Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Leading Ideas from Lewis Center for Church Leadership at The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States: "Volunteer-Savvy Leadership | Leaders Know Themselves" SUBSCRIBE | Topics | Authors | Reprints for Wednesday, August 24, 2016


Leading Ideas from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Leading Ideas from Lewis Center for Church Leadership at The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States: "Volunteer-Savvy Leadership | Leaders Know Themselves" SUBSCRIBE | Topics | Authors | Reprints for Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Volunteer-Savvy Leadership
Jake McGlothin, a staff member at Floris United Methodist Church in Virginia, shares perspectives on recruiting volunteers and keeping them happily engaged in ministry leadership. He explains the importance of the mindset he brings and the vocabulary he uses when asking people to serve. McGlothin says, "I want our ministry leaders to love what they do."
Volunteer-Savvy Leadership by Jake McGlothin, Leading Ideas
Jake McGlothin, a staff member at Floris United Methodist Church in Virginia, shares perspectives on recruiting volunteers and keeping them happily engaged in ministry leadership. He explains the importance of the mindset he brings and the vocabulary he uses when asking people to serve. McGlothin says, “I want our ministry leaders to love what they do.”
Many church leaders struggle with the ongoing responsibility of identifying, training, and supporting ministry volunteers. In my work as director of missions and outreach at Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia, I work with dozens of volunteer-led ministries to meet community needs. And I’ve learned that the mindset I bring and the vocabulary I use when asking people to serve really make a difference.
Needs or Opportunities?
When it comes to volunteer recruitment, I’m not a big fan of the word “need.” It’s not that needs don’t arise, because they do. However, “need” shouldn’t necessarily be the first word we use in volunteer recruitment. When “need” is overused, it can trigger a number of challenges.
“Need” implies scarcity. A scarcity mindset leads to statements like these: “We don’t have enough volunteers.” “We don’t have enough money.” “We have too few people singing in the choir.” But a scarcity mindset doesn’t align with the abundance of grace, love, and mercy that the God who created the heavens and the earth bestows upon us. If you consistently project scarcity in recruiting, it will spread in your congregation in other negative ways.
Ministry leadership should be challenging, but it also must be rewarding. I want my ministry leaders to love what they do.
The word “need” can also raise anxiety. When we say we need something, we usually need it now. Think of these statements: “I need to go to the bathroom.” “I need to find my keys.” “I need a doctor.” And using the word “need” consistently appeals primarily to people’s sense of obligation. A parishioner, hearing for the fifth time that you need volunteers for this or that ministry, may begin to wonder why you always need people. Is it because nobody likes the ministry? Do they see it as a waste of time? Or is it truly an emergency?
When it comes to volunteer recruitment and management, I prefer to use the word “opportunity.” The word “opportunity” is a more welcoming and invitational term. It communicates that the task or position is a means of growing in relationship to God and neighbor. It recognizes that our ministries and programs offer opportunities for participants to deepen their discipleship. It is more applicable to our work. By simply choosing the right word, your invitation will be more welcoming and well-received.
Avoiding Assumptions
When asking people to serve, it’s important to avoid assumptions about what they like and don’t like to do. I learned this working with our English as a Second Language (ESL) ministry. The leader, let’s say his name is Sam, would take all the registration forms home to enter information into a database. The thought of him doing this time-consuming data entry really bothered me. I thought he was wasting his time. But when I suggested finding someone else for this work, he said, “Data entry is a part of my ministry. This is an opportunity for me to get to know the students. I get to know their names, their countries of origin, and their occupations.”
I had brought my own assumptions to this conversation. I don’t like data entry, so I assumed Sam wouldn’t either. I assumed his time would be better spent doing something else, but he saw data entry as a valuable extension of his ministry. Seeing things from his perspective radically changed the way I work with volunteers. People like different things and have a diverse array of gifts. I’ve learned it’s important to present the entire range of responsibilities in a ministry position without interjecting my own biases or trying to mask or hide the things I don’t like.
No Open-ended Commitments
Some people avoid committing to leadership positions because they fear it is a commitment with no end. We all know people who have been in the same leadership role for years, even decades. Some may still have passion for what they do, but still end up resenting the church because they can’t seem to let it go. For other long-time leaders, their grip over the ministry becomes tighter and tighter until it is no longer the church’s ministry, but rather, a personal ministry.
Because burnout in ministry is real and devastating, I make sure our volunteers understand that I only want them to stay on if they still love it and not feel obligated to remain. I try to meet annually with my ministry leaders to see how they are doing and to talk about their ministry. I also ask them if they’d like to continue. When I first started doing this, people would get offended because they thought I was trying to kick them out. But they soon realized I had a genuine interest in knowing if they are still in.
