Building Your All-Volunteer Army
Ken Horton with Al Sibello
Instead of following the axiom "find a need and fill it," I want to find and equip people first, then find the ministry needs they can fill.
—Ken Horton with Al Sibello
The lazy days of summer? Hardly. It's more like Panic City for those of us who have to keep various ministries supplied with workers.
When the preschool coordinator tells you no one is left to teach the two-year-olds, what's a pastor to do? How do you answer the question, "Would it disturb the service that much if the two-year-olds sat with their parents?"
Recruiting workers, always a challenge, is brought sharply into focus during the summer, whether keeping ministry positions filled or gearing up for fall programs.
Once, in an attempt to staff our nursery, we resorted to heavy-handed tactics, assigning parents to nursery duty on a particular Sunday, whether they volunteered or not.
"If you've got kids in the nursery," we said in effect, "then we expect you to carry your fair share."
Then we wondered why so many helpers failed not only to show up for duty but failed even to come to church on their assigned days. We discovered draftees often go AWOL without completing their tour of duty. Such encounters have caused us to rethink our entire approach to filling ministries in our church.
Though I've always paid lip service to the idea of helping people find a ministry geared specifically for them—a place where they can use their own gifts—I haven't always succeeded. Sometimes I've resorted to guilt, subtle manipulation, and cajoling—all for the sake of getting a yes.
I've learned, however, that's not enough. I can twist someone's arm and wrench a yes from between clenched teeth. But if I don't touch the person's heart, the commitment won't last. Those who are manipulated ...
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