\nA principal economic law at work in the kingdom of God seems to be that the\ndemand for ministry always exceeds the supply of workers.<\/p>\n\n
\nMarlene Wilson works on the supply side of this law.<\/p>\n\n
\nFor more than twenty-five years, she has led workshops on how to train\nvolunteers. For the past ten, she has focused on helping churches develop\nvolunteer ministries. A Lutheran (elca), Wilson has written The Effective\nManagement of Volunteer Programs; Survival Skills for Managers;<\/em> How\nto Mobilize Church Volunteers; <\/em> and You Can Make a Difference.<\/em>\nShe has served as faculty director for twenty-five years of the volunteer\nmanagement program for the University of Colorado in Boulder.\n<\/p>\n\n What motivates a pewsitter to stay in the pew?<\/p>\n \nMarlene Wilson: <\/strong>Often it is a feeling that ministry is the turf of\nthe pastor and the present church leadership.\n\n\nMany people in the church have professional or technical skills of some kind.\nYet I’ve heard pastors say, “I know what this person does outside the church.\nBut when she arrives at church, it’s as if she doesn’t know a thing.” That’s\nbecause this person feels she is on the pastor’s turf; she tends not to want\nto usurp power. Unless this person is asked to use her leadership skills\nfrom her job, she will backpedal.\n\n\nI was a member of one congregation for twenty years and another for about\neight years. Only once in each congregation was I asked to help train volunteers.\n\n\nI felt a great sadness, because I know training is my gift. But the mind-blowing\nthing of the new congregation I’ve joined is that they’ve already asked me\nto train.\n<\/p>\n\n How does a pastor identify and develop skilled people?<\/p>\n \nI recommend developing an interviewing process for new members. Even\nif the church is small, the key is the process of talking.\n\nIn the interviews, the first questions to ask are:\n\n\n“What are your gifts and talents?”\n\n\n“What do you like to do?”\n\n\nThe next questions are:\n\n\n“Has your experience with this congregation so far been good or bad?”\n\n\n“Are there things you’d like to contribute to the church that you’ve never\nbeen asked to do?”\n\n\n“Do you want more, less, or different involvement?”\n\n\n“What are your dreams for this congregation?”\n\n\nWhat comes out of these conversations is amazing. People share things they’ve\nnever shared before.\n<\/p>\n\n Do lay people like being thought of as church leaders?<\/p>\n That depends. Part of their resistance may be the old model of\nleadership: They don’t want to be at the church every time the doors are\nopen. Churches need to redefine leadership<\/em> from “How much have you\ndone?” to “How many others have you involved?”\n<\/p>\n\n Their view of leadership is of someone burning out?<\/p>\n That’s what many have experienced. For example, why do churches have\na hard time recruiting small group leaders? Because to many people, leadership\nmeans “I’ve got to take it all over.” They think, I don’t have the time.\nI want to go somewhere where I can be fed.<\/em>\n\n\nBurnout is why a great many people who were pillars somewhere else are now\npewsitters. They’re not going to get used up again. They aren’t saying yes\nto anything.\n\n<\/p>\n\n How do you prevent people from getting used up?<\/p>\n One key is to rethink the work in light of the gifts of the people.\nI want every team member to answer four questions:<\/p>\n\n\n \nAnswer those questions, and the group will begin to know what each other\nis good at. Then they begin to think of themselves as a team rather than\none leader and a bunch of followers.\n<\/p>\n\n How do you work with people invested in the way things have always been done?<\/p>\n \nWhen I started training volunteers, I listened to those I call the\n“pillars,” the 20 percent saying, “We’re so tired of doing everything ourselves.\nWhy don’t these other people get involved?”\n\n\nI took them at their word. But when I helped the church implement new ways\nto recruit volunteers, the pillars wouldn’t give up their hold on ministry.\nThe pillars became the biggest block.\n\n\nMany pillars are older. In many congregations, particularly smaller ones,\ntheir volunteerism is the only source of power they’ve ever had. To ask them\nto share their work is to ask them to share their power. That’s threatening.\n\n\nIf the pillars admit there is a problem-too few doing too much of the work\nin the church-the pastor must say, “We need to change the way we’re doing\nthings. We’re losing people because they’re burning out. Too many people\nare exiting the back door, and it may be because there’s no meaningful place\nfor them here. Let’s at least look at some options.”\n<\/p>\n\n Should every lay person lead in some way?<\/p>\n \nNo. In Servant Leadership,<\/em> Robert Greenleaf said not everybody’s\ngift is leadership and that to be a good follower is as important as being\na good leader. Some people do not want to be leaders, don’t have the gift\nof leadership, and shouldn’t be forced or talked into it.\n\n\nIf we broaden the opportunities for people to get involved, the potential\nleaders will begin to shine. Then these potential leaders need training.\nThey need to know the qualities of a leader, how to work with difficult people,\nand how to lead in different situations.\n<\/p>\n\n All this sounds labor-intensive. What would you say to the pastor who\nsays, “I don’t have time for all this”?<\/p>\n The problem is the word “I.” That assumes that if it’s going to be\ndone, the pastor has to do it.\n\n\nThe first step is to analyze the make-up of the congregation. In many\ncongregations, several lay people could do this. The pastor would be part\nof the team, but not, hopefully, its leader.\n\n\nThis group could survey the congregation and assess what has to be put into\nplace, such as writing out the volunteer opportunities, talking to people\none on one, and evaluating the current training for volunteers. Then the\ngroup and the pastor can decide one or two priorities for the coming year.\n<\/p>\n\n Won’t there always be too much ministry and too few workers?<\/p>\n Of course. But if lay people are being developed, the pastor will\nnot so easily become overwhelmed with the enormous amount of ministry to\nbe done.<\/p>\n \n 1996 by Christianity Today\/LEADERSHIP, journal.<\/p>\n\n