What Do You Believe About Volunteers – Part 2

This month we will explore the final two truths you must believe before your volunteers will ever become leaders in your ministry.

3. Truth 3: Every Christian Has At Least One Gift To Share

“When he [Jesus] ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”  Ephesians 4:8  

Everyone can do something but not everyone can do the same thing. We have each been given unique talents and abilities by the Father; we are not all the same.  We all have at least one gift we can use to serve and to glorify God.

Our job in CM is to help those that are gifted in that direction, discover those gifts and use them as He intended.

There are a few things that can hinder that from happening; traps that wrong thinking people fall into.

A.       People may not know who they are in Christ

Remember God’s goal for us is not to look and sound like everyone else. He wants us to look and sound and live like Him and to be the most Christlike we can be. I have been guilty of this in my own life and there are most likely some in your church that are trying to be someone else because they have no idea who God created them to be.

B.       People may not know there’s a place for them to serve.

In our church, we encourage those who may have an interest in serving in CM to become a helper, sit in on some classes and get their spiritual feet wet so to speak. This has proven to be very effective for us. How many folks do you have sitting in pews because they don’t know there is a place for them to serve?

C.       People don’t think they are good enough to do ministry.

Each and every one of us has a skill or ability that can be used in ministry. It is there. Help people find a place to serve. We are all sinners, end of story, period, exclamation point. If people think they need to be perfect to volunteer to serve they will never volunteer. Remember Jesus took on a tax collector and fishermen as his disciples.

4. Truth 4: Every Christian Has A Particular Function In The Body Of Christ.

^“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” 1 Corinthians:12

We can all do something but we can’t all do everything.  A person who thinks everything in life should be calm, lined up and in perfect order is not a person geared for CM. They would go nuts in the preschool classroom. They may however be a good fit working with the church’s finance committee. God calls people into CM who love children and who want children to love Jesus. We want them to learn to serve Jesus and distract the world with their joyful, unbound faith.

If you want volunteers to stick in CM they have to be geared and gifted by God for that area. You can stick an ear on a leg and call it a foot but it will never be a foot.

In closing remember this scripture “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14. Children deserve to be served by the best volunteers we can find. The biggest temptation we must overcome is taking people who are willing to serve but who have not been gifted with the right abilities to work with kids. You are looking for volunteers whom God has given abilities and gifts that allow them to function well in CM and that will let them feel fulfilled as they serve alongside you.  Begin looking at volunteers not just as people with little jobs to do but as people with volunteer careers.

In Him,

CJ Schindler

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