Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
I created this learning contract so I could learn “at least three strategies for training a
volunteer technical team.” I have worked with my church for two and a half years to establish
their “video ministry,” which involves capturing the activities in the Worship Center on video, as
well as projecting lyrics to worship songs using PowerPoint screens. The original vision for my
position was one of “volunteer coordinator,” and the hours dedicated to the position (both in
terms of compensation and my available time to serve) were based on that plan. However, when
I cannot find or schedule appropriate volunteers, I need to perform the work myself, which
inhibits my ability to do other projects for the ministry (and, during particularly busy weeks,
I knew going in to this project that there would be some interesting and unique aspects to
supporting volunteers in a church. Volunteers in any organization, unlike paid employees, have
no base-line compensation to “fall back on” for motivation; their dedication is based solely on
the satisfaction derived from the work they can perform. In this sense, the directives of Douglas
McGregor are particularly important; unfulfilled volunteers would have absolutely no reason to
compensation and threat of dismissal are meaningless. Conversely, the effort of groups of
Christians in a church carries with it a built-in satisfaction that the work is in gratitude to the One
who gave us eternal salvation. In some ways, external motivation is unnecessary; volunteering
in the church is serving God, and most Christians already have a strong desire to serve Him.
Regardless of this combined challenge and predisposition toward motivation, I knew that
my volunteer team needed help of some kind. One of the first things I realized when reviewing
my original learning contract was that the notion of “three training strategies” was really too
narrow. My team’s survey comments revealed many insights about their needs, but those needs
HRD Learning Contract Summary 3
fell into a much broader category of “development”. Training is certainly a part of development,
but the ideas I encountered go far beyond mere “training” – and I know I would not have
encountered those ideas without three key strategies for building a volunteer team.
Strategy #1: Ask them! Without a shadow of a doubt, the best results I gained from this
project were from asking my team what they wanted. Gleaning ideas from both my Human
Resource Development and Adult Learning classes, I decided that a simple, direct, honest, and
brief request would be effective, and it was. On the nine people on my “mailing list”, seven of
them are regular volunteer participants. (The other two have expressed an interest in the ministry
but have not yet gotten “plugged in”; determining a good method to follow up with them would
be another excellent project for me… but that is for a later date and time.) Of those seven
regular participants, all but one responded to my request. The method was so effective that I
Hi, team! I need a couple minutes from each of you to answer the following questions. I'm
working on a project to improve our Berean Video Ministry team and your "volunteer experience",
and I really don't know what you need or want unless I ask you. :) So, if you could shoot me an
e-mail back a.s.a.p. with responses to these four questions below, I'd really appreciate it.
No deep pondering required -- I just want your "gut feel" here. And feel free to be 100% honest; I
know there are many things I need to work on, and there aren't any comments you could come up
with that would hurt my feelings. This feedback will just serve to focus my efforts more, so I'm
working on what you really need instead of what I think you need.
If, for some reason, you want to be totally anonymous, you're welcome to jot your responses
down and toss it in my mail slot (located on the wall behind the baptistry)... but, as I say, there's
no reason not to go ahead and click Reply -- do it now, while you're thinking about it. :)
2) What did/do you find frustrating or challenging about the Video Ministry?
3) How can your experience with the Video Ministry be made better or more fulfilling?
Thanks again for all your work, and for your open and honest answers to these questions. See
you soon, and God Bless!
---Eric L.
In hindsight, I missed a tremendous opportunity for good input: there is very little notion
questions 2 and 3 have a clear negative tone (asking what are the problems, and how can things
be made better, thus implying that improvement is necessary). These questions are not bad ones,
but I regret not having included the simple question of, “What do you like most about the Berean
Video Ministry?”
