My Wicked-Problem Design Thinking Project
Through Innovation 6250, a course at Cedarville University, I journeyed through a project that included taking various steps in design thinking to solve a “wicked problem.”? In my implementation plan, I wrote my problem to solve: Inspire your children with God’s word and awaken their biblical imagination. Crossway’s article, The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy: It’s Our Problem, addresses the issue of biblical illiteracy in the church. The summarizing statement from the article suggests that Americans revere the Bible; however, the problem is that they do not read it. The “scandal is biblical ignorance among Christians” (Mohler, 2003).?
Through this course, I have selected four design thinking strategies from the Luma Institute (Luma, 2012). I? aligned the strategies sequentially for clarity, but the strategies overlapped in real time. The following strategies describe the strategy overview, rationale, and the resources and subjects needed.?
● Stakeholder Mapping?
The first step to putting people at the center of my problem to solve is to ask critical questions to the network of people with a stake in the issue of biblical literacy. My problem focus is primarily on families. Therefore, the following questions from Luma are ultra-essential to answer. Who is involved? What do they care about? How much influence do they have (Luma, 2012)? Considering these questions, the answers and discoveries within these questions and discussions will provide a healthy framework for the subsequent strategies. Other stakeholders, such as children, grandparents, and vital influential parties, will also surface through these questions. If solving the problem of biblical illiteracy in Christian homes is the goal, then children are certainly stakeholders, if for nothing else than to communicate and verify a parent's influence in their lives. The hope in this strategy is that all the people served by our design will receive consideration through our efforts. Luma Institute articulately describes this strategy by stating, “The balance of any ecosystem is defined by the interrelationships of its parts. Each individual unit, whether key or peripheral, plays a role in how the system works” (Luma, 2012, p. 32). To implement the Stakeholder Mapping strategy, I will need to brainstorm and research the role of parents, children, and influencers in children’s lives. Additionally, understanding education in children and the lasting impacts of early-year developments will provide key insights.?
● Interviewing?
With a foundation set in place for understanding the network of stakeholders, the interviewing strategy follows suit in the continued techniques of gathering information. Interviewing is a direct dialogue with stakeholders to gather ethnographic research. Interviewing is a direct access opportunity for valuable information with people that will help make informed decisions. The task of interviewing requires a resourceful and experienced skillset. I will implement the interviewing strategy by starting with networks I know and soliciting volunteers to participate in interviews. I may also solicit an interviewer who has the experience and knows how to navigate the interviewee to probe for more information and discern the conversations to gather fruitful answers.
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● Experience Diagramming?
Researching will continue to serve as my prioritized objective through the Experience Diagramming strategy. Because my data points revolve around the Christian family experience, this step will help me evaluate how well I understand the current state of Christian families and their behavioral patterns with the Bible and their children inside their family life. I hope this strategy will also diagnose the struggles, difficulties, and complexities of biblical integration in daily family life. Finally, I anticipate experiencing empathy for families to address the problem of biblical illiteracy in Christian homes.?
● Problem Tree Analysis?
I chose the Problem Tree Analysis because it is essential to explore biblical illiteracy's causes and effects. This strategy is designed to identify the root of a problem (causes) and its branches (effects) of a central issue (trunk). This positioning exercise is structured to “reveal concerns, discern causes from systems, and potentially frame problem statements in a new and better way” (Luma, 2012. p. 48). Among other findings, I want to test hypotheses about how the institution of the church’s role in teaching the scriptures has contributed to a biblically illiterate church. To implement this strategy, I will need to assemble a diverse group of stakeholders and create a safe environment to write down and discuss the causes, effects, and focal problems.?
Findings and Reflections
Stakeholder Mapping Findings
Interviewing Findings
I asked twelve questions to self-identifying Bible Believing Christians with the hopes of discovering how families engage the Bible in the home and how their church models, encourages, and resources biblical literacy. Most of the questions had a multiple-choice option. Additionally, I asked pastors/church staff twelve questions to uncover how they saw their church as it relates to biblical literacy. Pastors/church staff are one of my key stakeholders in solving the problem of biblical illiteracy.??
Here are a few key takeaways from the responses of 79 individuals and 13 pastors/church staff.?
One analysis of this research was that 64.6% of individual responders said they do not read the Bible together as a family.? On the contrary, 61.5% of pastors/church workers said families regularly read the Bible together at home.?
Experience Diagramming Findings
For this tool, I chose a body of research from the American Bible Society, “State of the Bible USA 2024.”? This 170 page report in 2024, the State of the Bible research team at American Bible Society collaborated with NORC at the University of Chicago to design and field a nationally representative survey of American adults on topics related to the Bible, faith, and the church. The study was conducted in English and was presented both online and via telephone to NORC’s AmeriSpeak? Panel, using a 23-minute questionnaire. The study produced 2,506 responses from a representative sample of adults 18 and older within all 50 states and the District of Columbia.?
Below are a few of the notable findings I pulled from the report.?
Problem Tree Analysis Findings
In this step, I aimed to look at causes and effects to better understand the chain of connected circumstances that led to the current situation. Below is a visual representation of my analysis.?
Through this project, I gained more insight and empathy for the problem of biblical illiteracy. I look forward to continuing the process to help families live out the Deuteronomy 6 mandate, inspire their children with God’s word, and awaken their biblical imagination.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 imperative. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Crossway, 2016).
References?
Crossway. (2016). The holy bible: English standard version: containing the old?
and new testaments.?
LUMA Institute, LLC. (2012). Innovating for people: Handbook of human-centered?
design methods.?