Wilson, Marlene. How to Mobilize Church Volunteers. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1983. 156 pages.

1 Why Be Involved? The Theology.

2 What Is Happening Now? The Reality.

3 What Can We Do About It Now? The Tools.

4 Where Do We Begin? The Plan?

5 What About the "Yeah, Buts"...? The Questions.

6 How Do We Become the Scattered Church? Outreach.

plus 16 appendices of forms and charts.

The title of this book provides a succinct review of its practical contents. It is a "how to do it" book that takes a hands-on approach to motivating, acquiring, managing, and keeping volunteers, specifically in situations of church ministry.

The underlying theology follows Feucht and others, suggesting that the church is a living, breathing, ever-changing organism rather than merely an organization, and that Christian perspective is the undergirding foundation for volunteer work in the church (12). Christians have been "created, called, and equipped to be God's people and are therefore expected to act accordingly" (15). All believers are called to perform "special functions," and are suitably gifted by God to succeed (15). The church has by-and-large been a failure at the tasks of informing the "priesthood" of their "embodiedness" and engiftedness, and mobilizing the "the body" for the benefit of the world.

Although the assembly as a gathered church is very important for the sake of developing loving and caring inter-relationships, the gathering must take upon itself the dedicated task of self-scattering, as well (17). Wilson, having had perhaps 25 years in the ministry of motivating and organizing volunteers, sees herself as one who can help pastors and volunteer coordinators fulfill their theological obligations and leadership tasks (like scattering) in a more systematic, standardized, accountable, and godly manner.

Wilson rightly observes that a faithful core of people (the pillars) do most of the congregational praxis, while most only observe (the pew-sitters) (21). The root of this problem is poor leadership styles; all the following leader-types abuse power over in one way or another:
  Boss-the maker of all significant decisions.
  Expert-the knower of all significant things.
  Doer-the doer of all significant things.
  Hero Martyr-a doer who has burned out.
  Abdicrat-someone who retires without leaving (25).

The optimal leadership style is that of the enabler, "who both meets goals and encourages people to grow by involving, supporting, and training them." The enabler is a "friend," and predominantly exercises "power with." The enabler may use the other styles of leadership when appropriate. To the enabler, the people involved in church programs are more important that the programs themselves, and the people recognize this quality in the enabling leader.

The enabler motivates by addressing the needs (motives) of his/her volunteers. These motives that effect work-related behavior include the need for achievement, affiliation, and power (29). People are motivated by a combination of the three and an emphasis on one or two. These three motives are reminiscent of the four general personality types, as reinvented by several contemporary behavior psychologists. For instance, Cathcart and Alessandro's personality types thinker, relater, and director directly correspond with Wilson's achiever, affiliator, and power person. Cathcart and Alessandro's simple tests of personality type might be very beneficial if used in conjunction with Wilson's Appendix C in identifying leadership styles of potential volunteers.

In sum, the leader's keys to successful motivation include: Identifying each volunteer's motives (and combinations), understanding the volunteer's behavioral characteristics in conjunction with motives, and matching these characteristics with suitable job descriptions (34). Other volunteer needs include a detailed job description, training and supervision, recognition, and acceptance as team members (47).

The functions of leaders include the hows and whos of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Along with recognizing and feedback, these form an organizational climate envisioned as the building blocks of a bridge (48).

The three steps in the planning process are setting goals, establishing objectives to meet those goals ("specific, measurable, and achievable steps"), and action plans that answer the questions of who, how, when, and how much (48ff.).

Organizing includes describing each volunteer opportunity (job) in the form of a written job description (51). Staffing volunteer opportunities is perhaps the most difficult and critical part of the process of leadership. Staff is recruited and placed through the open-ended interview, which hopes to identify what recruits are qualified to do, what they like to do, and what they want to learn (56).

Directing is training and supervising volunteers. This involves communication on a level that is congruent, empathic, and conveys positive regard (59). "Active listening" must always be applied when dealing with volunteers. Results must always be measurable. Controlling means evaluating each program objectively as well as subjectively, remembering that people are more important than projects (65). The factors of the organizational climate are described in easy-to-follow detail in the text.

For me, the most valuable section of the book is chapter 4, "Where Do We Begin?" Here is detailed an action plan for motivating volunteers that is generic enough to be used in most situations, and which incorporates most of the Wilson's previously described elements of motivation and organization.

