The Equipper Newsletter -- December 10, 2006

To unsubscribe, or to subscribe if you received this as a forward, email karen@theequipper.org with "unsubscribe newsletter" or "subscribe newsletter" in the subject line.

News and Notes

• Today's article, below: How to Improve Volunteerism at Your Church. As always, comments and discussion are encouraged. Email me or use the comment feature at the end of the article as it is posted in full on the website.
• Worth reading: "Taming Time" by John C. Maxwell. Notice that 'equipping others' is a hallmarks of a wise steward of time! The article is also a good reminder of the obvious: we all experiences the challenge of using time well. When in our churches we intentionally help each other serve, we help each other use our time well.
• What are your favorite/most helpful/most inspiring resources on volunteerism? Let's build a great listing of resources for the benefit of all of us. Email me a link to your favorites and I'll include them in the "Find a Resource" tool on the Equipper website.

How to Improve Volunteerism

Do you agree?

1. Virtually all church leaders want to improve volunteerism at their church.
2. Virtually all church leaders do little or nothing to improve volunteerism at their church.

Improving volunteerism is not easy; it's hard work with many challenges. But lack of ideas for how to go about it is perhaps the greatest hurdle. Once there is knowledge, with a vision for a preferred future and strategies for getting there, the hard work is rewarded and the challenges made easier by the progress that is experienced.

The first and most important step is determining where you are headed. What will volunteerism look like when it is improved? Of course there will be more people volunteering, but what will be different that brings about that desired result? For many, the goal is no more than finding new ways to get people to do what "needs to be done" around church--more warm bodies to fill those slots. They're thinking that change needs to be focused on others-those people who aren't volunteering-so they'll do what I think they should do!

But increased or sugar-coated pressure, pleading, and guilting just doesn't work. And it's far from the picture of the church as the body of Christ. It is the head, Jesus Christ--not another part of the body--who orchestrates the intricate dance of all the parts working together, according to the way He designed them. But certain changes within all of us members of the body--pastors and lay, involved and uninvolved--can and will help and encourage others to serve as God has called them.

Here's some specific steps that improve volunteerism . . . [Click here to finish this article.]

What do you think? Click here to go to the article on the website and scroll to the end. Then contribute your thoughts by posting a comment.

The Equipper Newsletter
Published by Karen Kogler
www.theequipper.org
Helping People Serve Jesus
To subscribe or unsubscribe, email Karen@theequipper.org.