Ministry leadership should be challenging, but it also must be rewarding. I want my ministry leaders to love what they do.
Related Resources:

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Leaders Know Themselves 
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., discusses the importance of leaders having a mature, self-aware understanding of themselves. He writes that in order to achieve a healthy and accurate knowledge of one's self, a leader must reach out to actively seek feedback, and then withdraw to reflect on that feedback and use it in self-examination.
Leaders Know Themselves by Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Leading Ideas
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., discusses the importance of leaders having a mature, self-aware understanding of themselves. He writes that in order to achieve a healthy and accurate knowledge of one’s self, a leader must reach out to actively seek feedback, and then withdraw to reflect on that feedback and use it in self-examination.
Leaders can err in two directions. Many begin with themselves as if “I am the beginning point of leadership,” to the exclusion of the group and the mission. These leaders are preoccupied with “my values, my ideas, my style.” However, some leaders go to the other extreme and seem utterly out of touch with themselves.
People have a right to expect of their leaders a maturity that comes from healthy self-knowledge.
Those who become the most effective leaders are persons who understand themselves and accept themselves. They do not operate out of myths about themselves. Nor are they constantly working out their unrealistic self-images on others. Much of their freedom and power comes from this self-knowledge. People have a right to expect of their leaders a maturity that comes from healthy self-knowledge.
Michael Cavanaugh puts it this way: A violin is a musical instrument that is both sensitive and strong. It is sensitive in that it is affected by the slightest touch, and it is strong because its strings can withstand a good deal of pressure. A violin must be continually and properly tuned to be played well, for if it is not, even the finest violinist cannot call forth beautiful music from it … When ministers are in tune with themselves, they can touch people in beautiful ways, but when they are out of tune with themselves, not even the Lord can make music with them. (Leading the Congregation, Shawchuck and Heuser, Abingdon, 27)
Two Movements toward Self-Knowledge
Leaders need both self-confidence and an awareness of limitations. Most people believe they know themselves; yet many expend a great deal of energy protecting inaccurate self-images. The solution for this dilemma is both simple and difficult: seek feedback from others, reflect on what you are doing, and learn from mistakes.
At least two “movements” are needed as one seeks self-knowledge: reaching out and withdrawing. First, one must reach out and actively seek feedback. This is often difficult for clergy, many of whom function as the proverbial “lone ranger.” Some are in isolated settings, physically separated from colleagues. Others may be isolated by a reticence to confide in others.
Second, one must withdraw to reflect on feedback and use it in self-examination. John Wesley modeled self-examination as a continuing practice essential for the religious leader. In his early years, he set aside time in every day for the “examination.” Later, he began setting aside each Saturday for self-examination. Finally, in his later years, he developed the habit and inner clock to pause for the first five minutes of each hour to examine the hour past. John Calvin long ago described the need for such self-examination when he says that “without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God … [and] without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.” (Shawchuck and Heuser, 37)
Self-Knowledge in the Service of Leadership
Self-knowledge helps the leader and those whom the leader serves. Robert Greenleaf writes: “Pacing oneself by appropriate withdrawal is one of the best approaches to making optimal use of one’s resources. The servant-as-leader must constantly ask: ‘How can I use myself to serve best?’” (Servant Leadership, Paulist, 9)
Leaders constantly experience people relating to them in seemingly strange ways because of their leadership role. Edwin Friedman talks about the need for leaders to practice self-differentiation — staying connected with those being served and staying separate enough not to be “swallowed up.” Self-knowledge is essential for such self-differentiation.
An Example of Self-Knowledge
A critical dimension of self-knowledge for leaders is to keep things in perspective and not let success go to your head. While a student in New York City, psychiatrist Robert Coles went to see Dorothy Day at the Catholic Worker soup kitchen. He writes of finding Day seated at a table with another woman: I found myself increasingly confused by what seemed to be an interminable, essentially absurd exchange taking place between the two middle-aged women. When would it end — the alcoholic ranting and the silent nodding, occasionally interrupted by a brief question, which only served, maddeningly, to wind up the already over talkative one rather than wind her down? Finally, silence fell upon the room. Dorothy Day asked the woman if she would mind an interruption. She got up and came over to me. She said, “Are you waiting to talk with one of us?“ One of us: with those three words she had cut through layers of self-importance, a lifetime of bourgeois privilege, and … told me … what she herself was like. (Dorothy Day, Addison-Wesley, XVIII)
Composing a Life
Mary Catherine Bateson has written about the task each of us has to compose a life. As one grows in knowledge of self and is in tune with oneself, the composing of a life has the character of faithfulness and congruence. Those who are called to be leaders dare not do less.
