Asking for Volunteers

Amy Simpson over at BuildingChurchLeaders.com opened a discussion on how to encourage volunteers. This is a favorite topic of mine (the original topic for the first book was on recruiting volunteers, before I got redirected into helping strugging churches.) She asked "Should You Stop Asking for Volunteers?"

Her contention was that church leaders should take better care of their congregants, and not continue to push them to volunteer when the volunteering does not serve the church's mission purpose, or when the volunteer if frankly doing too much.

In my reply, I started with a rhetorical/satiric question:

"If you mean "stop broadcasting a generic appeal for 'someone' to help out in an undefined future ministry opportunity" or even "come volunteer to do a job none of the staff wants to do", then yes, we need to stop that kind of activity. "

I am convinced that the church should treat volunteer opportunties as regular jobs, with specific duties and measurable goals, and then "hire" people into the positions.

The IRS treats non-profit labor as having a specific value (with benefits, the IRS's national estimated average is $18.77 per hour); we should treat each volunteer job as if we were paying a salary. We should give them honor and encouragement and thanks for the gift of labor.

And we should allow them to vacation - or even resign from their responsibilites if the work is not appropriate - without making them feel guilty that the kingdom of God will fail unless they continue.

There is a great (free) training resource on handing volunteers over at the FEMA website. But most important, if you make people feel valued, they are more likely to ask to volunteer, than you have to cajole their efforts.

How much light?

I was checking facts for my almost-finished book From the Brink - Hope for Failing Churches. My concern was what the appropriate level of lighting. I found a good discussion at PraiseBuildings.com. Especially appropriate for today's discussion was

"At least 20 footcandles of light throughout the seating area. This is the minimum light level for reading, but also the minimum level as a sign of life. Some churches have been amazed at the improved spirit in the services when the light level was made adequate."

That's for the congregational seating. PraiseBuildings goes on to say "The light level over the entire platform should be at least 35 footcandles without hot spots and dark spots."

I can't confirm, but I remember hearing a builder say that many old buildings have barely half the lighting recommended. This is even more disconcerting with an older congregation. As we age, our eyes harden and it takes even more light to see clearly. This is why older people develop "night blindness"

It may take an engineer to do an accurate measurement, but it's probably worth it. Just be ready to spend a few thousand dollars to upgrade your lighting.

It will be money well spent.

Leadership Magazine's online discussion forum - OutOfUr.org - has a post by David Swanson titled "Disarming the Boomers." A good article, but I found the most value in the comment by Nicholas van Oudtshoorn:

"the most important point: to build relationships with people. If you want people to trust you, you have to let them see your heart. In my experience (26 y.o. sole pastor), it's not that the older generation don't want to see the church do marvelous things. Most (with a few exceptions, of course!) do. Once you come to the point of sharing a vision (or, as David puts it, you see the future together), everything is possible. The older members of our churches are an incredible resource."

Never forget that most churches are filled with people who want - even crave - to be partners in a grand adventure of the Gospel. But too many are suppressed by pastors schooled in the latest church growth fad. Those pastor believe the lie that opposition to their vision of God's plans is sin, and that they (the pastor) has the authority to show them the door.

Instead, many of these people simply do not understand where you are going. They just have not caught the vision yet, and you haven't taken the time to ask for their insight about how to implement God's plan.

If you want to help your church regain its vitality, learn to listen.

Understanding the Unchurched

Over the weekend, I did my first reading of Thom S Rainer's Surprising Insights from the Unchurched . Rather than simply looking at growing churches and copy what they do, or survey people who don't attend church, this book describes the attitudes of the formerly unchurched, now active in a local congregation. And that's who we all want - new believers excited about the faith.

(Too many of the "fastest growing" churches do so with transfer growth. Members of small or dull churches leave and join the one with lots of programs. Rebaptizing the current population based on the emotion of a revival moment.)

What Rainer found was that the formerly unchurched used to ignore church because it was dull, or wimpy. Why take time out of their schedule to sit through an unprofessional hour? He found that they are willing to listen to more deep theology than we give them credit for. As one lady said, she didn't understand all those financial terms when she started watching CNBC, but she kept at it because it was important to managing her investments - so why shouldn't she take a little time learning Christian concepts to satisfy a spiritual need?

I was thrilled he quoted Dean Kelly's Why Conservative Churches are Growing (NY: Harper & Row, 1972). Kelly also found that the most successful churches were unapologetic about doctrine. Rainer found that formerly unchurched actually indicated greater interest in doctrine than those who had been in the church a long time. And he found that churches that stressed "doctrinal certitude" hold onto these converts and are more successful in teaching the new people how to evangelize.

If you haven't read Rainer's book, do so. It's not the best available, but certainly worth the read. Once you've got the introduction from Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, go find a copy of Kelly's book.

And go spend more time on your sermon. The unchurched next door are counting on it.

"people who complain, care"

Seth Goodin has a post that says a key feature to making change is caring enough to want to make the change.

He wrote that he visited the Apple store in NYC on 14th Street, where the two front doors don't close. When customers walk in or out, the door won't close behind them. Even with the temperature outside about 45, the store workers just left both doors open. They say that customers complain all the time, but it just can't be fixed.

