For many years, states have been formed under the influence of religious precepts and moral values. Religion provided a moral criterion for evaluating not only personal but also social life. The church sphere is also subject to some changes, as is everything in people’s lives. The Action Research is the correct way that will help to carry out these changes accurately, considering all the evidence to implement changes in practice. Although Action Research is not a widely used tool in the church environment, it can still help to successfully introduce pre-education into the practice of the work of churches.
The study of actions will make it possible to lead changes in the Christian church effectively. The process of Action Research includes several components, which include participation, engagement, and action orientation (Cassell & Johnson, 2006). Participation implies the work of the churches, which will be aimed at exploring their issues with the help of scientists and other people. The administration is to monitor the effectiveness of each minister and their results. Involvement means guiding people to learn to hear themselves and to listen to the God they believe in. Action orientation helps guide what people get in the church and what they achieve because of reflection.
Action research is a process that consists in collecting factual data that will then be put into practice. This process includes various stages, such as diagnosis, analysis, feedback, action, and evaluation. Diagnostics consists of the fact that the person is working on changes working with employees and asking them questions (Cassell & Johnson, 2006). The analysis stage is characterized by generalizing information on identified problem areas and possible actions. The feedback stage brings the employees the information collected in the previous steps. In addition, it is necessary to form goals and an action plan based on the data obtained. The penultimate stage is to implement the action plan and eliminate the identified problems. In the last step, the effectiveness of the plan is evaluated.
There are various reasons why the church is ineffective, for example, the continuous wars between various religious branches. This problem cannot be solved because it is different faith that generates these mass quarrels. The decline in effectiveness also lies in the fact that Christians do not fully understand some of the essential doctrines. To solve this problem, it is necessary to regularly tell people that there is a God, which way to go, and what awaits people at the end of this path.
Organic and mechanistic structures are types of structures that are created through environmental conditions. The mechanistic structure has a high complexity, centralization, and a high level of formalization. The organic structure has a low level of complexity, formalization, and mechanization. These structures affect changes in different ways, for example, mechanistic structures do not allow changes to be implemented, which makes them unsuitable for innovation. Organic structures allow to develop, adapt to the new and be flexible.
Faith-based businesses differ significantly from secular organizations. The motivation of faith-based businesses lies in people’s boundless faith in Jesus and love for him. Secular events are motivated only by goodwill and the understanding that people can do good to each other (Bleijenbergh et al., 2021). Promoting the growth of faith-based businesses comes at the expense of local churches and the Christian companies in which they work. Secular organizations promote mutual growth, that is, from one such enterprise to another, and they are also supported by the government. Stress management in both enterprises comes from the members of the organization themselves, faith-based enterprises are more resistant to stress, since for them the main consolation is the presence of God and Jesus in their hearts.
In conclusion, Action Research is a positive tool that allows you to work with the effectiveness of churches. This process includes five main stages such as diagnosis, analysis, feedback, action, and evaluation. There are various enterprises, for example, those that are based on faith or secular. Each of them is aimed at working with people and God, but still these enterprises have significant differences in their functioning and characteristics.
References
Bleijenbergh, I., van Mierlo, J., & Bondarouk, T. (2021). Closing the gap between scholarly knowledge and practice: Guidelines for HRM action research. Human Resource Management Review, 31(2), 100764.
Cassell, C., & Johnson, P. (2006). Action research: Explaining the diversity. Human Relations, 59(6), 783–814.