Despite the 700-mile, 12-hour trip, Suzanne Sawyer was anxious to get back to her Fort Dodge, Iowa, congregation. She wouldn't be the same once returning home, she said, and neither would Northfield Church of Christ if she had her way.
Sawyer and seven other Northfield volunteer staff members came to Southeast Christian Church's 2002 Leadership Conference for ideas and inspiration. Just two days into it, Sawyer's idea list was full. Among the ideas listed:
- Develop a new members' orientation program;
- Teach members how to share their faith;
- Set high expectations for church leadership and members; and,
- Develop a program to plug volunteers in to service without burning them out.
"It sounds like a lot, but we're fired up," Sawyer said. "We may never be a Southeast, but that's not going to stop us from doing everything we can to reach people and give God our best."
About the ConferenceSoutheast Christian Church's Leadership Conference included sessions on:
Attendees also participated in Southeast's worship services during their visit.The next conference is scheduled for Oct. 15-18, 2003.ChurchCentral.com will keep you updated on details, including how to register. |
Sawyer's church more closely resembles Southeast's beginnings. Just a few years old, Northfield averages 150 in worship attendance each week. The all-volunteer staff is committed to evangelism and growing the church, Sawyer said.
"This conference has been a real boost personally, too," Sawyer said. "I feel more focused. It's reminded me of the personal call on each of us to give glory to God and build up His churches."
Calling all volunteers
Southeast holds the conference to share its ideas, strategies, materials and support with other church leaders. Attendees paid $50 a day for pre-conference sessions and $60 a day for main sessions. Workshops included "Creatively Reaching Your Community for Christ," "Bringing Your Sermons to Life," and one of the most popular sessions, "Elements of Effective Volunteer Recruitment."
"We are no different than you," Southeast volunteer services manager Kay Sue Leppert told a group of attendees. "We just have the same problems a lot more often so we have to address the problems a lot quicker."
A common problem at any size church is plugging volunteers in to the ministry, Leppert said.
"Volunteers can't be a program," she said. "They have to be the essence of what you are."
Southeast ministry administrator Brett DeYoung said volunteers are crucial to the large congregation, which requires more than 1,000 workers in the nursery alone each week.
"We're trying to move from a church with volunteers to a church of volunteers," DeYoung said. "Church volunteering should feel different than other volunteer efforts. We're doing it for God; it's ministry."
Leppert said Southeast had learned a few things about volunteer services ministry along the way, including:
- Give away your ministry -- Staff and church leaders must be committed to giving away their ministries. Volunteers should be allowed to speak with an equal voice in all aspects of the congregation.
- Focus on discipleship -- Volunteering must be a "value-added" activity. Volunteers must receive more than they give. They need encouragement, community, fellowship, skill training and spiritual enrichment.
- Accept a certain level of quality loss -- Volunteers don't spend 40 hours a week developing ministry skills, so church leaders can expect some degree of quality loss. Accept this and celebrate God's work through them, she said.
- Develop high, but realistic expectations -- The higher the church leaders' standards, the more value the volunteers will place on their service.
Leppert also encouraged attendees to recruit volunteers 52 weeks a year.
"It shows your congregation that you're serious about wanting to plug them in to service," she said. "And new members will immediately know there's a place for them."
Start by getting them in the door
Guest services staff leader Mark McKinney is one of the men behind the Southeast smiley faces. The yellow stickers worn by church volunteers proved popular with conference attendees.
____________"We're a big church, but we still want to be personal. We have to take our guest services ministry seriously. You might as well go home if you're not bringing in new people. It is a life and death matter that we're facing in the church."-- Mark McKinney, Southeast guest services staff leader |
"Whether your church is one room or a campus like this, if you're not friendly, they're not coming in the door," he said.
Conference attendee Ronald Wilson said the stickers caught his attention immediately.
"I didn't quite make it to the front doors before someone was coming out to greet me and wearing one of those," said Wilson, pastor of Lynn Street Church of Christ in Parkersburg, W.Va. "I think all our churches could learn a thing or two from a smiling face, even it if it's nothing more than a sticker."
Southeast tries to make sure each person receives five "touches" before getting to their seats. Touches could include welcoming words from greeters, help locating a class or seat, or even a tissue handed to someone in need.
"We're a big church, but we still want to be personal," McKinney said. "We have to take our guest services ministry seriously. You might as well go home if you're not bringing in new people. It is a life and death matter that we're facing in the church."
