What if volunteering at your church was as easy as surfing the Internet? ACS Technologiesâ„¢ just announced a new enhancement to their Access ACSâ„¢ program that allows church members to manage open volunteer positions, including taking stock of spiritual gifts, talents and personality traits, in addition to volunteer qualifications such as background checks, special licenses and clearances.

Traditionally, church staff members may be the only people with access to valuable volunteer data. But according to a news release, ACS has included lay leaders and members by giving them the ability to set up volunteer positions, as well as the ability to search for places to serve and to sign up online.

With Access ACS, based on their security level, users can create volunteer positions and assign the appropriate attributes and qualifications to those positions. Then they can let people search for volunteer work that interest them and do an online request to fulfill those needs.

Churches can put a link on their Web site that lists all the openings that the church currently needs to fill. People can easily search to find the areas in which they are best suited to serve. Once an opportunity is selected, people will be able to sign up online to fill the opening. When they do so, the system will create a connection to be made by the contact person for that opening. The leader will easily be able to see who has volunteered and will contact them to help.

Conceptually, a church could change its volunteer issues from no shows and no interest to a virtual backlog of willing and Web savvy volunteers. Think it'll work? I don't think it would be hard to convince your church staff to try it, since it essentially shifts the burden of volunteer management out of their hands and into another volunteer's. As far as healthy ministry is concerned that is definitely a step in the right direction to empower disciples to do their own discipling, and so on and so on.

Anyone already using this or something similar who can comment? Blog here.