Volunteers are such a vital piece of any community thriving.
The dynamics of volunteers working with each other are complex.
Today my head and heart are filled with the swirls of helping volunteers serve well.
As coordinator, my Sunday morning focus is ultimately on the pre-kindergarten children under my charge. When I started this gig, I was thinking there would be a fair amount of physical set up of converting elementary school classrooms to Sunday School rooms, curriculum preparation and supervising of the delivery, but I really had no idea of the 5,000 piece puzzle I was signing up for.
As in most churches and community groups, our children come from a variety of backgrounds: biological families, foster care families, adoption families, grandparent led families, special needs families, etc. Some of these families, from all camps, are hanging on by a thread and some, for the most part, are happy and healthy. Most of these families are somewhere in between.
Little did I know the multi facets of:
- keeping those children safe (physically, emotionally, spiritually),
- building relationships with the volunteers who serve them,
- guiding the volunteers for successful teaching of the material,
- knowing when to step in with a child who is struggling,
- bringing home the importance of sharing the gospel week after week,
- loving their families – wherever they are and whatever they are dealing with,
- and much more.
Today, I am especially pondering the dynamic of volunteers working with each other. We have adults, college students, high school students, and middle school students with all kinds of personalities and abilities who serve in my department. I also have a heart for giving adults and teens with special needs the opportunity to serve.
Some days go extremely well. Some days are very challenging. Some days are heartbreaking.
But the calling remains. The conviction remains. The commitment remains. The determination remains.
These are some of the questions often swirling in my own head and heart:
- How can I help this adult lead teacher be a model to a teen who has much to learn in serving children well?
- How can I help volunteers to understand that we are all God’s children and that it is our job to make a place for all to serve – even when it is inconvenient or outside comfort zones?
- How do I guide the teens to accept, extend friendship, and model for one of their own who has challenges?
These make up my foundation:
Pray.
- Ask God for divine wisdom and for the strategy, humility, grace, strength, and stamina to implement His will.
Listen.
- To the God of all wisdom first.
- To the Holy Spirit promptings within me.
- To the one with challenges pleading to serve.
- To the volunteers who are observing and wondering why someone was chosen to serve.
- To the volunteers who have a heart to make it work well.
- To the volunteers who would rather not deal with the children who have challenges or the volunteers who have challenges.
Validate.
- Everyone: Adults, teens, the ones with challenges, and all the children being served.
Carry on with the calling.
Rinse. Repeat.
Much love,
Julie Meekins
