Last week we talked about Pam and her non-profit joining Semper Vita. Today we look at a church that checks us out...
Valley View Bible Fellowship saw itself as a cutting edge church that enjoyed being involved in the community. They wanted people to volunteer in their neighborhoods, local community or at church. However, they had more choices for people to help out at the church—something they wanted to fix but how?
On average, the statistics for Valley View were like many other churches: 20% of the people do 80% of the work. The rest seemed to ride the pews mostly—even though their pews were comfortable chairs. Nevertheless, most sat. He knew that many people volunteered in the community, but there was really no way to tell who, how often and in what types of ministries.
Can We Help?
One day, a member of the Semper Vita team visited Pastor Tim. He welcomed her and she asked how his day was going. He tried to keep the exhaustion off his face and told her “life is full.” She laughed. “I can understand. I use that euphemism myself when the stuff on my plate is larger than the time in my day.” Now it was Pastor Tim’s time to laugh.
After a little more polite small talk, the conversation shifted.
“Pastor Tim, I’ve been on your side of the desk. Church work is hard. People mean well, love the Lord and want you to run a perfect church. They expect you to feed them on Sunday, entertain them during the week, take care of the kids, challenge their youth, care for their sick family and friends, and provide meaningful service opportunities, have an active mission program and vital small groups - all without enough staff or enough money. Of course, they want all that without having to donate toward the budget. After all, it’s not sexy to pay for light bulbs.”
Pastor Tim smiled, she continued. “If you could have whatever you wanted, what would it be? Would you want to make a difference in the community without adding to your workload? Provide opportunities for people to volunteer and have a way to know what they are doing in the community? Create greater visibility for your church? Would you want to energize your people so that they are more excited about your church, bring their friends and give more of their money?”
Pastor Tim smiled and responded, “It all sounds good. I’m sure we all want that.”
Taking his answer, she explained that Semper Vita comes alongside churches to help them achieve their vision by providing easy pathways for volunteering, opportunities for connecting with people in the community, and training to make it happen. She added that the benefits to the church were many, including creating greater visibility in the community, reports that provide feedback on how many people volunteer outside the church, and enhanced commitment to the church through attendance, outreach and giving.
What do you think: Will Pastor Tim hook up with Semper Vita?