His conclusion is that people who complain, care. "If no one cares, you've got trouble. Goal one is getting people to care. Goal two: listening to them."

I've read church growth consultants say the problems between pastors and parishoners is a sign of unspiritual lay people, and the pastor just needs to ask them to leave. Others will say that since the pastor is the senior Christian in the congregation, his word it truth, and anyone who opposes anything he wants is sinning.

Tell that to prophets Nathan, or Ezra, or Isaiah, calling their leaders to account. Tell that to Peter - or Jesus - calling the religious leaders to account.

Maybe, just maybe, there are godly lay people in the church that need to be listened to, and then given permission to help fix the problems their pastor hasn't had the wisdom to address.

How big should a church be - contrarian view

Whenever I look for ways to improve spiritual vitality of a church, I find most of the links move me toward size growth. One approach even teaches you to "launch large." Megachurches get all the attention, and seem able to attract the remnants of small churches as they dwindle in size.

With so much emphasis on size, what is the value of smaller churches? Do they have a future?

Richard H Bliese says that small churches - rather than a relic of the past - are especially valuable in a post-modern culture. He says that small churches "can go places and risk ministries that larger churches would find undesirable or impossible." They can operate on the margins, to be bold, to be nimble.

Bliese suggsts we must abandon traditional ideas of what church is and redesign around relationships. It will need "meaningful worship, worship in which people sense God’s presence and grace-filled activity." It also needs "meaningful opportunities for building and practicing Christian fellowship."

In short, small churches have a continuing role in the kingdom. They must of course be willing to step forward. In many cases, small churches like being small, they are comfortable being comfortable. But for the church willing to stretch themselves, they can find areas of need in the margins. One local church here holds a weekly lunch for the workers in the adjacent industrial park. A few others pass out day-old bread or open a clothes closet. Some coordinate local participation in national charity events.

And help the out of touch and unchurched find community and hear a Gospel in their own non-church language.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to spend more time being relevant than maintaining the structure of a large organization. Start by reading Richard Bliese's article.

Protection from Thieves

Small, struggling churches are vulnerable to hostile takeovers, just like small, struggling companies.

With companies, the stronger company will pay off the target company's debts and may give some cash to the owner in return for not starting a competing company right away. The deal is done and everyone leaves satisfied.

With churches, someone moves in and quickly volunteers their substantial Bible knowledge and shows a great willingness to help. Next, they bring a couple of friends "from the other church." Sometimes they are single and sometimes they come with a family. Often, they are a bit more fundamentalist than the existing congregation, but they have the time to do the jobs that have not been done in a while - like working in the nursery, cleaning and waxing the floor, decorating the children's wing.

Then the first all-church business meeting. The new members outnumber the old-timers, and begin to make changes. Within a few months, they begin to act like Absolam, undermining the authority of the pastor, and soon they suggest the pastor should be asked to leave, and to put one of their number in his place to "grow the church" and "preach the authentic Gospel."

Shortly, the pastorship becomes formal and the church votes to end their former denominational affiliation. From struggling church to stolen church in less than a year. Often as not, the new church is a cult, needing space to grow.

Not all new workers are there to steal your church. I myself have come into a struggling church, full of passion and energy, but always taking pains to submit myself to the authority of the pastor and the deacons. I do not suggest any changes in structure that have not been addressed by the pastor first. You need people like that, who move into the congregation as a gift from God to help restore its vibrancy.

But you need to be aware of the presence of destructive cults. If you need to learn more, surf on over to the F.A.C.T net (for Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network).

(Thank you to Tracy at the After Cult Life blog for the link!)

Builing missions awareness through "recycling"

One World Running is a charity that collects gently-used running shoes and "recycles" them by shipping them to those in need in the United States and around the world. It's especially poignant when a shipment goes to a country where shoes of any kind are hard to get.

Their model is to hold a 5k race where they ask the runners to leave their shoes at the finish line, to be cleaned and shipped with the money that was collected as an entrance fee.

The organization is not a faith-based cause, but only a humanitarian charity "promoting an awareness of health, fitness and nutrition." But there is no reason you could not partner with them. Make it a missions emphasis by taking Matthew 25 as your theme, and use some of the fees collected for missions and some for shoe shipping. At the awards gathering when it's over, talk about running the race with your best effort, about finishing, about staying faithful and providing a model for others to follow. (2Tim 4:7)

(You might also want to mention that no person is worthless, without use. The shoes that are too beat up to be suitable for shipment are sent to Nike in Beaverton , Ore. , through Boulder 's Eco-Cycle program, to be ground up and made into running tracks and playgrounds through the Reuse-a-Shoe program.)

When you do this, be sure you invite the local media, and give a press release to both Christian and community radio and news outlets a month before, so they can schedule themselves to attend. If they don't come, make sure you take some quality photos and write a "results" article with pictures. Giving the media advance notice will help them help you advertise, to gain a larger crowd. Because the purpose is not just to raise money and gather shoes, but also to have yet another opportunity to present the Gospel.

To quote Upward Basketball's motto: "It's not the shoes, its the souls."

