Awaking Lay Ministers Through Church Small Groups

Dr. Ken Hoffman is a layman who has personally been involved for more than thirty years as a part-time lay leader in various levels  of Church small groups in his community. His own experience in small groups and his exposure to management principles as a faculty member in a School of Business in public higher education gives him a unique approach to managing Church small groups..  Also, his faculty experience included serving in educational management as Chair of a University division for more than seven years. During this time he was also involved in a not-for-profit retail Christian bookstore as President of the Corporation and Chairman of the Board of Directors.  Through practical experience as well as Bible school and seminar research and teaching,  Dr Hoffman has experienced the Christian  small group principles and the new believer courses which are highlighted on these pages.  Hoffman’s familiarity with the principles, strategies and tactics of small groups, online teaching, and organizational management shows up in Managing Church Small Groups as a valuable approach to designing and operating effective Church small groups to help prepare new Christians for the work of service.

History of "The Work of Service"

The founder of "The Work of Service" adopted outcome based management while conducting school accreditation consulting with Kansas middle and high schools, technical schools and community colleges in decades is the 70's, 80's, and 90's.  At the same time, his own management experience and the popularity of management by objectives (MBO) in Business Education led him to adapt educational management by objectives to the marketing and business administration undergraduate and graduate courses he taught at Emporia State University.  Business educators in US higher education widely adopted the objective-based  principles of Mager because they were a natural blending of education and business management.  Most of Hoffman's business and training consulting were an applicaton of these mission/goals/objectives principles.   His initial involvement with Church small groups and the growing interest in Christian lay ministry spurred Drh into writing and teaching in this area of Church small groups.   During the 1988-2005 school years, Dr. Hoffman also expanded his university teaching in business and education into on-line computer based distance learning through systems such as Web Page and Blackboard.  After retirement in 2005, he continued on-line development in the areas of New Christian Discipleship Courses for men.  This present "Work of Service" Web site was developed for two basic purposes.  First, encourage and assist new Christians in their own spsiritual growth and development through free online self study courses in small group management and Bible Basics.  Secondly, this site was developed to expand and apply management principles, strategies and tactics to planning, organizing and controlling Church small groups to aid in effectively preparing the saints for the work of ministry.