What are we doing to our volunteers?

Like every church, volunteers are key to what we are trying to accomplish. But therein lies the problem! How we use volunteers and how we treat them speaks to our theology and philosophy of ministry.

At our church we seek to help people move along a path we have labeled 3D. We are seeking to assist our members as they move from discovery through discipleship to devotion. Like many other churches, our desire is to see people develop into "fully devoted followers of Christ." In order to be true to our mission and consistent with our Biblical mandate, we need to see volunteering for what it really is.

Too often we find ourselves looking only at the ministry needs we see in front of us. In order to fill those spots or needs, we then see our volunteers as a "means to the end." They are resources available to us to "check out and use" just like the tables and chairs or the buses. In fact, in one very popular church software system, they are actually listed as "resources" to be scheduled.

However, in our mission statement, helping to move a person into devoted service (volunteering/serving) is a part of the ultimate desire or "end." We must be most concerned with helping people become and accomplish what God has for them. When that is kept before us, it surely changes the way we both view and use our faithful. It makes our concern not the programs, but the people. We are not in the business of filling positions, but of building people.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (Eph 4:12-13)

How about you? Are you looking at people as resources to be used for your programs, or are your programs being used to build up the people? Means or end? It makes a difference!

What Are We Famous For?

Saw a truck on the way to work this morning with the name of the company on the side. Not an unusual experience, most every company has their name on the sides of their trucks, but this one said "Famous Jerry Piano Moving". The signage brought up a couple of thoughts.

The first one was "What exactly do you have to do to become famous at moving pianos?" And what is the realm of your fame? Does everyone but me know Famous Jerry or is he just famous within the inner circle of piano movers? What is the criteria for fame? And who determines when you are famous enough to actually advertise it?

The second question that arose was how busy does one stay just moving pianos? That seems like a very specific business. In church life, many of us are looking at the whole simple church concept thanks to Thom Ranier, Eric Geiger and others. In the arena of the moving industry, piano moving seems to be as simplified as it gets. Now my guess is that they can and will move other things, but Piano Moving is what Jerry chooses to put on his sign and use as his company name. He didn't say "Famous Jerry Moving," "Famous Jerry Stuff Moving," or even "Famous Jerry Piano and other stuff Moving". It is just "Piano Moving"!


If your ministry could only use one thing to describe it, what would it be? What is it that you do that others might have need of? A piano moving company is important . . . if you need to move a piano. A piano moving company is committed to meeting a need. Are we meeting the needs of a world that needs to know about a Savior or are we just doing church?

No Pain, No Gain

Reading Shawn Woods' book 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One and he shares a great statement. Let me paraphrase it slightly: "When God is getting ready to do something awesome in, with, and through me, it really looks more like a pain in the butt - mainly a pain in my butt!"


Isn't that what stops us from accomplishing most of the grand dreams and plans of our lives? It just looks like a whole lot of work! It is going to require me to do more or to stretch more than I am comfortable with at this point in my life. As an elementary student in the 60's, we had to take part in the "Presidental Physical Fitness Test" every fall and spring. While I don't remember the official name of the test, there was one where you sat on the floor, held your legs straight in front of you, and tried to see how far you could stretch forward and touch the floor between or beyond your feet. Now I was more than willing to stretch out and touch, but my teacher always wanted me to stretch more and to reach farther. But I am going to be honest - it just plain hurt to do it! I liked getting a good distance to my stretch, but I didn't enjoy the pain that went along with it. But truthfully without stretching to the point of discomfort, I never got to the point of accomplishment.

Our Christian experience is not about comfort, but contentment, and the two are not the same. Comfort has to do with pleasing me; contentment has to do with knowing that I have pleased Him!

Flow charts and Doodles

I am a doodler. I constantly draw pictures and highlight thoughts with circles and squares and triangles. I am also from the generation of flow charts and diagrams.

I love the look of these types of things. I also like the fact that they remind us of the direction and flow we desire. These little diagrams help us to communicate thoughts, to chart our progress, and to clarify our mission.

Our vision, should be translatable into pictures. We should be able to deliver a defined graphic illustration of our mission. It might be a chart, or it might be portrait. What does your mission look like? What kind of picture does it paint? How can it be best illustrated?

Does your picture show the progression and direction you are seeking for your ministry and those whom you impact? Does it tell the story? Does it communicate?

What do I say?

Someone recently asked me, "What do I say to someone who has found out he is dying?" We often find ourselves in situations where someone has experienced a figurative kick in the gut. They have received some sort of bad news or experienced some great disappointment. What do we say to someone who is in the midst of the storm?

In reply to that question, I shared what I usually do and that is admit I don't know why. My prayer with a person who is dealing with a storm is usually something along these lines: I thank You God that You are in control. I admit to You that at this moment I don't understand why this is happening. I don't know why this individual or family is having to go through this situation. But I do know that You are still God. I know that You can do what is for the ultimate best and so I trust it all to You!

Too often, as ministers and as Christ followers, we want to have the answers. We want to give them the steps to get out of this situation. We want to give them a reason for the difficulties or problems they face. Just admit it: we don't know. We know that we live in a sinful world and part of that sinfulness means there is sickness and tragedy in the world and in our lives from time to time. But the truth is most of the time for God's people we just don't have the answer to why. And as a man recently reminded me in the midst of his illness, "That's when your faith kicks in!" That is when we truly experience the Good Portion as we surrender our everything over to Him and rest in His abiding love.

The Work of God

Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:28-29)

What is it that shows we are doing the work of God? Is it being at church every week or better yet, every day? Is it preaching, teaching, witnessing? It is really much simplier and yet at the same time much more difficult than any of these things! Jesus says it here: "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."

Notice first the difference in the question and the answer. The question asks about "the works of God", but the answer talks about "the work of God". They are asking the same question that many still ask today: What is the list of things that I have to do to make things right with God?

Jesus says it is not about a set of rules, but it is all about faith - about believing. Out of our belief then comes everything else! As always, our relationship with Him is the good portion!