Gaining by Giving Away

By Thom Peters

This morning I attended a small church out in the country.  While I like the idea of small traditional country churches, I have been a big contemporary church guy for most of my adult church-going years (adult meaning “with child” – you know, attend as a child, big gap, make my kids attend…).

In my big church days I was very interested in what the church does to engage its members as volunteers.  I was always looking for learning that I could use with my non-profit work and the parallels between the church and our efforts to bring folks into roles as policy makers, fund raisers, program leaders and other activities. It seems many of us have struggled with how we engage others into supporting our good work.

One of my favorite nuggets came from Jim, the senior pastor of one of my previous large churches.  I had asked Jim to speak to a group of YMCA executives and board chairs with an emphasis on the engagement of members as church volunteers.  He shared the story of our traffic ministry.  I was well aware of the mostly men who wore the blaze orange vests on Sunday mornings and efficiently directed us to a parking spot.  Jim surprised me by saying we didn’t really need a traffic ministry, but we did need a place for the guys to volunteer who weren’t going to wear suits and ties to usher.  His point – don’t look just for the organizational needs, but rather focus on where our members can be comfortable engaging with us.

I have worked hard to learn from these big churches but this morning my little country church reminded me of a lesson in volunteering.  The pastor, also Jim, opened the service for the 60 or so folks by mentioning the names of the 4 volunteers who had taught the kids in Sunday school prior to the service.  He asked the members to give thanks if they saw them and said he bet they would answer with, “I got more then I gave.”

This simple reminder brought me back to the struggle I face in asking others to serve.  It really isn’t about what they are offering my organization. Rather it is about the opportunity I am able to give others to provide meaning and joy to the community.

Later in prayer Jim stated, “We grow by serving.  We gain by giving away.”

What have you gained by giving away?

Last 5 posts by Thom Peters

• The Gift of a Story - December 14th, 2011
• Treasures - September 12th, 2011
• Tastes - August 17th, 2011
• The Little Things - June 21st, 2011
• The Question - June 14th, 2011

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