A Pattern Language for Perfecting the Saints

Pattern languages (see the Pattern Language Page at the C2 Wiki) are an idea that came out of the work of Architect Christopher Alexander and have found homes in a number of other disciplines. Pattern languages are collections of patterns which describe recurring problems within a domain and provide a template for deling with them. Each pattern is described in four parts:

Pattern Name - a handle for identifying the pattern.

Problem - a description of when the pattern applies.

Solution - the elements that make up the pattern.

Consequences - the results and trade-offs of applying the pattern.

So, why is all of this important? I've been thinking about the roll of local church leaders in perfecting the saints (see Retrenchment and Reaching Out), and I'm starting to boil my ideas down into a catalog of patterns in a pattern language for perfecting the saints.

Here are the patterns I've been thinking about so far. I'm going to try to write about one each week, I'd appreciate any comments to help improve the patterns I describe or to add others that I've missed.

Perfecting the Saints: Pattern Catalog

• Agents of Change
• Families on the Edges
• Focus Families
• Focused Effort
• Follow the Spirit
• Home Teaching is the Key
• Not Just Once a Month
• The Rising Tide
• A Six Month Window
• Teaching Teams
• To Serve and Protect
• Touching Everyone
• The Transition

it's nice to see a response

In response to my letter (and post) about the new deseretbook blogs, Michael Cleverly responded that they've enabled RSS feeds to both blogs! I think that this is a good sign, I'm looking forward to their continued work.

I've already subscribed to their feeds with my bloglines account.

-pate

New blogs at Deseret Book

Deseret Book is starting to host a couple of blogs; John Bytheway and Michael Mclean. It looks like they might begin to offer more as well. I've written a note to Matthew McBride (their contact for the Internet Division) and Jeanne Crippen (their Marketing Division contact). Here's what I wrote:

Matthew,
I love the fact that Deseret Book is making a leap into blogging. I think
you've made some good decisions in having Michael McLean and John Bytheway
as your first two bloggers. I'm anxious to see who else ends up blogging
for you. I have a couple of concerns though:

1) Bloggers for hire don't seem to have the voice or the passion that
most bloggers do. I'll be anxious to see how this works out. For
example, neither of Michael nor John has posted any replies to the
comments on their blog entries -- blogs work best when they are a vehicle
for conversations.

2) You don't provide an rss feed for the blogs. this makes them almost
useless for me. I use an aggragator to browse blogs I'm interested in,
then jump to the blog to read the entries that catch my attention. I
think you'll find that this will become the way almost everyone reads
blogs -- please don't paint yourself out of that picture.

There are a number of interesting, strongly written LDS blogs out
there. I hope to see good things from Deseret Book's bloggers as well.

-pate