impact sector). Christianity has a theology of stewardship and of “building carefully,” which calls us beyond faithful presence and into fruitful presence. To have a missiology or ministry that isn’t evaluative is to have one that is not striving for fruitfulness. Striving for effectiveness is not a heavy, law-based burden as some sort of performance-seeking before God (although it can become that if not observed carefully), it is an intentionality that is always seeking to further love a particular neighbor or community. In such a paradigm, ineffectiveness is commensurate with “loving poorly.” The Christian mandate, then, isn’t fruitfulness per se (which is the work of the Holy Spirit), but it is faithfulness striving for fruitfulness, in a manner that trusts the Lord in his sovereignty but takes seriously the gift of innovative agency that we have been given. To design well is to test, to evaluate, to improve, to evaluate, and to keep cultivating the soil, especially the tough soil. It might be tough soil, or we might simply be using the wrong seeds and the wrong tools. Faithful, iterative evaluation is what helps us discern the difference.