Our Church Doesn’t Need More Volunteers
By Pastor Brian McCurry
A few years back, I heard this quote from Mike Breen, a church planting guru from the UK, "A volunteer is someone who executes someone else’s vision. A leader is someone with a vision of his or her own." It struck me.
As one who has literally worked for decades to mobilize "volunteers" to fruitful ministry, I was struck by the difference that Mike articulates between a volunteer and a leader
A volunteer is someone who executes someone else's vision.
A leader (and I would add "servant" leader) is someone with a vision of his or her own.
Is this just semantics? I'd say no. Let me share what this can look like practically…
In Kids Ministry, a volunteer shows up on time and is directed what to do for the next hour. Then, they show up again faithfully every four weeks without thinking much about it in between. On the other hand, a servant leader may read the lesson ahead of time and think about ways to make God's word come to life, lead in the moment to love and encourage kids who might be having a hard week, pray for their classroom during their "off weeks" and offer their gifts and ideas proactively to the ministry to see the gospel grow in the hearts of kids.
On the Greeter team, a volunteer shows up on time, stands at their station, opens the door and says hello to those who come their way. Aside from the “hello” we could almost accomplish the same thing with just a rubber door stop! In contrast, a servant leader may shake hands, learn names, ask about the person’s week, walk a new family to the check in table, help carry a baby in a carseat for an overtaxed family and think proactively about how we can create pathways from a person visiting the first time to connecting more deeply to the Lord through our church.
Those are two Sunday ministry examples, but you can see the difference. A servant leader has ownership of the ministry. It's not someone else's ministry, it's theirs. They are not simply executing a list of tasks created by others, they are serving the Lord in ways He has gifted them. Big difference!
As a church, we hope to mobilize every believer in our body to serve wherever they go with their God-given personality, their life and ministry experiences and their spiritual gifts. Every believer has each of those things available at all times.
The second aspect of calling our ministry teams, "Serve Teams," is the team element. We believe everyone is gifted and has a contribution to make. Leading in teams provides encouragement, accountability and a plurality of gifts to ministry. We lead in this way across every ministry in our church - Ministry Team, Elder Team, Prayer Team, Greeter Team, Worship Team, Preaching Team, etc. As Ephesians 4 describes, we are all ministers, laboring together to build up the body of Christ. We are a team. This is a team effort!
So, that's why I have intentionally changed my ministry perspective (and my language) from recruiting and leading volunteers to recruiting, equipping and mobilizing Serve Teams for ministry. Join the movement!
