Articles for Additional Resources
What IMB Missionaries Want Volunteers to Know
By Carter Davis, IMB Missionary Emeritus
Missions is the responsibility of the church! God calls all His followers to be involved in missions. (Matthew 28:19-20) Missionaries welcome with open arms volunteers who want to serve alongside them. With this said, there are some important things that missionaries desire that well-intended volunteers know prior to their arrival in the country to serve.
Flexibility: One major difference in cultures is the importance of schedules and time. In the USA, we value time and promptness. This is not true in many other cultures, and thus meetings and gatherings sometimes do not begin until well after the agreed or scheduled time. Circumstances often change at the last minute requiring an alternative plan in activity or time frame. This can be very frustrating to the USA volunteer. It is important that volunteers accept this reality!
Strategy: Allow the missionary to establish the goal and strategy for the volunteer engagement. He or she knows the local culture and the bridges and barriers when sharing the gospel. The primary focus of the International Mission Board (IMB) is evangelism that results in churches. There are many meaningful types of missions and engagements by various mission agencies; however, missionaries with the IMB focus on evangelism that results in churches. It is beneficial for volunteers to express their abilities, spiritual gifts, and the ministry they would like to do; however, it is important to understand that volunteer(s) fit into the strategy of the missionaries and their local team. All things should lead to evangelism.
Reproducibility: Upon arrival in the host country, volunteers will likely recognize that methods for reaching lostness may not include the volunteer’s familiar practices in their home church. Those serving in international missions recognized decades ago that methods for evangelism and church planting must be according to what is appropriate and available in the local country. If resources are not available locally, then the local people tend to say, “We cannot do this because we do not have such and such.” It is important to model what can be reproduced.
With this said, please follow God’s leading and join with the many thousands of volunteers serving alongside your IMB missionaries to reach the nations!
“What is your vision for this ministry?” It was the last question I was asked in my interview for the Children’s Director job I was applying for. I paused, trying to gather all my big dreams and place them in a nice, concise answer. Their eyes told me they were wondering why I was waiting so long to answer, finally one of the men sitting across the table said, “It’s fine, you don’t have to answer now. Maybe take some more time to think about it.” I was shocked when they called me for a second interview almost two months later. For roughly 60
days I thought about that question. Finally, the day arrived for me to deliver my answer. Before they could even start the interview with a question, I spoke up, “The last time I met with you, you asked me what my vision was for this ministry. I have spent a lot of time thinking and praying over how I want to answer that question. And here is the vision I feel the Lord has given me:
I want the children’s department to be treated just the same as the adult’s classes. Adult classes don’t have a rotation of teachers. Adult classes form trusting relationships.
My vision for this ministry is for it to be treated as such, and not just a baby sitting service. For every room, all the way from the babies to the oldest class, to have a lead teacher who prepares them for their next stage of spiritual growth.
My vision must have aligned with theirs because they offered me the job right then and there. Upon asking teachers to prayerfully consider committing to this new style of children’s ministry, especially preschool ministry, I was quickly bombarded with answers that sounded a lot like, “But I don’t want to give up community.” Or “But I need to be fed in a class setting.” Or “But I’m relatively
newer to this church and I want to get to know people.” So back to the drawing board I went. How can we help people feel like they belong to a group when
they serve in the nursery every week? How can we help the church see that holding crying babies or teaching 5-year-olds is equal in value as leading an adult Sunday School class that sees conversions and baptisms take place? How can we avoid scrambling to find volunteers every single week and leaving
church feeling exhausted and defeated? I wish I had all the answers. I wish I could follow up all those questions with a “Here’s a five-step fail-proof plan.” Unfortunately, I don’t have that in my back pocket. But what I do have is a “Here is what I am trying. Here is what has worked and here is what has not worked.” Hopefully you can add to this list and this God-sized vision can become a reality, the standard, and the bare minimal of every God-Honoring church’s children’s ministry across the globe.
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It starts with me. It starts with you. Whether you are the director, the pastor, the parent, the volunteer. You must recognize the importance of this ministry first and foremost. People won’t catch on to your vision unless you believe in your vision. Become passionate about this ministry. Passion is contagious.
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If you do hold a position of leadership (i.e., Children’s Director), view your job as the lead teacher of the teachers. They are your class. Do adult Sunday School classes have get-togethers? Then invite them to a cook-out or a Christmas party. Do adult Sunday School classes take prayer requests? Then be praying for your teachers and follow up with them on their prayer requests. Treat your teachers like if they were in your adult Sunday School class.
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Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate. You can never thank these teachers enough. Once they feel seen for the job they are doing, they will gradually begin to realize why you are seeing them - because they are important. Because what they are doing is important. Do not let a single Sunday go by without thanking each one of them. They should know the words, “Thank you” are going to come out of your mouth at some point when they see you every Sunday.
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Be the example. If you want your teachers to be regular, then you need to be as well. If you are asking your teachers to sacrifice being in an adult Sunday School class, then you need to be willing to do the same. If you want families to feel comfortable and welcomed by seeing the same smiling faces every week, then you need to make sure your face is included.
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Give your teacher’s ownership of the ministry. Ask them questions. Let them voice concerns. Implement their ideas. Let their spiritual gifts shine. Create surveys for them to fill out, asking pointed questions about the ministry.
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Use the word “invest” when asking for teachers. Babies obviously won’t accept Jesus as their personal Savior during your time holding them in the infant room, but you are investing in them and in their family.
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If a teacher does have to miss, never show your frustration. Once this becomes an obligation instead of ministry, the joy will be sucked right out with their attendance.
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Continue growing the ministry. Never stop asking for more teachers or looking for ways to get the church involved. You can never have enough teachers, and when it seems you’ve proven that statement wrong, find different ways to use your teachers – have a welcoming team, worship team, set-up team.
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Be bold in asking people face-to-face. You won’t strike gold every time, but occasionally, you’ll find a teacher that was meant for this. They may never have even thought about volunteering in Children’s ministry, but since you asked, they decided to give it try. 20 years later, they’re still teaching.
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Remember that some people need to start slow. Committing to every single Sunday might seem overwhelming. So, break it down to every other week or once a week. Eventually, they realize that community and friendships are being formed. That God is using them in the lives of these children and in their families. Once they’ve been serving for a while, then ask if they would contemplate being a lead teacher.
Please, offer your ideas. Your trials and errors. And hopefully, your trials and successes. We are all in this together, for the Glory of One, who is able to do far more than we can ever think and imagine – even having more than enough full-time, faithful, energetic, godly volunteers every Sunday.