“Time” change
Yesterday I talked about time and how saying “no” is not the enemy of “yes”, but it can be the very close companion. I also mentioned that I would be sharing a new policy I’ve given to the fine folks on our lead team at Fellowship Church.
I should start off by saying that we’re not a very big church, so this policy change is not easy because we have tons of people “licking their chops” to volunteer at Fellowship. In fact, it’s not a very easy change to make at all, but I’ve decided to follow through with it because I believe God gives people certain gifts to help His church thrive, and because so many time we don’t use our gifts to their fullest potential because we’re too busy trying to say “yes” to everyone and be good at everything.
The change that we’ll be making is that everyone in our church will be in one Sunday morning ministry and one Sunday morning ministry only. So if Sally is doing Family ministry (for kids) on one Sunday and greeting our guests another Sunday, our leaders will have to work together to decide, based on her desires and her talents and growth which ministry she will be volunteering in during 2009.
My hope is that this will do three things:
The change will help us coordinate and communicate more effectively between ministries within Sunday Mornings @ Fellowship.
The change will give our volunteers motivation to excel at the ministry God has placed them in for this season in their life.
The change will help streamline volunteerism in our church and allow individuals to make wise decisions concerning their time.
I don’t think this change will be easy for us. Effective change never is. But the alternative is several people with the gifts of mercy, helps, or who just like to say “yes” too much will hinder the spiritual growth of other partners at Fellowship by taking over the need for those individuals to say “yes” to a ministry in which they are gifted to participate. And at the same time, because of an immediate need, I will let that hindrance occur.
So we need our Fellowshippers, new and old, to either:
Pray about getting out of the way of one of the gazillion ministries in which they might be involved. or
Pray about jumping into their first ministry volunteer position.
So your thoughts on this change being effective, por favor?
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I agree this is not going to be an easy thing. I also agree too many people say “yes” to too many things and then they become burnt out and get down and out and somehow become bitter people. I hope more people who do not serve see the need and importance of serving after (or even before) this change takes place. From a selfish perspective, I will be “losing” 3 people from my team who serve elsewhere, so the selfish part sees myself serving a whole lot more than I want to to take the place of those people. (IF no one else steps forward) So hopefully leadership does not get bunt out and down and out….As most anyone knows me, though, knows I don’t like change!
. But I always stand behind what leadership thinks is best….
I think broad sweeping changes in socail structure are the way to affect individuals and ‘save them from themselves’. So this plan is gonna rock!
So everyone has to serve in some capacity or other?
Absolutely not Ian. Of course everyone has a choice whether or not to serve with us in any capacity.
Darren, your sarcasm as usual, is noted.
Tina, thanks for your thoughts. You’re doing a terrific job over the nursery! And you’ve used what you have with extreme effectiveness.
This change should allow people to go from Good to Great in their respective ministries. It is going to take a strong administrative effort, but we have some good tools (like Fellowship One and the Planning Center) that will really help in this effort. People may need some time to discover which ministry is best for them, so sometimes a short term commitment in any one area can help both the ministry leader and the volunteer determine if it is a good fit.
Mark me down for the A/V team.
I see what you are saying Jason about “time to discover which ministry is a good fit”, but sometimes, it is not about the right fit for them, but about what the NEED is of the church. Most people want to hold the babies, when the NEED is to teach children in Kids Town. Or maybe I want to sing on stage, but the NEED is for me to greet at the door. Sometimes we have to give up what we think our “gift, talent ability” is for a while and go where the NEED is.