Despite this minor reservation, I was very excited to see the responses I received. Upon
review, I found three clear themes of “need” within the ministry. First, volunteers want clear
instructions about how the equipment works. This was a known need, and I have been working
on documenting our procedures and writing up guides and manuals. I was pleased to find that
several volunteers wanted additional instructions, not because they felt unsure about the tasks
they must now accomplish, but because they wanted to expand their work and do even more for
the ministry. This made me realize that, by not following through with documentation I already
knew was necessary, I am not only hindering present work in the ministry but am closing the
The second theme I discovered was a frustration with the “unexpected” – when our
worship leader sings an unanticipated verse, or when a pastor wanders away from the pulpit. I
can bring these concerns to the pastors involved, and raise their awareness of the needs of the
video volunteers in these situations. Fortunately, the responses I received from my volunteers
were very mature and accepting of the fact that we cannot plan for every contingency, and that
Finally, a third theme appeared in several responses, and it surprised me greatly. People
care about their physical environment – care enough to mention it as a challenge or specifically
comment positively on it as it has been improved. I never realized that things like temperature or
clutter mattered to someone who would be in a particular environment for only an hour or two
per month… but it does matter, at least to some, and improving the environment is an easy
change for me to effect. Had I not explicitly asked my team what they cared about, this concern
would never have surfaced, and I would have never anticipated it as a need. This discovery
alone showed me the power of developing a clear, concise survey and encouraging open, honest
responses.
Strategy #2: Ask Others. My interview with Steve ____, the manager of our church’s
audio volunteers (a parallel to my video work), revealed something that, initially, was counter-
intuitive to me but which I came to realize jibed perfectly with good Human Resource
Development tactics. The recurring theme of his comments was to keep volunteers involved.
Where I had initially set up my ministry to minimize the “burden” that any one volunteer needed
Keep them involved, beyond just the worship center responsibility, in all the other
activities going on in the church – family events, banquets, weddings. Keep them beyond
the worship center “proper”; try to build their skills with other equipment. (Keep) them
motivated and involved in other things; I think they would lose interest if they only did it
As more and more video needs arise in our church, this is an easy directive to accomplish, and I
now see its value: Volunteers are working in the church because they see their work as having a
purpose; additional work is not a burden but an opportunity for even greater service. The
HRD Learning Contract Summary 6
additional benefit of this involvement is that, to alter an old cliché, “familiarity breed comfort”.
The more experience that volunteers gain with the tasks, equipment, and situations they find
common in their work, the less anxiety they will feel when serving and the better the result they
will produce.
Strategy #3: Ask Experts. Unfortunately, this was the most disappointing of the
approaches I took. I had expected this learning contract to be a fairly straightforward “research
project” where I could track down materials from other organizations and apply them to my
needs. In reality, that was not the case. There might be a hidden treasure-trove of insight
available, but I did not discover it; perhaps that was because the insights I discovered within my
own team and co-workers were so beneficial that I did not have the motivation to seek out even
more. That does not mean, however, that I was blind to the teaching and advice of others – I
discovered some interesting suggestions that, in the near future, I hope to implement.
The closest reference I have seen to “career development” in church volunteers came
from John Lugo, Director of Creative Arts at Bethel Church of San Jose. During the
Communication Network, Lugo explained that there are three new ministry opportunities in
church video ministry: the “computer genius”, the graphic artist, and the photography. (Cheifet,
2002) These three skill-sets can combine to enliven video and PowerPoint-based worship music
with images that express the emotional content of the material being conveyed. Our particular
church is not at a point where this kind of initiative is feasible (and Lugo validated this by
emphasizing, “Don’t create a monster you can’t feed”). However, I found it encouraging to see
that other churches have faced the same “career development” challenges as I have felt in my
HRD Learning Contract Summary 7
work, and was glad to learn that there are “career paths” for both the volunteers themselves and
Leaders. This 16-page booklet (available in a convenient electronic download) provided some
useful tidbits of advice (“3 Myths about Christian Service”, “In Pursuit of the Perfect Training”
and “3 Ways to Get People Involved”) too numerous to outline here. (Wilde, 2000). This
resource, along with the web site of its publisher, had the added benefit of Biblical background
and justification for its Human Resource Development advice, which seems particularly
approached it with some apprehension, as I am not an “HRD practitioner” and I wondered what
relevance the notion of human resource development (as formal, official “HRD”) might have in
my life. I was heartened to discoverer that the HRD philosophy I have been immersed in all
semester could be applied immediately to some real-world concerns in my volunteer team, and
am looking forward to moving ahead and implementing the changes that I now see are necessary.
HRD Learning Contract Summary 8
References
Network.
Wilde, G., Perkins, D., Carrasco, R., Reed, E., Hall, E., Larson, B., et. al. (2000).