Volunteers for Today's Church


Book Description

Too often, the same few faithful people end up volunteering their services in the church, while the majority seems content to watch the action - or lack thereof - from the sidelines. But there is hope for leaders who find themselves in this situation. 'Volunteers for Today's Church' shows ministry leaders how to motivate the stand-by crowd to start playing the game. And although just getting players to sign up is a major task, seasoned coaches know that this is just the beginning. Determining the strengths of each volunteer is crucial for a strong team. Dennis Williams and Kenneth Gangel here provide practical advice on how to dovetail a volunteer's gifts witha ministry that really fits. Included are tips on personal recruiting, teamwork, supervising, training, and keeping workers motivated.




The Volunteer Church


Book Description

Working with volunteers can be a rewarding and exciting experience—for them as well as for those who recruit, train, and maintain their services. However, if church leaders are honest, they know there are times that it can be frustrating. They know that volunteers are essential, vital to creating growth and new ministries, and are the key to introducing youth and children to Jesus Christ. They have the welcoming smiles at the door, they serve the food, pray for needs, stuff bulletins, organize missions trips, and on and on. If they want to see their church grow, it must be a volunteering church, a church that runs on volunteers. The Volunteer Church was developed out of the ministry of Leith Anderson at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where a vital and vibrant volunteer program boasting 4,000 participants grew under the leadership of Jill Fox. The principles and training have been applied in churches of all sizes and denominations in seminar settings across the country as well as at Wooddale Church. In The Volunteer Church, leaders will Learn how to effectively recruit and train volunteers Discover how to build sustainable, long-lasting ministries led by volunteers Find methods for encouraging and maintaining your volunteers for success Know how to build teams of volunteers Understand how to find the right service that fits a willing volunteer If you lead a church and are exhausted by the lack of volunteer help, or if you are a volunteer and dream of adding numbers to your team, this book is for you. If you are on a church staff and know that a new ministry is needed but volunteers and training are required to make it happen, here you will find the resources to recruit, inspire, train, and maintain the church’s most vital workforce.




Volunteers for Today's Church


Book Description

Too often, the same few faithful people end up volunteering their services in the church, while the majority seems content to watch the action - or lack thereof - from the sidelines. But there is hope for leaders who find themselves in this situation. 'Volunteers for Today's Church' shows ministry leaders how to motivate the stand-by crowd to start playing the game. And although just getting players to sign up is a major task, seasoned coaches know that this is just the beginning. Determining the strengths of each volunteer is crucial for a strong team. Dennis Williams and Kenneth Gangel here provide practical advice on how to dovetail a volunteer's gifts witha ministry that really fits. Included are tips on personal recruiting, teamwork, supervising, training, and keeping workers motivated.




The Volunteer Revolution


Book Description

Pastor Bill Hybels believes that there is a new reality in America. The church has entered an era of growth and unprecedented spiritual opportunity to share the Gospel, yet at the same time we face a shrinking economy and a world in crisis. This poses a great resource challenge for the church. In order to reach out to people who are spiritually hungry, the church needs more people to be equipped to serve others. Hybels passionately believes the key to the future of the church is the equation "X (paid staff) + Y (volunteers) = Z (bearing much fruit for God’s glory)." Churches cannot afford to continue hiring more and more staff with limited budgets. The key to resourcing the church is what Hybels calls "the Y factor." The Y factor is the pool of volunteers in every church. The great need of the church is to grow the church’s volunteer base through the equipping ministry of church staffs. As churches recover the message of Ephesians 4:11-12 to "equip God’s people for works of service" they will launch a Volunteer Revolution. People are just waiting to discover the gifts and passions that God has given them to serve others and then be invited to use those gifts and passions through the local church in order to advance the kingdom of God on Earth. Hybels believes that every church staff should be helping people discover their spiritual gifts, passions and place of service in order to meet the growing needs in our churches and world. Hybels makes a clarion call to move beyond volunteer retention to volunteer acquisition. By attracting, connecting, training, and sustaining volunteers, churches will mobilize people into places of service that will bring new meaning to their lives and understand why God put them on planet Earth. Hybels also outlines how we can build lifelong volunteers in the church through community, celebration, and commendation.




