|
The
Purpose of Church Volunteer Central
| "We
equip churches to help people grow in their relationship
with Jesus, by providing innovative and effective resources
for identifying, equipping, and releasing people into
their gift-based ministries." |
 Church Volunteer Central is built upon three theological principles found in the Bible. In the
Great Commission (Matt. 28:19), Jesus doesn't tell us to
go and make believers; he tells us to go and make disciples—committed followers of Christ. There is something remarkable
about such committed followers; the Bible says "they
are a royal priesthood." (1 Peter 2:9) This
is the first of our underlying theological
principles: The Priesthood of All Believers. This has some
powerful ramifications:
| Who
are the "priests?" |
Every
single Christian. |
| What
are the priests' responsibilities? |
To
do the work of ministry for the church. |
| Then
what is the purpose of clergy? |
"To
prepare God's people for works of service."(Eph.
4:11) The clergy aren't the exclusive ministers of the church. They should be actively equipping every Christian to fill the ministry for which God created them. |
| So this isn't something optional
that a person may choose or not depending on their interest in volunteering? |
In Luke 14, Jesus told us to "count the cost"— to be aware of this expectation before we decided to be his follower. He described it as the way we show our love for him. |
|
Jesus has given so much of himself for us that our loving response is to devote ourselves to his service. We often use the word "volunteer" to refer to believers who serve, because we know many churches still use that word. But
we aren't really talking about volunteers as most people understand
that term. We are talking about people lovingly responding to Jesus' call to serve in his ministry.
 Unfortunately,
many people think that's the job of the clergy. Isn't
that what they are trained for? How can I be a minister?
I'm no good at that.
Our Lord doesn't ask us to be his ministers without helping us. He blesses each of us with specific abilities—spiritual
gifts—for the ministry He wants us to be in. 1 Corinthians
12 affirms that "God gives [spiritual gifts] to each one, just
as he determines." (v. 11) We all have something to offer in ministry, because He gave it to us! This is the second of our underlying
theological principles: The Giftedness of All Believers.
We also see in 1 Corinthians 12 that each believer has a unique
(and vital!) function in the body, which is why He gives us different gifts. This emphasizes
another area in which the ministry we are describing is
different from volunteering: It isn't based on jobs
that need to be filled, it's based on the individual's
giftedness. A lot of frustration has been caused by coercing people
into accepting positions, without determining if
that was the right ministry for the person. That's why things
like ministry descriptions, interviews, and spiritual gift
assessments are important. Even though we use the word ”recruitment”
because people understand it, we are sensitive to the fact
that it isn't quite precise. The point isn't filling jobs,
it's moving people into discipleship by helping them identify,
get training for, and move into the ministry for which God
designed them. That's how they fulfill the function of their
part of the body. This is the third of our principles: The
Uniqueness of All Believers.
Being built on these three principles, Church Volunteer Central
is not what most people think of as a volunteer management
organization. We do provide resources that fit into that
model, such as forms and background checks, because they
will help your ministry flow more smoothly and safely. But
our fundamental purpose is not volunteerism, it's discipleship.
Our success is measured by how well we help churches fulfill
Christ's command to make disciples. |
