Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices - Blogs - Volunteering Shouldn't be a Life Sentence.

February 20, 2014

Volunteering Shouldn't be a Life Sentence.

Yet, in many of our congregations, agreeing to chair a fundraiser or organize an outreach project all too often becomes a lifelong appointment. For people other than Mother Theresa, this inescapable clause eventually engenders bitterness and resentfulness.

We all know that this isn’t a healthy or sustainable practice. But how can we move from “lifelong appointment” to sharing the opportunities for leadership and ministry?

There are lots of reasons people don’t volunteer or step up to chair a project. Solving that problem is a critical topic but for another day. Let’s focus here on how to make space at the top so that new people can engage and take ownership. Sometimes the lifelong appointee doesn’t really want to leave. Maybe they can’t imagine truly giving up the position, even if they sometimes play the martyr. In other situations, there’s the person willing to give up the title but not the control, creating an extreme case of this is how we’ve always done and always should do it. (This person might also reload the dishwasher at home after moaning that no one helps in the kitchen).
But I’ll go Pollyanna here for a moment: I think the majority of leaders continue because of their passion for the project, their love for the church, and their deep fear that no one else will come forward.

I don’t have all of the answers to this problem. If I did, I’d write a book, go on The Ellen Show, and drink daiquiris on the beach with my newfound wealth. But I have some suggestions borne out from experience and from observation.

Sometimes, we need to let die the pet project that we’ve nurtured and cared for, that we helped birth and stayed up nights for and cheered wildly as the project gained legs and momentum. Sometimes, if we’re ready to pass the baton and no one is willing to take it, then it’s time to let the project die. Energy and passion can serve as defibrillators. If there’s no energy or excitement, it’s time to move on.

We must be willing to give others control, to let new leaders make their own mistakes, and chart their own course. Now, I’ll be frank: I’m not great at this. Over the past year, I rotated off of a board that I had actively served for nearly five years. I knew my tendency to offer “institutional knowledge” could quickly turn to “that’s not how we’ve always done it.” So I had to create my own self-imposed boundaries: I stepped way back out of the leadership of the organization. I’m still a member but at least for this first year, I’ve been very deliberate about engaging from a distance. It’s time for others to lead – and for me to get out of the way.

For that to happen, current leaders have to be willing to recruit. While it’s fair to hope and expect other people to step forward of their own volition, it’s not always realistic. People tend to wait to be asked. An important part of our role as a leader is to identify the people who might carry the project forward after we step down. If we haven’t played a role in a succession plan, then we’ve failed in an important way.

One component of continued vitality might be to build in transition rules. The president of the United States has a four-year, two-term limit. Surely that makes some sense for vestry members, the president of the Altar Guild or Episcopal Church Women, or the chair of the outreach commission.

Finally we all have to be willing to step up, to volunteer, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Sure, having boundaries is important, and we don’t do anyone any favors when we overcommit and ultimately underperform. At the same time, God has given us gifts and talents that God wants to see actualized, put into action in the world. God might even be encouraging us to pull a Sheryl Sandberg and lean in, not to our careers, but to a life of faith.