Goals Get Us Going

by Karen Kogler

It's budget time at our church; our fiscal year begins July 1. As church staff, I've done many annual budgets for Equipping, but this year was unique for me. Our budgets were to be based on our ministry goals for 2011-2012. So I first had to write those goals.

No church leader had asked me for goals before. Since goals must be specific and measurable, my first challenge was to determine how to measure "equipping people to serve"? Is it simply the number of people who are serving? Number of hours served? Is it a feeling that someone has when they're serving in the "right" place? And how do you measure any of that?

Continue this article

Good Deeds and Good News

Churches can help people serve at work, too. We serve at work by doing our work well, to God's glory, and also by serving our colleagues, including being ready to share our faith when and as appropriate. This article, "Ten Principles for Evangelism in Pluralistic Workplaces," provides good conversation-starters on workplace witnessing.

These principles are also a good basis for discussion when a church partners with a non-religious community organization to serve the local community. For a look at volunteering partnerships between sacred and secular organizations, see the September 2009 Equipper newsletter.

Good Stuff on the Web

"Working with Technical Volunteers," a resource created by TechSoup, a nonprofit that advocates technology as a tool for addressing social challenges, and shared with other nonprofits through the Volunteer Resource Library of VolunteerMatch.org.
Resources for Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 10-16

Christian Tools of Affirmation, inexpensive Christian gifts and resources
More volunteer gifts
Ideas
Seven Everyday Gifts volunteers really appreciate -- by Karen Kogler

Subscribe here if you received this from a friend. To unsubscribe, use "Manage your subscription," below.