programs. No volunteer program, however well
planned, developed, and installed, will be successful
unless it has the active support and participation of
command chaplains. A rubber-stamp approval is not
sufficient. Chaplains must understand the purpose of
the volunteer program, how it functions, and the
necessity for the program, and they must believe that the
results of a comprehensive volunteer program will be
for the betterment of the entire community.
OUTREACH
Outreach programs are elements and patterns of
progressive religious marketing. Outreach programs
develop from research based on the needs of the
community. While the worship, religious education,
pastoral care and counseling, fellowship, and other
functions of the RMF will stand on their own, chaplains
and command religious programs (CRPs) will set up
outreach programs to supplement their efforts to provide
quality programs that will enhance the lives of those
they serve.
Unlike the other religious programs, outreach
programs are basically time-oriented programs; that is,
they are presented at given intervals and will usually
have a known beginning and ending date. An outreach
program can be thought of as an extended hand, a
planned preventive maintenance plan, or even a form of
preventive medicine. Consider the meaning of outreach
programs as delineated in the following quotation:
“As chaplains in a pluralistic sea service
environment, we need to interpret outreach in
the broadest possible terms. Outreach has
many facets and meanings. Outreach is
spiritual renewal; it is healing; it is genuine
care-giving; it is community service; it is
having an influence on command and
community.
We have a great opportunity to reach out to sea
service members and their families. To
understand and meet the spiritual needs of our
people, we must listen to them, expand our
vision of the future, and try new paradgms to
touch the lives of those entrusted to our care.”
Rear Admiral David E. White
Chief of Chaplains
As outreach programs become increasingly market
oriented, most RMFs will tend to set up programs that
focus on
groups.
meeting the needs of particular persons or
Most outreach programs are geared to a
particular public, such as children, youth groups, single
parents, married persons, the aged, or to entire
communities, such as the homeless, poor, and orphans.
Outreach is used when each of these groups is suitably
set apart from the others and is believably large enough
to support special, structured care.
The integration of outreach programs into a CRP
starts with a state of the mind on the part of the chaplains
and RPs. In these programs, the chaplains and RPs will
make the recipients the constant focal point for all basic
planning and decision making.
As an RP, you should treat each outreach program
as if it were a marketing business. To do this, you must
be market oriented. In planning any outreach program,
take the following steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Determine your objectives.
Research the need.
Look into similar programs by others, both
military and civilian.
Establish guiding policies.
Prepare by diagraming productions.
Prepare budgets and financial considerations,
involving advertising and promotion, product
development, research, and the like.
Evaluate performance.
Let’s take a brief look at each of these steps.
OBJECTIVES
In planning your CRP’s outreach program, begin
with a team spirit and set broad objectives. First, define
your customers’ needs. Next, look at existing or similar
programs. After you examine these programs, establish
the techniques and procedures that will work best for
you. Remember to weigh the economic factors, the
service factors, and the product factors.
RESEARCH
The fundamentals of performing outreach
marketing research are gathering, ordering, and
evaluating the facts.
The primary purpose of your
research will be to solve or forestall problems. By
performing research, you can increase the efficiency of
your efforts by developing, selecting, and improving on
the most effective program and marketing methods. In
developing your outreach research methods, you must
understand the problem to be researched, establish
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