Owners or renters. . .

It is often said that we do not do a very good job recruiting, encouraging, and rewarding volunteers in our churches.  I suppose there is truth to this and it would not be wise to suggest otherwise.  But the care and feeding of volunteers presumes that the volunteers need to be rewarded to give of themselves toward their cause.  The volunteer needs to get something out of it in order to justify volunteering.  Except that the Church is not a cause and those who "volunteer" are not really volunteers at all.  If it does not belong to you, then you are a volunteer but if the Church is yours, if you belong to it by baptism and faith, then the questions remains, in what sense are you a volunteer?

We all know the drill.  Before or after the Divine Service, someone (usually the pastor because he has more authority or pull) will stand up and go over the list of activities going on and how desperately in need of volunteers the parish is.  Inevitably, there is a sign up sheet somewhere to jot down your name and let folks know you are stepping up.  In some parishes, a QR code means you can volunteer by smart phone.  In the end, a few folks are guilted into signing up, maybe a couple of others are called out by name and end up agreeing to serve to avoid being nagged anymore.  Some will sigh and give in only to keep the litany of pleading announcements from going on one more week.  But most folks will end up shuffling uncomfortably in their pews, avoiding any direct line of sight with anyone involved with the activity, practicing their excuses, sure that the old regulars will take care of it and staff the Sunday school or coffee hour or fellowship committee or maintenance group or yard sale.  If the Church had a draft, such a means would be employed to fix what everyone thinks is embarrassing and irritating.  

I fear the problem is that most folks do not really believe that the enterprise that needs the volunteers is really either urgent or necessary or at least not urgent or necessary enough for them to actually sign up and do it.  They are what might be called renters.  Renters rent because someone else takes care of the major stuff and all they have to do is the little stuff.  It is a vastly different enterprise than ownership which comes with a constant drain of time, money, and effort to keep up appearances.  The Church is filled with renters and has too few owners.  Renters occupy a pew but do not feel obligated to more than paying the monthly rent on their space.  Owners feel the responsibility to show up and cough up time, money, and skills to keep the place open and operating.  Renters have to be enticed to volunteer but owners know they have a duty and responsibility to the place.  They may not like it but the Church is theirs and so they show up bidden or not, whether they signed up or not, and do what must be done whether they like it or not.  Oh, they complain about those who are not there but they know the complaints change little or nothing and they just keep showing up and doing the work.

It might be tempting to complain but the reality is that the solution to this problem is not more complaints or more guilting folks into volunteering.  We would be better off trying to build a sense of ownership over the parish and its work.  That is not to imply that it is not God's House or His work but that we have been called into partnership with Him in the Gospel.  We each have our own callings and vocation as the baptized children of God and each of us is called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices.  This is our reasonable service and our stewardship.  The vocation as the children of God who belong to the Lord and whose labors are also for Him and to Him is precisely the thing that often seems missing.  When we treat the Church as belonging to a small group that excludes us, we are doing more than failing to volunteer.  We are renting God's house as if that was all there was to it.  It is not a better job of enticing folks to serve that we need but a stronger identity as belonging to God and His House as our own home.  

Growing up in a small congregation and then serving in a small parish right out of seminary, I can see where fewer numbers makes it harder to presume that a person is not needed.  There does seem to be a cohesiveness to a smaller parish that is sometimes missing in a mid or large size congregation.  But, again, it is not about the urgent need but about the identity we have as children of God who live out our lives in response to His goodness, with thanksgiving.  I will not suggest I was good at this but I do think it is something we all need to work at.  The Church has, in that sense, no volunteers but only those who have a sense of ownership and those who need to develop one.