A Servant's Heart


Book Description

Just look around and you’ll find someone who needs a helping hand. That’s why we’re called to be much more than pew-fillers and sermon-tasters. God is counting on every one of us to give up flabby faith, roll up our sleeves … and SERVE. It’s as simple as a random act of kindness, as selfless as teaching a group of rambunctious kids … and as adventurous as organizing a missions trip. This resource is filled with 180 encouraging scriptures, prayers, and quotes that honor the ordinary heroes in your church: volunteers.




Volunteering


Book Description

Volunteering can be a rewarding and exciting experience—but to effectively serve you need to understand the why, how, and what of serving others. Based on the principles and training they have utilized at Wooddale Church, pastor Leith Anderson and Jill Fox will help you better understand: The importance of prayer in ministry Avoiding burnout and serving for the long-term Recruiting others to serve in ways that are natural and easy Enjoying the ‘pay’ that is more valuable than money Finding your fit and serving out of your strengths This short and accessible book will help you to find the resources you need to be inspired and trained to serve in the most vital workforce in the world today—the church of Jesus Christ.




How to Mobilize Church Volunteers


Book Description

How do you motivate the volunteers on your staff? Are you "burning out" your best people? What can you do with the pew- sitters? Do you find it hard to ask for help? This insightful, practical book by Marlene Wilson, an international authority on volunteerism, will help you answer these and other questions about volunteers in the church. Problems in any church's volunteer program can be corrected, says Wilson. We can learn to care as much about people as we do about programs by using sound principles for human resource management. This new book for all churches points out common problems, establishes management principles, answers questions, and offers a plan to turn the volunteer challenge into a reality.




The Volunteer Book


Book Description

The old adage is true: many hands make light work. Needing help is not an indictment against our abilities; it is simply an acknowledgment that we can accomplish more by working together.This principle is the same with volunteers today. They come alongside an organization or church to help fulfill the tasks God has called them to carry out. By failing to utilize their help and strengths, we are overlooking valuable resources and robbing them of opportunities to serve.In The Volunteer Book, Denise Locker teaches readers the value of recruiting and maintaining volunteers. With insight and biblical wisdom, she stresses the importance of having a servant’s heart, attitude, and lifestyle. Through this impact, she offers readers the tips, strategies, and encouragement they need to train and nurture volunteers whose hearts are fine-tuned to accomplish God-given assignments.




Recruiting Volunteers


Book Description

The Abingdon-Church of the Resurrection Ministry Guides are the first choice for recruiting, motivating, and developing lay leadership for specialized ministries from A to Z—from adult ministries to ushering. Each inexpensive, 64-page Guide brings together Church of the Resurrection’s can-do attitude with Abingdon Press’s ministry of empowering church leaders. The result is a series that is user-friendly, encouraging, and most important, practical. The passion to help churches experience how many things they can do to encourage participation drives these Ministry Guides. Each Guide is concise, conversational, and current, full of ideas you’ll be able to implement immediately, with little or no budget. Recognizing that volunteers are busy people who work hard, the Guides will be the first place to turn when you’re new to a topic, to help you feel empowered, prepare quickly, and get up and running with confidence and creativity. You’ll find eye-catching icons and features that help you move directly to practical, fun, and effective solutions. An excerpt from the Circuit Rider review: "This little guide, another in the series out of The Church of the Resurrection in Leawood Kansas, will be helpful to churches large, medium and small desiring to develop and expand lay participation in all aspects of congregational life and work. Dan Entwistle, managing executive director for programs and ministries at The Church of the Resurrection, writes out of years of experience in recruiting, training and deploying laypeople for ministry. His book will be no less valuable to UMM and UMW units, campus ministries, conference and district staff and church-related non-profits." (Click here to read the entire review.)




But Children Matter


Book Description

Often, a disconnect exists between the way pastors, children's ministry volunteers, and churches describe the health and impact of children's ministry volunteers (and the overall functioning of an ongoing children's ministry). The volunteer dysfunction that is evident in many churches goes beyond the building scenario or the current strategy that leadership is pursuing. If one asks the pastor of just about any local church how the children's ministry is going, most pastors will respond positively. However, if speaking with a children's ministry volunteer, one is likely to hear, "I am burned out, but I feel obligated to serve here because we have such a shortage of volunteers and I do love these kids." Too often, there is no program in place to monitor the health of the ministry. Official training is lacking, church vision is blurred, and many children's ministry volunteers feel like they are nothing more than large-group, unpaid babysitters. This book analyzes these problems and provides pragmatic, systematic steps to a healthier, more robust children's ministry.