Quite often when I speak with churches about their
volunteers I get some very common responses.
Some of them are not all bad “we love our volunteers”, “we couldn’t have
church without our volunteers support”, or “we try and have a volunteer
appreciation dinner once a year to show them how much we appreciate what they
do”. Understanding the importance of
volunteers to a non profit organization is the key to staying alive.
I am currently attending Fellowship Church. I am what some would say is an occasional
volunteer. My wife and I blame our lack of consistent volunteering on the fact
that we have 4 children. It takes 2
childcare workers to keep an eye on just our children so we figure it would be
a wash to volunteer both at the same time.
A weak excuse I know, but one I am sticking to for now. One thing that makes volunteering pleasant,
if not down right fun is Volunteer Central at Fellowship Church. The room that Fellowship Church
uses is, surprisingly enough, centrally located. It is roughly 20’ by 20’ lined on 2 walls by
counter surface similar to a kitchen with cupboards above and below for
storage. The wall immediately across the
room when you enter is a large screen where services are shown real time or
training video’s are displayed. In front
of the final wall, which is made up of large picture windows looking out on a
courtyard, sits the volunteers who manage volunteer central. Their main goal in life is making sure that
everyone that walks into Volunteer Central is taken care of. Imagine a concierge, receptionist, and ticket
counter agent all wrapped up in one. If
you have a problem they can fix it, if you need yourself and your kids checked
in they do it, if you are not sure what you are supposed to do or whom you’re
supposed to be working with they can find out.
With a few clicks of the radio they can be in touch with the entire
church. This might not seem like a
challenge but remember Fellowship
Church runs 22,000 on the
weekend with thousands of volunteers flowing through their hallowed doors. Being the occasional volunteer I get to see
them at their best. I work the vacation
bible school times as well as the conference they put on at Fellowship Church. This means I know nothing and work 4-6 hours
at a time. Between duties such as
running a check in station, or emptying trash cans; Volunteer Central is an
oasis that refreshes and rejuvenates. I
can stop in for a free bottle of water (Fellowship Church
went health crazy a few years back and nary a soda can be found) and some kind
of nutty fruit snack. There is not much
I won’t do for a free bottle of water and some food.
Knowing and loving how Fellowship Church
treats their volunteers I have become a Volunteer Central Evangelist. I come to churches with a fire in my belly to
bring new and better ways to treat volunteers.
But I have to tell you the one thing that drives me as crazy as a pastor
that hears “I just don’t think the bible is true” is “we just don’t have the
space”. After a bit of prodding and touring
the facility I always find the perfect spot.
That is when I hear “but the men’s ministry has a bible study in that
room during the second service”. Or “but
the choir uses that room to warm up in”.
To this I steer them back to the first paragraph and ask “how important
are your volunteers again?” “How well
does the service run with no volunteer support?
Why do you treat them like beggars when there is nothing nobler than
serving the servers?”
Next week I will be giving some examples and names of
churches that have adopted the Volunteer Central approach. Some have even taken and expanded upon the
refreshing idea that churches should find a consistent way to give back to
volunteers every time they serve.