Are You Placing Your Volunteers?
Ministry strategy hasn’t changed much over the past millennia. And nothing can propel your ministry further and faster than thriving, healthy volunteerism and ensure the long-term health and vitality of your church.
And thankfully, people are the one resource every church has more than anything else.
Healthy volunteers are those in our pews who are growing in their relationship with God. And those people who are growing in their relationship with God naturally desire to serve.
As Chris Mavity explains in his ebook, ‘Your Volunteers: Place,’ healthy volunteerism isn’t about staffing a team of random people; it’s about knowing enough about each individual to offer a customized volunteer opportunity to fit their specific interests, skills, passions and gifts.
His ebook guides church leaders through the process of connecting people with the work in which they will thrive and equips them with the strategies and tools required to effectively steward the Church’s number one resource – people.
So then how, exactly, do we really get to know so many people in order to place them according to their innermost passions and gifts?
Getting to know a lot of people intimately is much like completing a jigsaw puzzle, Mavity explains. A jigsaw puzzle has a grand picture on the outside, but inside there are hundreds or thousands of pieces that make up the complete picture – and the same is true for your church.
The key is looking at the placement of a volunteer the same way you’d start to assemble a jigsaw puzzle – by learning the basics about them (placing corners and edges) – and creating your puzzle’s ‘frame.’ Only then will you get a sense of who the person is and in time through observation, feedback and results, you will be able to place various inside pieces, allowing you to see and understand even more about the person.
And much like fitting puzzle pieces together, you’ll find that your initial impressions and approaches to placement won’t always be the best fit. No problem. Just adjust a corner piece and some of the edge pieces to make it work.
Volunteers are a precious component of church life. When the purpose of each puzzle piece is made clear, volunteers can do amazing work to grow the Kingdom. And when you get the right person in the right place at the right time, your volunteers will grow and evolve, and you’ll become more adept at fitting more pieces into the jigsaw puzzle.
And as your church implements the ideas in ‘Your Volunteers: Place,’ you will also see discipleship-level growth that naturally multiplies.
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Tags: Church Community Builder, Church Volunteers, Volunteers
