Church leadership can also have a positive or negative volunteer mentality.
How they treat volunteers can be the basis for the success of a ministry within the church.
The church leaders can have this Negative Volunteer Mentality:
1. He/she is a volunteer and should be happy we are “letting them” run sound.
2. They can pay for their own training if they are really interested in what they do.
3. They have no authority.
4. They don’t get keys to the church.
5. We can tell them what to do.
6. They can pay for stuff [cd’s, tapes, batteries, etc] out of their own pocket. That’s part of that ministry.
7. They use the equipment we have – it’s been working for years.
The beautiful Positive Volunteer Mentality:
1. They are volunteering their time and energy and therefore we should treat those gifts with the utmost respect.
2. We can’t afford to pay them but we should use God’s money to properly train them.
3. They are allotted a position of authority because of their God-given talents and skills which they can use to work with other people to create the best audio experience possible.
4. They should have access to the church at all times because their work isn’t limited to the day of the church service.
5. If we treat them like puppets, we deny them the ability to use their God-given talents.
6. A budget is important for all church ministries and the audio ministry is no exception.
7. Technology is constantly producing better audio equipment and therefore the audio ministry should be allowed to upgrade/add-on equipment when it would benefit the quality of sound / the worship experience.
Being a volunteer, it’s easy to think only about myself and how others treat me. The more “I-focused” I become, the less I see how I impact others.
The more “I-focused” I become, the less I am concerned with compassion and pity.
Regardless of how others treat me, if I cannot properly shoulder the responsibilities God has given me, then maybe I need to remember what it means to follow Christ.
I’m fortunate in that my pastor as well as the worship teams support me. But if one day that were to change, I need to be assured that my attitude would not.
How do you actively strive to overcome the volunteer mentality? Let us know in the comments below!
Ready to learn and laugh? Chris Huff writes about the world of church audio at Behind The Mixer. He covers everything from audio fundamentals to dealing with musicians. He can even tell you the signs the sound guy is having a mental breakdown.