Editor's Box | A Collaborative Adventure for the Sharing and Spreading of the Lord's Wisdom and Love
New Church Perspective is run by a leadership team which initiated the project and guides its tone and purpose. All the work to maintain and provide content for the project is offered out of people's spare time.
The project will continue to be guided by a small team but our hope is to make it a collaborative adventure which can sustain itself without overly taxing any one volunteer. This approach is possible if many people take on small portions of the project which they are personally drawn to and find a joy to complete.
Already, we have enjoyed the input and work of nearly 50 different people, each contributing something to the process.
I invite you to consider ways which you might love to participate without burdening yourself in an unsustainable way. I will list several possibilities below. If your interest isn't represented on the list, contact us to see if the project could benefit from what you have to offer.
- Leadership team (Regular email conversation considering tone and direction, new features and use of limited volunteer resources.)
- Web design and implementation (Familiarity with basic web design. One time support building a new feature. Ongoing support for maintenance items.)
- Writing (Contributing an essay/article. 1-4/year.)
- Discussion (Contributing in the comment lines. This encourages writers and readers alike.)
- Promotion (Could be as simple as linking to an article from Facebook.)
- Donating money with the button on the right-hand sidebar. (We have small costs associated with maintaining the site. We would appreciate donations of $10 in a year. Again, We'd like to follow the model of spreading out individual responsibility so that no one person carries a great cost.)
- Editing/proof reading (One article a month, every other article. If you have an editor's eye and would be reading the articles anyway, lend us your criticisms.)
- Formatting (Each article requires basic formatting of paragraphs and quotations.)
- Inserting links (Most pieces reference ideas or quotations which require off-site links.)
- Writing intro editor blurbs for articles
- Soliciting Articles from writers
- Hosting a new Column or feature (Some ideas: news updates around the New Church; New Church inspired art and artists; current events through a spiritual lens; stories of people finding and recognizing the Writings of Swedenborg; spiritual poetry, etc.)
- Design work/consultation
- Producing a print version of New Church Perspective (especially for older generations less internet savvy.)
There are many more bits and pieces that go into this project. Remember that my invitation is to find something you would genuinely enjoy and not feel burdened by. Some of the tasks listed above could involve a couple hours every week, but others would be a valuable contribution at only a couple hours each year.
If you feel interested in adding to the project in any of these ways, start by contacting us. We don't currently have all the necessary infrastructure in place, but will work hard to add you onto the team.
Sincerely,
Brian Smith and the NCP Leadership Team
Wondering about the inspiration for this article? Look up the New Church, which is based on the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
Reader Comments (2)
I mean it. This is a fun project, we can find a way for you to be involved which is fun, sustainable and very valuable for maintaining and improving New Church Perspective. There's a whole internet of people out there...
Brian
I just have to rejoice in this beautiful thing! Thanks Brian and the team!
"There's a whole internet of people out there..."
Did you just coin that one? I loveit!