We are holding our an annual Volunteer Day this year on the 24th March. Each year we try to inspire and encourage and motivate an increase in volunteering. Particularly, we want to inspire more young men to get involved in volunteering. So I've been reading all the doom & gloom stuff about why young people don't volunteer, why less people are volunteering these days and getting a bit discouraged when I came across 2 articles
The first was '7 reasons why volunteers quit' (from the book The New Breed: Understanding and Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer Group Publishing by Jonathon & Thomas McKee)
and the second a review of the book "Why men hate Church" (By Dave Murrows)
Suddenly I felt full of new hope for attracting and retaining our volunteers, especially our men. Why?
Because according to Thomas McKee the number 1 reason volunteers quit is NOT because they are too busy (although that's what they'll tell you apparently so as not to hurt your feelings) it is actually because the people like me, who are responsible for them are rubbish at doing our jobs! So why did that encourage me? Because if they left because they were too busy there's not much I can do about that (There's still only 24hrs even in my day!) If they leave because they don't feel managed or lead then I CAN do something about that and if they STILL leave I only have to look as far as me for the number one person to blame! There are of course a number of reasons people drop out of volunteering but the top 7 are all things we as managers at the Jesus Centre can do something about.
The other 6 just in case your interested are:
2. They never get any feedback on how they're doing
3. They can't see how their volunteering is making a difference
4. Lack of professionalism
5. Lack of communication
6 (Some people will definitely identify with THIS one) Too much time wasted in unproductive meetings that don't achieve anything!
7. No flexibility in opportunities or rotaring.
So now onto why I'm encouraged that we should have absolutely NO PROBLEM inspiring and recruiting men to volunteering.
Well, firstly, one of the things the article said was that apparently men dislike hugging, dancing, standing in circles and holding hands. BINGO: Volunteer with us and I personally guarantee we WONT ask you to do any of those things!
Secondly, it said that men build relationships through doing stuff together. FANTASTIC...come in for your male bonding adventure with your favourite friends and we'll give you stuff to do.
Finally, men are looking for a challenge "They need the gauntlet to be laid down in front of them with a strong motivating message..." BRILLIANT... Here it is guys:
It is over 10 years since we first dreamed, planned and opened our first Jesus Centres and the world is a very different place. No one had heard of FaceBook, Twitter, tweeting or blogging back then. So what will the world be like in another ten years? We need men who want to shape the future. Men who can lead, inspire and gather others around them; who can serve and share the love of Jesus with people and train and disciple other people to do the same.
Over the next 10 years we need to find a successor for our Centre manager and Deputy Centre manager (& the rest of us will be happy to give you our jobs if you want them!) No experience of dancing, hugging or hand holding required :-)
Why not? Well as I shared back in October it was time for another Saturday morning run exclusively by young people from our church in Northampton. Why do I love coming in to work to join them? Because I love being part of the life and energy they bring (partly fuelled by a mixture of too much caffeine and not enough sleep!) I enjoy watching them enjoy being together, gradually, gaining confidence in owning the centre as theirs for the morning, and bringing a sense of positivity and hope (& lots of fun) to everything they do. It reminds me that serving God and ministry are allowed to be fun and enjoyable and we so often turn young people off by making them feel its a duty and onerous responsibility and that to be truly spiritual it must not be enjoyed but endured.
This does not produce the wonderful vibrant life and enjoyment I witnessed yesterday morning.
I'm sure it does our young people good too, to be trusted & grow into the responsibility of owning and running the Jesus Centre occasionally and it does our visitors good to see young people taking an interest in them and enjoying being with them.
There is also a sense hope, for me, in glorious middle age, in seeing young people beginning to own their future and find their place in the Jesus Centre's vital ministry and particular expression of church and putting their faith into action. Some of them have found they've enjoyed it more than they though they would. Putting their Courageous faith into action and getting out of their comfort zones to do things they're not used to, is character training and maturing (and it can still be fun!)
We want to find more ways to engage more young people in more opportunities at the Jesus Centre to connect with all kinds of people, particularly students, graduates and young professionals. Through running events in the Cafe or starting new groups.
If you have any ideas or would like to find out more contact Michael Foord or Paul Veitch or to find out more about how you could get involved in volunteering contact me, Jayne Elliott at Northampton Jesus Centre.
Reflecting on a recent workshop my husband and I took part in on the role of Jesus centre's in new forms of evangelism I found myself thinking about what different types of people I wanted to see the Jesus centre connect with.
Jesus Centre's are great at connecting with the homeless, poor, marginalised and those who want to learn English or need support through a difficult time in their lives. But for a while now we've longed to find ways to connect with students, graduates and professional people. It may seem a bit of a contradiction or challenge to use the Jesus Centre which is known for it's work with the poor to also try and connect with professional people. But I do believe that that it as much God's heart. Indeed the early history of our church started with Oxford and Cambridge graduates moving in together along side hippies, bikers and working class folk.( Check out www.jesus.org.uk/vault and search for "Fire in our Hearts" )
Our banner says "a place where everyone is valued" and that has to find ways to include the educated, middle-class professionals who are as prone to be lonely, unfulfilled and searching for a deeper meaning to life. We run a bi-monthly Business Man's breakfast in the Circle Cafe- which is primarily aimed at exploring how to combine faith and business, with the opportunity for business people to bring their friends to have breakfast and hear a short talk from a Christian professional about how faith impacts on their working life.
We also host a quarterly Agency Networking event, where social care agencies in Northampton meet together to share news, promote new services (or these days it's more likely to be commiserating over the latest funding cuts & project losses), mutually support one another and plan an annual agency open day to promote their work to the public.
In addition we recently, hosted an art exhibition by homeless artists organised through the Hope Centre, a day centre and night shelter provision. This was a great opportunity to meet other people working in a similar field, some of whom were Christians. These 'Theme nights' as we call them can be on any sort of theme- art, music, food, hobby, special interest and are an opportunity for small, local groups to promote themselves.
We want to take these opportunities and find new ideas for connecting with students, graduates and professional people.
Before coming to work at the Jesus Centre 5 years ago I spent 17 years working in social work, social housing and for national charities supporting the homeless or ex-offenders. This put me in touch with a wide range of professional people on a daily basis. As a young residential social worker, struggling to put my faith into practice at work (without getting sacked) I know what a wilderness it can be at times and how the demands of work load, career pressure and the need to find times and ways to switch off from the pain and suffering you are under pressure to 'fix' on a daily basis can leave you feeling life our faith isn't relevant or sufficient to provide answers for a suffering world. Faith gets squeezed out and the church appears largely irrelevant or disengaged from the social problems we are grappling with. We become increasingly isolated, frustrated, burned out, disillusioned. Some of the colleagues I worked with lost their partners, their mental health, developed addictions. This was also true of my husband. Going back to the seminar, he shared how having been a successful professional, Deputy director of a therapeutic school & community for some very disturbed young people his world disintegrated into alcoholism to cope with the pressure and demands on him. At that time whilst he wandered around in a daze, he didn't find what he needed in the churches he attended or in the well meaning traditional forms of street evangelism. What eventually reached him were practical acts of kindness and the love and acceptance he felt from the staff and volunteers at the Jesus Centre. (For more on his story check out You Tube- Socks-Northampton Jesus Centre.)
Jesus Centre's want to reach people that church doesn't reach whether rich or poor, illiterate or with a PHd. They all have a place.
If you would like more information on any of these events or to find out how you could get involved go to www.jesuscentre.org.uk/northampton
