Gastonia Faith Network Talk

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of sharing with the Gastonia Faith Network. One of the expressed needs of the group of community, church and para-ministry professionals was an understanding of how to mobilize more church volunteers for service in their community. While it was hard to wrap that up into 35 minutes, here is a short excerpt of the end of my speech.

Is the funnel wide enough in Gastonia?

According to the USA Freedom Corps, research shows that one of the primary reasons people give for not volunteering or serving their community is that they simply don’t know where to start. When the service event is one of the primary messages a church and communtiy communicates for a season, more people will sign up becuase they are well-informed and they clearly see the path to involvement.

Catalytic service events widen the funnel for community involvement.

Friend and fellow externally focused writer, Alexa McNabb describes this funnel effect for us. The widest part of the funnel represents any one-time event that exposes a volunteer to a need in the community and engages them in a fun, simple activity. The goal of that wide-end of the funnel opportunity is not that lives are dramatically changes, but that volunteers are exposed.
The next phase in the funnel is experience. By debriefing or reflecting on the exposure event, volunteers can move a little further into service and consider an ongoing service opportunity. While their involvement may still consist of a lower time or resource commitment, it is moving them towards a higher heart commitment.

The final stage of the funnel is to fully engage and equip people in meaningful service where you see them serving regularly, focused on a goal and even mobilizing others to join them in serving.
Often times, leaders expect people to jump from the pew to the end of the funnel into passionate, life-changing service. Most people would love to serve like that, they just can’t picture it. But let me introduce you to what can happen when you give people a “try and see” service opportunity. It just might open their eyes to what God has prepared them in advance to do.

Jesse’s extent of church involvement was one hour on Sunday and two hours on Friday night at the softball fields. After a couple of years living that pattern of church involvement, he felt guilty for not “doing” something. So he became an usher—that lasted for at least another year. Then, a staff member who knew Jesse liked the outdoors, asked him to help put together a service project for families in the church to help the division of wildlife clean up a nearby. Jesse was a little surprised to be asked to lead and even more surprised that the church was interested in doing something like this.

He said yes and led one of 40 projects the church accomplished in a two week campaign called “Time to Serve.” That project was so fulfilling to him, that Jesse asked if they could do it once a quarter. Over the next two years, a tight group formed while cleaning up the pond. Jesse got to know the park rangers and conversations turned to fishing quite often. Somewhere along their service journey, the group decided to build a ramp to launch a boat on this pond. But it wasn’t just any boat. This boat would be specifically designed to accommodate the needs of the elderly and those with special needs. A new ministry was born called Hope Floats. Jesse learned about all the details necessary to serve people in wheel chairs and understand the needs of these special families. He learned how to write grants, raise funds, and work with government agencies to get his plan approved. And now, Jesse leads an entire ministry. He still plays softball, but he will tell you that this service has enriched his life, helped him become more interested in Bible study and even given him the courage to become a youth coach and lead teen mission trips to Mexico—something he NEVER thought he would do. That first service opportunity of gathering supplies and people to clean up a pond was a catalyst for spiritual growth and transformation in his life and the lives of others.

Is the community service funnel wide enough for many people to find a way to serve? How many people could you introduce to the good works God has prepared in advance for them to do during a One Weekend of Service here is Gastonia? How many Jesse’s are there in this city, with passions, skills and interests only being used for hobbies instead of the happiness of others?
Is the funnel wide enough in Gastonia?


To view more resources on this topic, see http://www.leadnet.org/Resources_downloads.asp
Search "Widening the Funnel" by Alexa McNabb and "6 catalytic Service Events" by Krista Petty. Both are free of charge and available for immediate download by signing into the site.