Volunteers? Gotta love em’!

by Carol

Back in college, my favorite Peanuts poster was the one that quotes Lucy:  “I love mankind.  It’s people I can’t stand.”

Sometimes it is easier to love volunteers in general than to love individual volunteers.  There must have been days when it was easier for Jesus to think of giving His life for all of humanity than to be nose to nose with smelly, obstinate fishermen and tax collectors.

But what if you really do love them?  Do they know it?

Two types
Experts in organizational leadership identify leaders in two different camps:  task-oriented and relationship-oriented.  I should be the poster child for the task-oriented types.  I’m not that way all the time — and no one is 100% either one anyway.  Still, I need to take time more often to stop and enjoy the volunteers for the roses they are.  (Do not insert the mental note of “thorns and all” here!)

More than thoughts
I think that the volunteers in our ministry are a GREAT group of people who inspire me by their time commitment and love for the Lord.  But if it doesn’t get beyond my thoughts, it doesn’t help.  Volunteers are not mind readers.  They are behavior readers.

At one point, I thought that I was helping our people to become more effective.  I was working with people, though, who were wise enough (and loving enough) to tell me that I was coming across as critical and disapproving.

I’ll bet that we can all reach back in our memory to examples of leaders who have created negative vibes when they first came to a church.  Leaders may have a lot of experience, be highly trained, and know a lot about their field.  They may be able to quote 1 Corinthians 13 in their sleep.  And yet, we can still fail to let church volunteers know that they are loved.

Something changed
Lately, I have been having a lot of fun enjoying our volunteers.  How did that happen?  I didn’t have to cook up ways to make them feel special.  I’m not flattering them with untrue praise.  I’m not overlooking their flaws.

I probably changed several things, but I know I made these changes:

1. I quit thinking, “They are doing a great job, except…..”  I dropped the “except” and enjoyed the great job for a while!

2. I quit dwelling on the things we needed to change.  Yes, we can improve, but the negatives tended to spill out in my facial expressions and tone of voice before I could catch them.  I have to think about changes at a separate time.

3. I talked with my team about what motivated them.  Literally, we had an evening when I asked them about what church was like (or not like) when they were kids.  I was amazed!  I have a whole new appreciation for these people.

New attitude
It’s easy for Christians to say that we love one another.  We are supposed to.  (And we know that we have to work hard to love people that we don’t even like.)  I’m giving and getting a lot more smiles, though, since I refocused on Philippians 4:8:

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (NLT).

In fact, I am finding that I don’t just love our volunteers — I am delighted with them.

3 Easy Steps to a Good Volunteer Experience

Jesus Walks on Water

Jesus Walks on Water

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Carol

Sometimes they call me the Puppet Lady.  I’ve been doing puppets since I was in first grade. 

Over the years, I’ve made and performed with many kinds of puppets around the U.S. and in foreign countries.  I’m far from a pro, but I have a lot of experience.

I few weeks ago, I moved my church membership, and now I am up over my eyebrows in puppets again. 

When the pastor saw “puppets” on a list of things I’ve done, he immediately introduced me to a closet full of Muppet-style puppets.  (More on church storage closets in the near future….)  They adopted me at first sight.

I’m just a volunteer.  How did we move from “puppets stuffed in a closet” to full-blown “puppet world” in less than 6 weeks?

1.  Pastor’s vision – The pastor has known me for several years, but he didn’t realize that I had worked with puppets. 

Suddenly, a closet full of little stuffed characters jumped to life in his mind as a ministry with important potential.

Investigating at the cross

Investigating at the cross

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Ideal opportunity – The pastor linked me with the VBS director, who immediately latched onto the idea of the puppets telling the daily Bible story.

3.  Connectors – The youth ministry had used the puppets a few times, so the youth pastor’s wife volunteered to help for VBS.  She knows everyone in the church.  We talked about what / who I needed, and she knew people with those interests and abilities.  A few other folks helped connect me, too.  I could not have found the voice actors, puppeteers, and other resources on my own in a church that was so new to me.

In a few short weeks, I have gotten to know a lot of people, they have gotten to know me at my best (and stressed — another story for later), and we have had a great experience together in a ministry I love doing.

Shouldn’t all volunteers have that kind of inaugural experience in a new church or ministry?

All heart, no skills – Pt 2 – Are skilled, experienced volunteers welcome?

In Part 1, we looked at the need for “heart” in ministry. When you “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “love your neighbor as yourself,” God can use you to do great things in spite of your limitations. Paul knew that when he was weak, he was strong in God’s grace (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Too often, though, I hear, “No previous experience is required,” or “Anyone can do this.” It sends 2 messages: (1) experience may not be wanted, and/or (2) experienced people may be working with people that have no idea what they are doing.

Let’s take a look at some examples from the Bible:

In Exodus 26-29, the Lord laid out detailed instructions for Moses to follow in constructing the tabernacle. He told Moses, “You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom” (Ex 29:3a).

Judges 7 tells us about Gideon’s army. Wouldn’t you love to have his problem? 32,000 volunteers! God let the fearful people go home. (What does that say about comfort zones??) But even 10,000 were too many. So He had Gideon set up a test – really, more like a quiz. The 300 men who stayed alert got to stay, but the others were let go.

Before David was king (knowing what God had promised, but still on the run from King Saul), David had men who volunteered to serve under his leadership. About 30 of these men distinguished themselves because of their skills and courage in battle.

Paul is sometimes used as an example of someone who misused his education and training in his misguided zeal to persecute the church. All of that background, though, came into play when it was redirected into teaching the early Christians about the Old Testament prophecies and the role of the Law.

And finally, in Acts 6, the Apostles told the people to select seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. If we look carefully, we see that the men needed the people skills of relating and bridge-building. These are called soft skills, but they are skills nonetheless. Lots of people can serve meals; not everyone can calm an angry mob.

So what are the take-aways?
1. Don’t downplay skill or experience. Recruit it. Use it.
2. Don’t dumb-down your ministries. It’s never true that “anyone” can do things.
3. Don’t insult your volunteers. Challenge them to be and do their best.