Discount Mail

I'm working with an established church that does not yet use the post office's discounted mail rates. I knew they existed, but didn't fully understand how to get them. It's really not that difficult, and is significant.

The US Postal service describes it this way:

"Your discount depends on the mailing service you choose and the work you do. For example, if you mail 1,000 letter-sized flyers to everyone in your ZIP Code advertising your business's sale, it would cost $0.41 per piece for retail First-Class postage, or $410.

"If you mail 1,000 flyers using Standard Mail to everyone in your ZIP Code by adding a barcode, sorting them by carrier route, and depositing them at the Post Office designated by your Business Mail Entry Unit, you might pay as little as $0.135 per piece, or $135."

One source says that churches can qualify under special non-profit rates if they mail more than 200 pieces more than 4 times a year. For most of the USA, if you are getting the word out to your neighborhood, there will be more than 200 pieces. Except in the most remote rural areas, everyone could participate.

To qualify, you must be a recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit, not just a church. And you will need to make application by filling out Form 3624, Application to Mail at Nonprofit Standard Mail Rates. Turn it in at the Post Office where you intend to mail from. (For more information about nonprofit rate eligibility and how to apply, see Publication 417, Nonprofit Standard Mail Eligibility.)

p.s. -You will probably want to contract with a mailing service who can presort based on zip code regions and can affix bar codes to the item. Some of the services I have looked at give good rates for printing, sorting and mailing all at once.

The Irrationality of Christian Action

One of my Google Alerts linked me to a posting from Joe McKeever about the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. First Baptist there has bought abandoned property and cleaned the remnants of Katrina off, so that Habitat for Humanity can come build new housing.

The comment that caught my attention was his "atheist rant."

He wrote, "It amuses me to hear the occasional atheist/humanist rant on television about what dangerous people Christians are. I think to myself, 'It's those dangerous Christian people who have put their lives on hold and came to help rebuild New Orleans. If we were waiting on the atheists to give of themselves, we would be out of luck.' "

Many of the nation's hospitals were founded as ministries of churches. The first (and still best) colleges were to train pastors. Without Christian intervention, prison would still be a fearsome place. Around 90% of the meals the Red Cross gives out in any given major disaster is cooked in a Baptist Disaster Relief kitchen, and most of them are served by Salvation Army personnel.

Which brings us back to Katrina. The people of First Baptist have managed to create a fund that can keep building houses "forever". Why do they do it? Says one parishoner, "It has been a privilege."

What this means for your church is that you need to find a cause or need that you can meet, either as a congregation or in partnership with others. Do it in the name of Christ, that you will have opportunity to share Christ with an unbelieving world.

While looking for ways to blast a message to the community about a new church revitalization effort, I stumbled across a site that caught me up short.

The site talks about the end of outreach, but introduces the concept of “withreach.” Withreach is a response to a perception that outreach/evangelism is all “information push” – meaning we give the message we think the other person wants or needs to hear, but don’t stop and listen to their concerns first. Without listening, we sometimes will run past the one key objection that might be easily overcome.

We think of the church as a body. The Apostle Paul taught us that there are many parts to the fully functioning congregation, but the site says that the church is seen by unchurched people as a mouth instead of an ear, a hand or a heart.

“Listening is the only way we can find out what (the Holy Spirit) is doing there, what He wants us to cooperate with. Through incarnational listening the agent of transformation is also transformed. Creative opportunities for the Kingdom abound in community conversations and one-on-one listening times.”

It is the job of the pastor, as chief teacher and encourager of the congregation, is to train the congregation to talk with the unchurched, not at them. Not until you begin this “incarnational listening” will you be heard when they are ready to receive the Gospel message. We have to be engaged in what matters to them before they will hear what matters to us.

If you want to learn more about Withreach, visit their website.

The Position of the Church in Social Change

Dr Rick Warren (Saddleback Church, Purpose Driven Life, etc.) has suggested that the community church is uniquely positioned to create massive global social change. And he encourages Christians to use that position to do just that, in part by linking and networking the social structure they already have resident in even the smalled congregation.

By example, he remarks that in many third world countries, the church is the only "public" building in the village. It is the only place where people can gather to discuss issues common among themselves.

But the church is also big - very big. There are an estimated 2.3 Billion Christians in the world, representing thousands of subgroups, clans and tribes. And they have a spiritual and social connection that is not limited by national and political barriers.

The challenge, says Warren, is to create those networks. He says that even in his own megachurch congregation, "most of the congregation is unseen beneath the waterline." Those who attend services carry the message and motivations back to their friends and neighbors, to Bible study and ministry groups at their home and jobsite.

It is this structure of loosely-organized and self-forming small groups that presents the opportunity for social change. Warren gives several examples of how churches respond to needs with social responses: 90% of Red Cross volunteers are from churches, and cook almost all the meals they give away. The church volunteers were the first ones there at Katrina, and have yet to leave. In Africa, there are more church-run clinics giving away AIDS medicine than official Ministry of Health clinics.

His message, in a nutshell, is that - despite fears of ulterior motives - the church is uniquely positioned to create massive positive social change.

How will you lead your church to join him?