what i’ve learned about the [church]: part iv
I have been to eight different [churches] in the past three months and I can unequivocally state that the thing that sets some apart is the [volunteer] team that is in place. (side note: don’t like the word “volunteer” in the church context). The teaching, worship and other pastors are important but what really takes a place over the top is the way the people in the hallways, check-in counters and coffee table “get it.” When people representing a church understand why they are doing what they are doing, something special happens.
This challenges me tremendously as an aspiring church planter. It reminds me of what I’ve heard Andy Stanley say a million times: vision leaks, which simply means that people need to be reminded over and over again just how important their role is to the overall mission/vision of the church. As a leader, I’ve often failed miserably at this. We assume people get it and we then sort of expect them to show up and serve. Not to abdicate personal responsibility, but to be an effective leader we must constantly and consistently put the vision in front of people so when they show up at 6 am to help set up, they know exactly why they are there. If everyone that represents the church isn’t constantly connected to the vision, it will communicate something to the outsider (read: someone new to your community) who walks through the halls on a Sunday morning. Because…
…whether we are aware of it, everything communicates something! When someone is serving, they are telling the story of your community of faith … everyone taken together frames the message of your church for the outsider. If we fail as leaders to recognize this, we are making what could be a fatal error. I’ve been the outsider every week for the past 8 weeks and I see it. I watch and I see how the people [volunteering] represent the church. They are communicating something about the church and its leaders, fairly or unfairly, constantly. Leaders cannot overlook this!
Remember, vision leaks and everything communicates something.
Comments
Well said. What’s your prefered term over volunteers?
well… i like what Mosaic LA does…they call volunteers… “volunteer staff” they use volunteer because everyone knows that word and then they take it to a new level by putting the “staff” label on them. If you are volunteer staff…that is uping the ante quite a bit and the level of responsiblity is reflected in the title. Using the words together sort of redeems the word “volunteer”
I think there is something to the “outsider” experience that can show you a lot and sharpen your eye. I finally had a chance to visit another local church recently and a lot of things, such as this, became more apparent to me again. Although I tried not to critique things, there were things that I definately learned from a guest perspective that I would not want my own church to/to not do.
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