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?

Here are some quick thoughts about yesterdays service @ Fellowship Church:

*Did you get to the service early?

*The new Caramel Apple Cider made by our cafe team was amazing!

*Are you kidding me?  The rock-a-billy version of “Amazing Grace” was absolutely out of this world.

*I was backstage dancing during worship.  If there was a camera back there, I would have been the next “Star Wars Kid”

*Our volunteers at Fellowship are the best!  I love being around them every Sunday.

*We finished our message series focusing on the conversion of Paul.  The disciples had to “let him in, in order for God to send him out.” (man, I should have said that)

*The four enemies of a kingdom mindset:  Cliques, Complacency, Churchiness, and Crud (an addendum)

*As a church, we have a mission to accomplish, and we have to be united in the goal to accomplish it.

*It really was a botched scheduling mix-up that caused my message on unity to be connected to my announcement about helping at “The Big Day of Work”.

*You can really tell that our church is making strides to move toward the future.  I love FC, and I hope you do to!

Next week @ FC:  The Worst Story ever told.

Today I’ve decided to take my morning of blogging off in order to give a platform to Dionne Kane, a woman in our church who leads this amazing ministry online called “Lotsahelpinghands.com” (LHH)
Enjoy her post and please give her a shining comment about your thoughts on this incredible use of technology.  And now…….Dionne.

When I first started going to church I was pretty much of the same mindset as other newbie attenders.  What is available for me?  What is available for my kids?  What can I learn?  I also thought, whenever I saw the requests for help in the nursery or other areas, “Well, I’m too new, I need to be learning more in the regular service.”  Besides, this was a “church”… didn’t they have staff to do the work? I had a job and this was my weekend, my time, my day of rest!

That was a long time ago though.  I’m now attending an intimate church full of authentic and wonderful people, and serving has become not just a joy, but a calling in my heart. 

One thing I realized as I grew into my small group is the sometimes limited ability of a small group to meet the needs of all members.  In larger churches there seems to be a specific team that heads up collecting money, food, gifts etc for their families in need.  You make a phone call, get your name on the list, and then suddenly there appears food, money for gas, a job offer, evidence of support. 

In our church, we ask everyone to be a part.  The whole “Body of Christ” meets “it takes a village” concept.  Within our small groups though, the lifeline of our church foundation, I was hearing about need after need… new babies, illness, loss of jobs, and it seemed overwhelming to communicate the needs, organize volunteers, and to do all that with a spirit of love and grace.  It was disheartening to see the needs, and not be able to meet them.  In one of my marathon web surfing moments, I happenstanced upon a website created to do just that:  communication and organization.

I jumped right into Lotsa Helping Hands and launched our church’s own webpage called Fellowship Outreach.  On this site, our church members can sign up by entering their email and a password of their choosing. 

That “helping hand” then gets automatic emails whenever a need is expressed.  When an email goes out, it describes the need (meals, transportation, other) and who it is for (includes address, map, etc).  LHH members can respond to the email by following the link and signing themselves up for whatever day they are available or for whatever task they are available for.  It is so incredibly simple!  New mom’s are getting food, medically needy families are getting childcare and household help, and everyone gets a chance to help out in the area they are gifted in.

Speaking of gifted areas, let’s think outside the box just a little bit.  LHH isn’t just about being able to cook a meal for someone, or to go cut someone’s lawn.  It’s about being (as an active verb) part of the body of Christ – being a hand, a foot, even just one finger.

Here are some of the many ways you can help out:  order a pizza or other meal  to be delivered to someone, buy some breakfast foods like croissants and tea and fruit and either deliver them, or have them delivered, cut someone’s lawn, offer up the use of your high powered lawn mower for someone else to go mow someone’s lawn, go along with a helper and pull weeds or sweep up after to make a job easier and shorter.  If you know someone who cooks a lot, bring them a supply of disposable freezer pans or a gift card to the grocery store so that THEY can better meet the needs of providing food.  No time? Swing by after work and wash someone’s car. Now, maybe that won’t meet their specific need, but think of how surprised and happy they’ll be!  Know that there is one helper who seems to be intimately involved and feel like there is nothing for you to do?  Slip a prepaid gas card into their car, a coupon for a free coffee or snack, or bring the helper a plate of cookies and a kind word to thank them for their efforts.  No time, no money, and no idea how else to help? Make a phone call just to leave a message saying that you were thinking of them, pray for them, write a note or card, email them… seek and ye will find!

If you attend Fellowship church, you should be on the LHH website, signed up and signed in, and ready to do your part in our church body.  (Or if you don’t attend Fellowship Church, then maybe you can start one at your church.)  There are, like in any other ministry, a select few who always seem to jump on board and give.  Let me tell you, the rewards in doing so are tenfold.  
You don’t want to miss out on rewards do you?