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"Four ushers, two nursery workers, five AWANA leaders, and a Sunday School teacher, please."

The pastor smiled wryly when he said that to me. The list of ministry openings at our church used to sound like a fast food order—serve up the workers hot and fast.

Seven years on ministry staff taught me we needed a better system of matching available people to ministry opportunities. It also taught me that merely plugging in warm bodies increased volunteer burnout, dissatisfaction, and departure. We needed a way to match people's passions—what they love doing—to the ministry positions available.

The system we developed has assimilated 85 percent of our members into active ministry positions.

Three times annually we hold a mandatory class for all who desire membership. The class is held on Wednesday nights for 14 weeks. Beyond typical introductory lessons on doctrine and church identity, we also include a class on spiritual gifts, a class on temperament, several ice-breaking games, and a servant profile questionnaire.

All of these activities work nicely for me as ministry coordinator. My job is to help each new member identify their gifts and passions and connect to opportunities to use them. By the end of the session, I've compiled a data base on each of the new members. But my job has only just begun.

I follow up the class by taking an hour or two to interview each new member. Sometimes we meet at church, but often I meet in their homes. My goal is to help them find a ministry match that uses their gifts and fulfills their passions.

During that interview I ask them questions like:

"What ministries have you been involved in previously?"

"What did you enjoy/dislike about those ministries?"

"What kind of people do you like to work with?"

"Who do you have a burden for?"

We also cover hobbies and talents, work and family experiences.

I assure them that my job is not to sign them up for some position they don't want, but to know them well enough to recognize an opportunity they might be interested in.

When I first interviewed Mary, she had never served in a church before. She didn't know of any gift or passion.

"What really bothers me," she said, "is that I have a tender heart for mothers who've been through miscarriage. At the hospital where I work, I give them handmade picture frames for their sonograms to help them grieve."

When I later took her story and shared it with our community action committee, the coordinator sat stunned. "We've been praying for two years for someone to come forward with that kind of ministry."

Today, Mary leads a meaningful ministry to the mothers her heart breaks for.

Sometimes, a new member will have a passion for a ministry that is already carried out by a community organization. I maintain contacts with several organizations—including a battered women's home and a crisis pregnancy center—for just that occasion.

Every ministry at our church is organized under one of our eight pastors or ministry leaders. This enables me to meet regularly with each leader to keep updated on their needs. It also gives me an automatic reference when a new member has a passion for a certain ministry.

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