- Are you a volunteer?
- Do you often feel like quitting?
- Do you no longer look forward to Sunday morning?
“I was assured I would have help…”
“The help never surfaces”
“Here we have my wife just seven months after open heart surgery and me just three weeks out of knee surgery setting up the PA, video, chairs and tables. Wow!”
“…I was nearly in tears”
Hearing about workers having this kind of experience serving in their church makes me very sad. As pastors, we are here to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. We’re supposed to be there to serve and equip them, not the other way around. Too often though, our best workers are neglected until they are completely burned out.
But what can a volunteer do to avoid this pitfall? And what can pastors do to support and safeguard the folks that make it happen week in and week out?
Here are a few thoughts for you great folks serving in the trenches.
- Take a break! You’re a volunteer, right? Let the leadership know a few weeks out that you’ll be out of town on a given weekend and then find somewhere to go. Apologize if don’t have a crew ready to take your place but let them know you’re sure they’ll figure it out. DON’T attend your church that weekend. You’ll either get roped into something or stressed out over something. Turn your phones off and go to a beautiful spot on a cliff or a beach or something. Read the Bible and pray together. Create a memory with your family.
- Communicate your limitations. Ideally, if you were the lead person in your ministry, it would be great if you were a skilled recruiter, trainer, and motivator of volunteers. If you’ve tried to fill that role but haven’t been effective, that’s okay. It may be outside your gifting (often the best tech people aren’t the best people magnets and vice versa), but you need to meet with the staff and work out a plan if you are to continue. Perhaps you can train, provided they understand that you need their help recruiting and motivating.
- Make a change. If the staff doesn’t hear and respond to your needs within a reasonable period of time, then quit. Really? Absolutely. You don’t have to quit the church and it doesn’t have to be acrimonious. Just give them two weeks notice that beginning on a certain date you won’t be able to do this job or this part of the ministry any more. Maybe you’ll still be willing to mix audio, but not setup the whole portable church. Maybe you’ve decided as a family to serve in the children’s or youth ministry. Whatever it is, just thank them for the opportunity and let them know when you’ll be done. (By the way, when workers burn out we usually get no notice at all, so a few weeks notice would be great). When that day comes, turn off your phones in the morning and show up to church (if you’re still willing to attend there) about 5 minutes late. There will still be parking spaces.
- Don’t think you’re irreplaceable. It’s amazing how motivated we can be as pastors when we HAVE to fill some gaps. If you were in a car accident and laid up in the hospital, guess what? We would still have church that week. We would find SOMEONE and it would get done. It’s just that the way so many churches are structured, the pastors are so busy that they don’t recruit in an area until no one is doing it anymore.
- Know that you ARE invaluable. We’ve got lots of people, but people with skills like yours are a rare gift. Add to that a dedication that has driven you to work long hours, invest personal resources, and neglect your own needs to make ministry happen, and you are one in a million! Find a place where you are excited to serve! This is a place for you to express your ministry gifts.
PASTORS – Think through your areas of responsibility and ask yourself who needs some encouragement and help today. Pick up some gift cards and a box of thank you notes and let some folks know how lost you would be without them!
Don’t wait for them to complain. By then it may be too late.
Andrew's Thoughts 