The Ambushed Volunteer

I have to admit, it's been a long time since I've volunteered for anything. After nearly a decade as a pastor, I've done a lot of vision-casting and recruiting. But volunteering? Not lately.

But last Friday night I had an unexpected visit into the world of being a volunteer. The church week was filled with hiring and recruiting, and the weeknights were busy with buying a used car and selling the old one. So when Friday evening rolled around I was ready for an evening in my favorite chair, reading a good book. I was spent. That didn't change the fact, however, that my 6-year-old had soccer practice at the YMCA. So I quickly whipped up a meager dinner for the boys, drained a cup of coffee, and headed off to practice.

When my son and I arrived at the crowded gym, I noticed that Nate's coach didn't have an assistant. What he did have was nine wired 5- and 6-year olds with attention spans sculpted by Nintendo. So I offered to be his assistant. I assured him that I didn't know a thing about soccer, but that I could help keep the children from wandering away from the gym and exploring the sauna.

At the end of practice there were still nine children ready to be presented to their parents. Mission accomplished. But imagine my surprise when the coach announced to the children and their parents that he would be out of town next Friday and that "Coach Shallenberger" would be running the practice.

Coach Shallenberger? Was he kidding? I told him I didn't know anything about soccer. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I know how to use a La-Z-Boy during a televised football game. That's the extent of my sports knowledge. Furthermore, I grew up in the era before soccer went mainstream. When I was a kid, we didn't have soccer moms. The three sports anybody knew were baseball, basketball, and football. Soccer was an experimental, hippie, California thing, like Ultimate Frisbee. I'm still deciding whether soccer is truly a sport or not.

Friends, I was ambushed. I walked into it and I didn't see it coming. I volunteered to assist the coach and was declared to be the coach. And I have to tell you, I'm on my toes now. I'm even debating whether direct eye contact with the real coach is a safe thing or not.

Seriously now, is Nate's coach a bad guy? No. He likes kids and likes soccer. He has donated his Friday evenings for a good cause. Like many of us, he found himself in over his head. And what did he do? He quickly dug his claws into the first person willing to lend a hand.

How often do we do this in our own children's ministries? We love children and we love the church. But somehow we've found ourselves short on help. We're in over our heads.

But then an unsuspecting volunteer crosses our path. This volunteer has had a long week filled with challenges at work and at home. But all we're able to see are the three classrooms needing teachers. If we aren't people of integrity, what do we do? We ambush him or her.

Here are some fundamental beliefs that can guide us in how we handle our ministry and volunteers:

•  We believe volunteers are precious individuals. They're people gifted by God. They're not simply resources to be used to fill in empty spaces.

•  We believe when God blesses a church with children, he blesses the church with enough people to develop those children spiritually.

•  We believe that vision attracts volunteers, but desperation and disorganization repels them.

•  We believe that God is able to supply all of our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.

Friends, integrity is insisting that we live according to our beliefs-our beliefs about how people should be treated, our beliefs about how children learn best, our beliefs about the beauty of the church, and our beliefs about God.

Ambushing a volunteer may momentarily relieve the pressure you're feeling. But it sours that volunteer from becoming invested in your ministry. Instead, respect their boundaries. Use clear ministry descriptions. Provide support and training. And trust God to make up the difference.

Larry Shallenberger is the pastor of children and student ministries at Grace Church in Erie, Pennsylvania. You can email Larry at larry.shallenberger@gmail.com with your questions or suggestion about leading children's ministry volunteers well.

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