Motivating Volunteers in Ministry

My guest column on motivating and equipping volunteers for church ministry was published today in the Newport News Daily Press.

This blog is not usually about such topics, because many visitors here are not Christian believers, and such subjects would miss that audience. (I've toyed with the idea of setting up another blog with articles just for churches and church and mission leaders.) Today's Daily Press column is a highly condensed version, though, of some of the main emphases in my daily ministry work:* how can we be more effective in what we do? Or sometimes, "we're sure trying to do the right things but it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere!"

I trained academically in both Bible and Organizational Psychology (music, too--but that was a long time ago!) which intersect at the question of how to help people in mission organizations and churches work more effectively. How do we know whether we're doing the right things? How can we get our people pointed in a common direction? How do we know if we're making the kind of progress we could be making? These are common issues in business organizations, yet even more urgent in churches.

If your church or ministry in the Hampton Roads (VA) area is struggling with effectiveness--or seeing great success!--I'd love to talk with you about it and learn from each other. (I can also bring sessions to your church on Intelligent Design and apologetics.) My email is listed to the right under "Send Feedback."

In Christian ministry we rely first and always on prayer, the direction of the Holy Spirit, and the motivation of Christ's love. As I wrote in the article, though, even churches with that foundation often discover that something still seems to be missing. The work is not being done and the people are not fulfilled. The missing "something" is not some unbiblical "formula for success;" commonly it's a matter of having clear direction (as exemplified from Abraham to Joshua to Nehemiah to Jesus and to Paul) and encouragement along the way.

Clear direction is not a five-year plan of activities--you won't find that in the New Testament, and Abraham's instructions from God were often just one step at a time. But it is an unclouded conviction of your central purpose, a firm grasp of your unique gifts and role in the body of Christ, and a strong mental picture of what God wants your church (or your ministry) to be within its community. Activities--whether for one week or for a year or more--flow from that.

Encouragement is about
- lifting up one another with strengthening words
- equipping and training (Eph. 4:11-13)
- opening doors for volunteers and workers to do what God is enabling them to do
- helping get them involved in the right position--what they're uniquely shaped to do
- trusting them to do it, with appropriate guidance; not over-controlling
- making sure they can see for themselves the real impact of what they do

Or as in the column, volunteers need to know "I'm making a difference in something that matters to me." Seeing the results, the clear impact, can also help workers and leaders make course corrections when results are not what were expected or desired. Paul did that when he realized his ministry to the Jews was not bearing fruit--he changed course and concentrated on ministry to Gentiles.

I'm not suggesting that the only obstacle churches face is poor direction or encouragement, not at all. This is just one idea presented today for your consideration.

One more thing: I've had the benefit of being in a church where I believe these principles are practiced better than in most churches. Where we do it, it works!

*My job title as listed in the Daily Press should have been updated a while ago, and I thought it had been. I'm no longer Campus Crusade for Christ's "U.S. Director of Planning," I am now the "Director of Strategic Processes." That's a distinction without much difference except to others in the organization who might wonder about it: both roles involve nearly the same responsibilities, though in different organizational positions.

Posted: Sat - May 6, 2006 at 06:39 AM |

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson getCategoryName("<$CategoryUUID$>");

Motivating Volunteers in Ministry

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson