Words from the WellRandom Thoughts on Christ, the Church and Technology

As a former church staff member and now a volunteer serving in a church I have a unique perspective on this thing we call “service.”  I’ll grant you none of these thoughts are original, I think that they just come from a different perspective.

With that being said, here are those thoughts:

• People too often serve out of guilt.  It’s the “If I don’t do it no one will” syndrome.  I think that often staff members are to blame on this one, but church members bear some of the responsibility as well.  The reasons that this happens would take pages and pages of words and I would still miss some of the excuses and reasons.  The thing to recognize here is that sometimes people guilt themselves or others into service.  This is not a good thing.
• Church staff members react to the guilt problem by in turn trying to “protect” members by not asking (or allowing) them to serve.  This is not good either.
• Sometimes church members are asked to serve but are not empowered to do what they are asked to do.  Churches are quick to give people responsibilities.  The problem is that they don’t often empower them to do ministry.  Let me explain.  Often staff will delegate responsibilities to volunteers.  When they delegate those responsibilities it means that the staff is still ultimately responsible for the outcomes, good or bad.  When a volunteer is empowered they are given the authority to do what needs to be done within the parameters set by the vision for the church.  For a more detailed of the difference between delegation and empowerment look at Tony Morgan’s post here.
• Asking for volunteers can be seen as a sign of weakness or laziness.  Empowering someone could be seen as a staff member not doing their job.  I believe that this is the opposite of true.  If a staff member is not empowering volunteers to do ministry then he/she is not being as effective as they can be.
• Volunteers have sometimes gone off the deep end and pursued activities and values that didn’t match the churches vision.  As a result, staff members have become gun shy when it comes to empowering volunteers.

So there you have it, a virtual mind dump of, well, thoughts, good or bad, valid or off the wall, they are there.  The question is, “what now?”

Well, I believe that there are lots of church members out there that truly want to serve their God and their church.  They want to do this not out of guilt, but out of love.  What they need is permission and empowerment.  If church staffs will learn how to empower, not delegate and if volunteers will use the vision for their church as their guide the world be turned on its ear.

Don’t delegate responsibilities, delegate authority. Delegating responsibilities creates followers. Delegating authority creates leaders.

Craig Groeschel

Are you empowering or delegating?  Are your volunteers serving out of guilt or love?