The challenges of ministry in a busy world

It seems these days that things get faster and faster, we get busier and busier and it seems like some invisible force is compressing the hours into smaller and smaller units of time...an hour a year ago seems much longer than an hour now.

This affects the church's ministry and our leadership.

PVFC has tried successfully not to become a program based ministry where we need many large teams to run dozens of ministries or programs. These kinds of models put huge pressure on already pressured lives as many volunteers are needed to sustain them. Add to that, the pay-off of these ministries is not huge - lots of noise for little results for Jesus kingdom.

We've focused our ministry in our HomeGroups and then on Sundays just two ministries: worship and KidsChurch. These ministries have teams who make them happen and more and more the pressures of our times make it tough to lead these teams.

I'm not entirely sure how to deal with these challenges myself but here are some thoughts that I've been reflecting on:

As a leader, prioritize your own time

Nurture your three most important relationships first: Jesus, spouse, children. In the busyness of life your relationship with Jesus often takes the first hit and family takes the second hit. Part of your leadership is to live as an example to those around you and the best way to do that is to show them in your life what a good balance looks like. Prioritise your time in accordance with biblical principals and show those who volunteer with you how Jesus wants us to live.

Call people to commitment

Many of the busiest people I know are the most committed to Jesus and give more of their time and energy than many other less busy people. The more we expect the more we get from people and I believe that there is nothing that we can do with our time that is more valuable than serving Jesus and for us to do it well. Call people to commit to the team and to do so with wholehearted dedication.

Be upfront with your expectations:

Be clear with people WHAT you are asking them to do. HOW you want them to do it. And be honest about HOW MUCH TIME it will take. Be clear about the demands that a volunteer position will take and then call people to commit to it. By doing this you give them a clear game plan. Often we ask people to commit to something and only once they are in, do they realize how much it is actually going to take from them, and often its more than they can give. Don't expect more than they can actually give, like a rubber band they will stretch for a time, but we all have limits and people can snap.

Don't accept slackness

We work with volunteers and that makes the church a very different animal than other organizations. One of the areas that we all struggle with is how to deal with people that don't pull their weight when they are not getting salaries and are doing what they do for the love of Jesus.

Just because people are busy and they are volunteers is no excuse for half-hearted work. People that are not pulling their weight put pressure on other team members who are putting in the time and the effort required to do things well for Jesus. Slackers produce work that is not glorifying to God or a good witness to Jesus and so people that are lazy or negligent need to be graciously and patiently admonished to step up for Jesus. Those who are not prepared to make the effort need to be cut from the team sooner rather than later. Slackness is a cancer that can catch.

Make sure meetings are a value-add

There is nothing more frustrating than a meeting that drags on with little energy and little or no clear goal or outcome. Team meetings are important and we must have them to ensure we are all on the same page, to be trained and skilled to serve well and to remind us why we do what we do. But we need to ensure they are well focused, clearly planned and that they don't waste peoples time. Nothing can kill a new initiative or undermine a successful one than poorly thought out meetings when people already have little time to invest. KISS - keep it short and sweet (or in an other version, keep it simple stupid :) )

Praise people for the time they put in

I struggle to remember this one. Teams love doing what they do but when there is little feedback it saps energy and can often make people think their time and energy is unappreciated. It is then that other things can jump the priority listing. So give your teams praise for the time they put in, honour them for their commitment and encourage their faithfulness. Take time as a team to celebrate, to fellowship and to acknowledge what God has done in you and through you.

I remember a time when PVFC was only about 60 or so people, had one worship team of two or three people, where we had no more than a handful of HomeGroups and a KidsChurch staff compliment of two. How simple life seemed!

4 years later we have over 120 families who call PVFC home, three worship teams with one at KidsChurch, around twenty volunteers who make our KidsChurch happen, more than 15 HomeGroups and two services that are dynamic, life giving, Jesus honouring and full of the Holy Spirit and founded in the scriptures that point us to Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith.

Well done volunteers! Full of the Spirit, with a love for Christ and a desire to honour your heavenly Father, you are the ones who have done this! Well done to each and every one of you who puts in the time, effort and energy to serve Jesus, proclaim his gospel and equip the church for ministry. So that in all things Jesus may get the glory!