Gravitational Cognisance:

Anyone who has watched cartoon will be familiar with characters walking off high places and continuing their progress in mid-air until they realise solid ground has gone as, looking down, the begin to plummet to the ground. We may find a parallel between Wile E Coyote and those who have lost the solid ground of their Christian faith. They continue walking as if they're on solid ground until something causes them to look down and then . . .  Whoosh . . .  Satan-like they plummet out our sight and are lost forever.

Some manage to never look down, they keep plodding on in the hope that they will have one of those Damascus road experiences or be hit by a bolt of lightning and so live out their lives of obedient drudgery when all it needs is for them to encounter and engage with their doubt! It is this that makes me think that doubt is one of the most excellent things we have in the arsenal of our faith.

And if doubt is one of our greatest gifts then one of the greatest curses has to be the loss of meaning that has been supposedly gifted to us by postmodernity. I say 'supposedly' because it has always been with us throughout all the ages. Those generations who have known the price of everything and the value of nothing, the many good men who have failed to act (regardless of the reason) and the valueless faith that imposes no standards to demands that we keep - this I that of which we speak.

The tension between getting all the good stuff (forgiveness, approbation, affirmation. acceptance, etc.) without having to believe 'all the ****!'* (absolutes, commandments, rules, standards, etc.) is an ever present reality. This is the bottom line for many and shapes and makes their faith life. No surprise because, when it comes down to it for we are like little children who want the sweeties but baulk at having to eat the cabbage (or whatever your dread vegetable happens to be), aren't we?

It is here that some cling to religion (rules and absolutes) whilst others turn to ritual (bells, smells and tat) and others still turn to inclusivity and freedom from restrictions (the 'God wants you to be happy' approach).

Whenever I encounter this area, personally or in others, I find myself coming back to Matthew 21.44 and the words that 'Whoever falls upon this rock will be broken and those upon whom it falls will be crushed.' Doubt needs to be be broken by recognising the thin air upon which the doubter is standing and, having acknowledged it, addressing and remedying it. Denial of doubt is death (spiritual and sometime physical too) and has no place in the Christian faith - we need to encourage doubt, for otherwise we push it underground to creep, cancer-like, behind the scenes just before we notice the weight-loss (and there are many emaciated Christians out there) that heralds the slide into being departed. Early prevention comes through checking for the signs and responding when they are found.

Have a look at your feet and see whether they are are solid ground or about to lead you into the plummet that is terminal decline.

Remember: Christianity demands that you do not leave your brain at the door! 


*A quote from one of those trendy clerics with which we are so blessed with these days!

Volunteers - Recruit and RETAIN

As I have been thinking about volunteers I have come to the conclusion that whilst training is a moderately neutral element the real struggles come in the form of the high inertial load in getting people to volunteer and the working against those factors which would cause things to stop that we call retention.

One of the best ways to get volunteers is to get converts because as people come to faith it is relatively easy to harness that zeal and new found passion and make volunteering part of the discipleship package. The problems come when you try to get some of the church members who have been part of the congregation for some time to get themselves moving What one invariably finds is that they are stuck where they are or simply refuse to budge because "they've tried it before'. These people need a good push (a squib up the backside as my dear old Dad used to say).

The real issue therefore, especially if the 'done it all before' camp is to be believed, is that of retention. Keeping volunteers both doing and remaining when they stop doing (which I think is called 'being'. It's retention that I want to think about today:

The issues as I understand them are this:

1. The job gets boring - there needs to be some degree of challenge and development in the things we get volunteers to do,

2a. The organisation needs to be smooth (too many volunteers) - Many of those I meet who 'used to volunteer' ceased to do so because they turned up to find someone else doing the task they thought they were coming to do.

2b. The organisation needs to be smooth (too few volunteers) - Others who did volunteer find themselves 'attacked' because no one was on the rota and they get the flak for not having been present (when they weren't supposed too be!). Let volunteers experience stress and criticism too often and you'll lose them (and the people they fought with!).

3. Approbation - A bit of applause, recognitions, flowers, chocolates, a meal (or whatever) says that what the person does is valued (and so are they). Work without the volunteers receiving a bit of recognition and you'll be working without volunteers (just after the tough and unnoticed event they did)!

4. The 'lone volunteer' syndrome - Leave the job to one person and you can be sure that they will (usually) come to resent it and yet (often) will ensure that they maintain the status quo so that they are both Mary and Martha rolled into one! They make the job their won and ensure that it stays that way.

5. Progression - with some jobs what it is is what it is whilst others lead on to greater (perceived) things. The lack of progression, when it is expected, promised or has been the custom, leaves people feeling that they are not valued or up to the task. Either way, the potential for the volunteer ceasing is great - look at what the role is and where the last few people that were doing it have gone (and why they went too). The other side of this coin is the 'dead end' role. The singe task that leads nowhere and so results in someone being the magazine distributor for twenty years (I've met him) - a job they do with a deep lack of joy and eventual total disinterest.

Over the course of many years I have met volunteers who have served their body well and then folded because they didn't get (often promised) progression, recognition or support. Far too often they found themselves locked into mundane or boring roles and there was just no joy or fun in what they did. Worse still, most people let this continue because they didn't want to get lumbered with the job (and clergy are often very bad in this area).

So if you have volunteers you need to work to keep them. We might not have to do what they do but
we can still come alongside and say 'Thank You' and offer them some form of reward and recognition (and even think about helping the role change or them move to keep them fresh and enjoying it).

The workman is indeed worthy of something and if it's not money then it's respect, recognition and thanks!

HTH