September 18, 2014

Empowered Volunteers

Sharing Vital Practices

Over 6,000 church leaders have subscribed to ECF Vital Practices to gain ideas, tools, and resources for building up vibrant ministry. As our congregations start back into the program year, connect your congregation to these great resources by subscribing to ECF Vital Practices. Use this link, or click on the Subscribe button in the upper right hand corner anywhere on the ECF Vital Practices website.

As a subscriber, in addition to receiving Vestry Papers each month you will also receive our monthly digest - a collection of articles related to your ministry as congregational leaders. This digest, "Empowering Volunteers," is an example of this resource. Subscribers may also post comments or resources directly on the ECF Vital Practices website.

Brick by Brick
“How do you get people to say yes? First you say yes.” In “Brick by Brick,” Elizabeth McKay Moosbrugger shares the creative ideas and learnings from leaders in congregations throughout the Diocese of Ohio for the highly successful Rebuilding Our Church in Haiti campaign.



In the Beginning was the Word
“People don’t participate because they love fundraising; these are events that bring us into community around something we believe to be important." With “In the Beginning was the Word,” Carol Barnwell shares how effective communications can help build momentum and commitment and, serve as invitation for greater participation.

Blog Posts

The Gift of Volunteers: CREDO’s Brad Agry reminds us to review our volunteer recruitment, training, and retention practices to ensure these experiences are supporting, not hurting, our efforts.

Volunteering Shouldn't Be A Life Sentence: How do we move from ‘lifelong appointments’ to sharing opportunities for leadership and ministry (and minimizing burnout)?

Jesus Didn't Micromanage: Valuing people’s knowledge and skills and learning how to delegate is a critical step when working with volunteers.









Tools and Resources

Identifying & Recruiting New Leaders: Watch this webinar on how to spot parishioners with good leadership potential and how to recruit them in a way that connects your values to theirs.

That Other Trinity: Results, Relationships, Process: When a project stalls, where do you first look to get it back on track? Paying attention to relationships should be at the top of your list.

ECF Fall Webinars: Sign-up today for webinars on leadership and financial topics, including strategic thinking, stewardship, and vestry leadership.

Adopt-A-Family Bikes

Sometimes, our most successful ministries begin when members notice an opportunity and take steps to bring it to life. In "Adopt-A-Family Bikes," Ryan Mahoney shares how volunteers St. Timothy's began to take notice of the need for bicycles that has evolved into a thriving ministry.




This Month in Year-Round Stewardship
Watch a recording of "Planning and Recruiting for Stewardship," a webinar that will help you identify the passions and talent you need to recruit for a successful stewardship team. Even though the summer months are behind us, there may be volunteer recruiting you still need to do!