Life is full of decisions, big and small. Shall I homeschool my children? Can we afford the time and cost of Jamie being on that elite sports team? Shall I look for a new job? What career is best forRead more…
Simple Volunteering
Life is complicated. Life is stressful. Your employer wants you to squeeze more work into the same hours, the kids need help with their homework, your elderly relative needs your assistance, and there are important papers somewhere in that pileRead more…
In the Store: Putting Spiritual Gifts to Work
Putting Spiritual Gifts to Work: Equipping Saints for Service is a short book (80 pages) by Karen Kogler. It’s available in The Equipper store in two versions: Electronic version: as a download; $8.00 Print version: mailed to you, with aRead more…
When Dreams Should Die
Hold fast to dreams For when dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. by Langston HughesWhen people talk to me, I listen for their dreams. I do it especially when I’m serving as one of the peopleRead more…
My Question: Giving Time Instead of Money
Questions to Talk About A reader sent me a link to a slate.com article, “Thou Shalt Be Debt Free,” in which a columnist who advises on ethical living answered a woman’s question on whether she should reduce or eliminate herRead more…
Ministry Fair: Getting Connected
A Participant’s Story In 1998, Tom Scott and his wife were looking for a church home. “We visited Immanuel Lutheran Church [in Batavia, Illinois] first,” Tom explains. “As we shook hands with Pastor Weidler after the service, he said, ‘WeRead more…
Sacred and Secular Volunteering
In the United States, 26% of the population volunteers.* More people (36%**) volunteer through faith-based organizations (churches, synagogues and mosques) than any other type of organization. The remaining 64% of volunteers work for a variety of community organizations: schools andRead more…
My Question: the Unemployed as Volunteers
I have a question. “I volunteer on my church’s committee to help the unemployed in our congregation. I want to know how we can reach out to the unemployed and ask them to help with things around the church withoutRead more…
About Time and Talent Surveys
Time and talent surveys are the first thought of many people when it comes to improving volunteerism at their church. Or when they want to find out the gifts and abilities of their members. Or when they’re talking about stewardshipRead more…
Screwtape Writes on Church Volunteers?
In his popular book The Screwtape Letters, author C.S. Lewis imagined an experienced devil named Screwtape writing letters to advise his young nephew Wormwood on how to move people toward hell and away from their enemy, God. One day IRead more…
DO Something with that Interesting Article
If you’re like me, you like to read, you like to learn and you care about the topics you chose to read about. If you’re really like me, when you read a great article on an interesting topic–church volunteerism, forRead more…
How to Help New Members Serve
When you welcome new members to your church, help them volunteer! It’s not an underhanded recruitment technique. it’s true to scriptural truth and something most new members appreciate. (See “New Members Make Great Volunteers“). Here’s how we do it atRead more…
New Members Make Great Volunteers
The comments, below, were said by our volunteers who meet with our new members Remember your first day of high school or your first day in a new job? Remember getting lost in the building, trying to learn the groupRead more…
Christmas Gifts
The Christmas gifts were unwrapped a while ago. A few might already be exchanged or broken, but hopefully most are used and enjoyed. The best gifts keep on giving. My church received some wonderful gifts in early December when 47Read more…
A Question: Too Many Volunteers
I’ve Got a Question “Our Angel Food Ministry has received a fantastic outpouring of people offering to volunteer. This ministry provides boxes of food at reduced cost to help families in our community. At our November distribution, we had 83Read more…