When I met other technical communicators at the STC conference in June and told them that I work for the LDS Church, most were at least a little surprised. What does a church need technical writers for?

As I answer that question, bear in mind that we’re not classifying marketing writers as part of this (especially because we’re not selling anything). Our team is called the “user education” team, so our concern is teaching users.

But what are we teaching them to use?

Our Church’s headquarters includes an IT department, part of which exists to develop and maintain Web sites and applications. Church software is designed to provide resources for Church members to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and perform their ecclesiastical responsibilities. It also helps others learn about and understand the Church.

Some applications help workers at headquarters accomplish their day-to-day tasks, and other systems are used by people in their homes or church offices to perform certain ecclesiastical duties. The work they do with Church software is important to them not just because it’s part of something a leader or manager expects of them, but also because these tasks are immediately connected to their beliefs. They have the deepest kind of interest in the success of their work.

Whatever the outcome of using one of these systems is supposed to be, we want our users to be able to work efficiently. Processes that used to take hours and use piles of paper may now take only minutes and be paperless. But like any piece of software, our systems supplement simple and complex processes, and we have users with computer experience across the spectrum. With any combination of complexity and prior user experience, documentation can step in and improve the user’s interaction with the software. Enter the technical communicators.

You may think it strange that members, leaders, and employees of our Church are using computers and the Internet in religious contexts, but we believe that God inspires men and women to invent things that will further the work that He wants us to do. And because we consider religion as something that is a way of life rather than an activity, we can be found using these technologies nearly every day for religious purposes.

While the Church has a structure of volunteer clergy, an organization of 13 million members requires some full-time employees to manage logistics. I’m not paid for the service I perform in my local congregation, but I and other technology professionals are paid for our full-time work within our fields of expertise to help this logistical effort.

Working for the church to which I belong adds an extra dimension to my job. It is satisfying that my job isn’t about turning a profit; it’s assisting people in using the wonders of technology while they accomplish a work we all consider most important.

When your documentation helps someone improve her contribution to the work of the Church, its significance increases. When your documentation lets another person complete his tasks more quickly so he can spend more time with his family, that is value that can’t be measured. When your documentation is created for those you consider brothers and sisters, you’re writing and designing for people you identify with and feel close to.

This is what it means to be a technical communicator for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and why the Church has technical communicators.

Related entries (auto-generated):

Follow-up: A Skill for the Extroverted Technical Communicator

Suggestions for Survival in an Agile Environment as a Technical Communicator

Seven Reasons Your Company Needs a Technical Communicator

A Team Member with the Heart of a Technical Communicator

The Technical Communicator as Project Manager