Related Resources
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The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Churches are reluctant to dampen enthusiasm that members have to take on a new ministry or project. However, often well-meaning people with the best of intentions move out to help without doing enough homework. The result can be insensitivity and ineffectiveness in helping those they intend to serve. A question that can help encourage more conversation and investigation, without discouraging those interested in helping, can be:
What more will we need to learn to do this well? Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.
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Pursue Your Doctor of Ministry in the Nation's Capital 
Wesley Theological Seminary and the Lewis Center for Church Leadership together offer a Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence. With this track, clergy will receive the enhanced knowledge, skills, and motivation to increase congregational and denominational service, vitality, and growth. The next cohort begins in May 2017 in Washington, DC. Learn more and apply today.
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Quotable Leadership:
The future is not a far-off point: It arrives in daily doses that must be noticed and understood.[Vijay Govindarajan]
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A Letter to Churches Seeking New Members
After visiting several churches, Lyda K. Hawes offers candid observations for congregations seeking new members, including "No public humiliation. No stalking. Remember us. And tell us what you really believe."
To the Point: A Letter to Churches Seeking New Members by Lyda K. Hawes, Leading Ideas
My husband and I moved to the city a few years ago and have been “between churches.” We’ve been to visit quite a few of your churches and have some observations you may find helpful in encouraging more new members:
No public humiliation. Please don’t make us stand in a room full of total strangers and introduce ourselves. We want to be anonymous since we’re not sure we want to see you again; and, frankly, we’re still seeing other churches. It’s not you; it’s us. We just don’t know you very well yet.
Acknowledge we exist. Being anonymous is not the same as being invisible. We’re probably going to be a little confused about what to do and where to go, so having someone greet us and ask if we have questions is most appreciated. Plus, if you act like we’re not there, we start to think we might as well not be there.
Put it in writing. Spell out everything we need to know in the bulletin: when to sit or stand, where to find the words. Even if you have one of those groovy new digital displays, include in the bulletin what will and won’t be on the screen.
No stalking. Please don’t chase us down the street to tell us you were glad to see us. When you act like it’s a miracle of God that you have visitors, it freaks us out. We may or may not fill out an information card, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like you. It may just mean we found everything we needed on your website.
Remember us. You get a gold star if we come back and you remember our names, but just a friendly “nice to see you again” makes us feel like you noticed we were there.
Have a website. If you don’t have a website, we won’t be coming to your church. That alone tells us you aren’t ready for new people. There is simply no excuse not to have one.
When, where, what. There are basically three things we want to know when we come to your website: when your worship services are held, where you are located, and what you believe. And we really like to see all three on the home page, but at least make them SUPER easy to find and no more than one click away. If you are having special services like Christmas Eve (when visitors like us are likely to attend), please put those special worship times on the home page. We have encountered any number of church websites that seem to be more interested in looking pretty than actually being useful. You don’t have to be fancy to get what we need to decide whether to come visit.
Tell us what you really believe. Be proud of what you believe and spell it out on your website. Progressive? Great! Theologically conservative? Super! But what do those things mean in the life of your community? It’s really helpful before we show up waving our rainbow flags to know that you’ll be petitioning for an Intelligent Design curriculum in the local schools. If that is your belief, wonderful, but we both know we’re not going to be a good fit there, so let’s save each other the frustration. We’ll find out soon enough, so let’s get that awkward part out of the way online. There is someone out there who would love to find a community like yours if only they knew it existed.
Finding a new church home is not always easy, especially if the one you came from was such an important part of your lives. We were very, very close to our previous faith community; and it’s hard to think of anywhere else coming close. Or maybe we’ve never been to church, and we want to explore that spiritual side for the first time; but it’s all so new and confusing. Or perhaps we’re broken and need a place where we can be broken, and it’s still okay.
Any number of the things that might bring us to your doorstep can make it hard to do much more than show up, sit quietly in the back, and sneak out afterward. But that’s the beautiful thing about church communities — they bring new people into your life, they can open your heart and mind to new experiences, they can mend those deepest of wounds, and affirm your relationship with God. With all that on the line, don’t let the little things mentioned above get in the way of connecting people to the Good News.
This article is by Lyda K. Hawes and appeared in Leading Ideas April 25, 2012. Her blog is “See Lyda Run” at seelydarun.com. Used by permission.
Download a PDF of this page to share with others.
Read "To the Point: A Letter to Churches Seeking New Members." 
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Editors: Dr. Ann A. Michel and Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Connect with the Lewis Center:

Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NorthWest
Washington, D.C. 20016, United States
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