Am I biased?
With so many churches struggling to meet their weekly needs in terms of finances and volunteers, why on Earth would a Pastor encourage his congregation to apply to volunteer year round with Operation Christmas Child? After all, won’t they give Operation Christmas Child all their time? Doesn’t this take away from the Church?
What if I told you that we never leave a man behind? What if I told you we have incredible leaders, great staff members, and great volunteers? Does that convince you? No? Ok.
If you’re a Pastor, you need to read this. By the end of this (short) post, I’m going to convince you that encouraging your people to volunteer with Operation Christmas Child is the best thing that you could do.
1. Operation Christmas Child volunteers don’t stop serving in their church.
We conducted a survey of our volunteers and one thing really surprised me. Over 90% of our over 8,000 year round volunteers serve in other organizations. The most common place they serve is their church.
I get it. I was a Children’s Ministry Pastor. I know what it’s like to have a big hole in your weekend schedule. But I assure you, someone volunteering with Operation Christmas Child isn’t going negatively affect your schedule!
2. Operation Christmas Child volunteers are very aware of what God is doing around the world.
Operation Christmas Child volunteers not only become better volunteers for you, but they become more aware Christians. We’re a Christian international relief organization. We’re constantly communicating the impact that our US volunteers are making across the world. That’s right. That little old grandma who has been serving with Operation Christmas Child for 10 years is probably responsible for THOUSANDS of children coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and she knows it.
This can also be intimidating for many Pastors. People in your congregation can know more about the work of the global church than you. There is so much to do week in and week out, that it’s impossible for Pastors to keep up to date with everything. You worry about your family, your staff, your church, your community, your city, and many other things. Do you really need to know exactly where that cyclone hit in the Philippines and what the response has been?
No, you probably don’t. But I guarantee you that most of our volunteers know exactly where it hit and what the international response has been.
3. Operation Christmas Child volunteers become even better leaders.
We invest in our volunteers like no one else. Seriously, I’ve never seen anything like this. Conferences, monthly calls, eLearning, workshops, you name it. We even have an entire website, full of resources, solely dedicated to our US volunteers. Yes, I know some churches have them. I’ve seen them. The Operation Christmas Child website blows them away in terms of resources available.
Do you know that our volunteers serve in dedicated roles with ministry descriptions that they sign? Do you know that their roles are part of an org chart that covers a specific local area? Do you know that these areas end up covering the entire United States?
Our volunteers have the opportunity to become experts in recruiting, selecting, equipping, leading, and developing other volunteers. We have volunteer leaders that lead teams of other volunteers. Sounds good, huh?
What if I told you that I could give the people in your church a crash course in international ministry, train them to recruit and lead volunteers, take on incredible responsibility, teach them practical things like how to set up a booth, how to put together a presentation, or how to lead millennials in ministry, all while they continue to serve in your church?
Have I convinced you?
[…] 9. We take our people very seriously. […]