Are Your Volunteers Instruments of Change?
Maybe you’ve noticed a phenomenon taking over your volunteer teams. It’s one that will suck the life out of your people and zap the personal touch from your systems.
Too often our volunteers enter into robo-mode: hand out the worship guide. Park the car. Pour the coffee. Change the diaper. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. It’s a vicious cycle that, while efficient, can be easily robbed of personality, creativity, and the organic feel of authentic hospitality.
Every church in America has golden-hearted volunteers who will do precisely what they are told to do until Jesus comes back. This steadfast loyalty is admirable, but it comes with problems. Rather than creatively addressing needs, a person is stuck working their way down a to do list, mechanically interacting with guests rather than seeking to know their stories.
We want our volunteer teams to know the why, not necessarily the what. Once the why is in place, the what will take care of itself.
A volunteer who is an instrument of change can’t help but break away from the to do list. They simply must exercise creativity. They have to bend the paradigm. And in doing so, they will make differences in the lives of guests. They’ll view themselves as a minister, not simply a volunteer. They’ll take ownership as they take leadership. And in the end, the church will be filled with authentic servants who are transforming the hospitality culture from the inside out.
