The church I used to attend had a large population of children, and during my time there began requiring members to volunteer either in nursery or children’s church. I was already volunteering in nursery before the requirement was announced, so it didn’t really make a difference to me practically, but the fact that it was required always struck me as not quite right.
Obviously (ideally) members of the Body of Christ should want to serve and volunteer, but I wonder how much the requirement will foster resentment or work against the very thing the church is striving for (encouraging more people to be involved in serving). Even though I was already volunteering like I said, this mandate made me start to feel like going to church was a job rather than a joy.
We ended up leaving this church, and this requirement wasn’t actually a big part of our decision, but I’m still wrestling with it. The church I attend now does have volunteer opportunities and people do serve in children’s ministry, but it’s completely voluntary and they actually hire paid nursery workers who are vetted and trained to take care of the little ones every week. I appreciate this because my little one gets to have consistent, trusted caretakers who he is familiar with each week.
I’m still trying to think through this, though. Would love to hear your thoughts!
I guess I would start with why we even serve in the church. We all know that ‘not by works lest anyone should boast’, so it’s not our doing that saves us. It’s by faith in Jesus that brings our salvation about. What we do after we’re saved is by the Lord’s leading and not everyone is led to teach children. I was never led to teach children although I did give it a go for one year. That one year was enough to convince me that it wasn’t my calling. Does a parent want someone like me looking after the children? Or do they
want someone gifted by God for that task. I think the latter.
Obviously your church was stuck and needed people in the children’s program. Otherwise why would they make it a requirement. Better if they had just expressed the need and asked that people consider serving in that area. If its required, its no longer a service. It bears a resemblance to slavery. Unpaid work.
It sounds as if this church wasn’t willing to risk in asking so they made it a rule. I don’t see they are trusting God, if that’s the case. I hope someone spoke up and I hope they listened. They took matters into their own hands what should have been a matter of prayer.
Organizational systems sometimes have to force members to do things to make the various subsystems operate as desired. Countries often use the military draft to force young men to die in combat. A book club might charge a fee to cover the cost of coffee. Establishing requirements has nothing to do with Christianity, it is simply the function of the system people have chosen to try to use. Sadly churches can make their requirements a matter of faith which can distort the Christian message.
I can see both sides of it. It’s probably a good idea for that church for it is a way to get people used to serving, it humbles the soul and that’s always good to learn.
But you do make good points. What good is it if it degrades unification and creates resentment like you say? It’s also sounds the best to have the same familiar people with the kids each week. You silently continued to volunteer even though they changed it to mandatory. Such are the humble hearts of our Brothers & Sisters, good show.
I have a membership at a gun range outside and when I joined they rules told me that members were required to volunteer to help at the range a couple days per year to police up the ground areas and help out if anything new is being built there. I’m not against that. I figured someone would call me sometime…They didn’t so I guess the mandatory requirement is only loosely mandatory, lol. I’ve been with them for 5 years so far and not had a phone call about it yet.
But people still volunteer. So they obviously had it covered. SOme guys are probably there always when cleanup happens. Just like you with your mandatory membership.
Yes, but sadly, this is not always the case. There are many people who enjoy the “show.” They dress up, sing, and praise, then they shake hands and leave to live their lives. However, no. Sad as this may be, NO church has the right to force volunteerism. It is not a volunteer position if it is mandated.
I have been in both kinds of churches. One tried this. People left. Then the pastor tried to get those who were still there to sing a “covenant” with the church that they will never smoke, drink, cuss, or watch anything that would be deemed non-Christian. The Church died.
In contrast, I have attended a church led by a truly caring and genuine pastor, where any time a need arose, someone stepped up to fill it immediately. Without any mandates, members would simply approach the pastor and ask how they could help. Ultimately, when a church is run with genuine love and spiritual leadership, people naturally feel inspired to serve.
Yes, people should volunteer, and with a church that is being run right, there will be.
Peter
Should churches require members to volunteer? I don’t think God gave me the authority to require anyone to volunteer. On the other hand, I don’t think I could be happy if I didn’t volunteer, though I think it’s my decision, and not the church’s, how much I will volunteer. Some of my volunteer work doesn’t involve my church.
That’s something I thought about too! For some reason our culture views caring for children as a job practically anyone (at least any female) can do and one that doesn’t take much skill, but that’s really not true. Before having kids myself, I would say I didn’t have any gifts or talents with caring for children at all. I do wonder if this church still makes this a requirement. It was a biblically sound church in many other ways with great people overall who sought to follow the Lord. This mandate seemed rather out of character.
Hmm good food for thought. In every other way I could tell, this church was biblically sound and the leadership were people who truly sought the Lord. That’s why this mandate came as something of a surprise. I do wonder if there has been a lot of pushback against it or any constructive conversations around it. It’s a hard topic to bring up because people don’t want others to think that they don’t want to serve or care for others in the church Body. I think you’re right that enough people (and the right people) will feel inspired to serve if the church trusts God and focuses on the right things.