After careful consideration, a volunteer ministries task force is appointed, responsible to the church's governing body. The task force composes a succinct "mission statement," then formulates its goals, its specific, measurable, achievable, and compatible (SMAC) objectives (71), and its action plans for the year in accordance with the mission statement and a needs assessment. The task force might consider the programs the church is already doing well, and what areas need the most work (69). Prioritizing the needs, the task force addresses each in its action plan.

Groome, a liberation theologian, suggests several questions that might be addressed to systems in need of change or redefinition. These are a valuable resource for assessing needs in the church that compliment Wilson: (1) What is our present practice? Congregational story-telling is encouraged. Self-definition is derived from stories. (2) (a) How did it get this way? (b) How is it working? Areas of deficiency are unobtrusively identified. (3) A new system (such as Wilson's) is explained and offered. (4) What does this new system have to offer our story and vision? Structures in the new might be incorporated for the improvement of present systems, or the old might be totally abandoned (with care, of course).

The task force does not actually carry out the actions it deems appropriate; rather, it sees that the work is effectively done through its director of volunteer ministries, an appointed position that becomes part of the church staff.

All plans might be unfolded to the congregation first through a retreat for key church leaders, then to the membership at large. Opportunities to serve are publicized, and recruitment of volunteers begins. Wilson anticipates that congregation members may not have entirely accepting attitudes toward such a comprehensive plan. Therefore, she addresses several blocks she has personally encountered, including resistance to change and threat to the pastor (78ff.).

The process of mission statement, goal setting, objectives, and action planning seems to need much more detail than this short work has to offer. Supplementary material would be essential if one were to go through the entire process. One of the finest and most exhaustive practical resources I know of is Principles, Techniques of Fund Raising, a text of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, where I attended in 1991. Although it is geared to funds acquisition, its sections on "institutional readiness" and "management" are applicable to any organization that is in the process of renewing itself, and fit perfectly into Wilson's general outline.

A "questions and answers" section is very helpful. Provided are reasons why people of the 80's volunteer (and I suspect these are still valid): they long for commitment, connection, and creative expression (88). Moderns desire to use their spiritual and motivational gifts, and leaders can fairly easily identify what their peoples' gifts are through what one might call "Wilson's six-fold celebration of gifts" (90), supplemented by one of the many books on the subject. Wilson's findings about "80's people" (baby boomers) are consistent with class consensus: we identified short-term commitment, an atmosphere of acceptance, and pioneering/ exploring (among several other of boomers' needs) to be primary motivators of the 30 - 50 age group.

In an answer to the problem of professional volunteers threatening the pastor, Wilson states her belief that "seminaries are [not] equipping pastors to understand their role as facilitators [and] enablers..." (91). I believe that this is a critical point, illustrated by my recent, personal experience described in the footnote.

Wilson also provides a three-point plan for shaping up church council meetings that will prove to be very helpful (97). In my last paper for this class, I described the meeting of the church leaders at Salem U.M.C., and there continued difficulties in making decisions. The plan is simple and unobtrusive: (1) I might ask the question early on, "Why are we here and what is the agenda?" (or, "What are we trying to accomplish today?"), (2) I might clarify the issues periodically, briefly summarizing, and (3) I might find out why the next meeting is scheduled.

Issues such as stress and burnout are addressed through the author's touching personal testimony of her own need to "try to sort things out" (99). Wilson's use of pertinent quotations and personal stories throughout the book lend a readability not found in many textbooks. This section is probably the most interesting and timely "how-to" in the book.

Finally, Wilson applies mobilizing volunteers to outreach, returning to the theological foundation of the first chapter. In almost homiletic fashion, Wilson describes the Christian life in terms of service, which is further described as scattered ministries. Many such ministries and opportunities are identified for both individuals and groups, then, drawing on Foster, Wilson contrasts/compares elements of true verses self-righteous service. The book concludes with incredible appendices full of forms, outlines, and checklists that further "illustrate" the concepts of the book.

After I read the book, I asked for a meeting of my circuit pastor parish relations committee to start work on a new outreach program based on Wilson's chapter 4. I intend to summarize and synthesize elements of Wilson's theology of chapters 1 and 6 for a presentation on "mission," following up with a period of summarizing and assessing the circuit's needs and wants. If there is interest, I will lead the group in composing a missions statement, and drawing from it goals and objectives. In the meantime, members can be assessed of their talents and gifts using Wilson's Appendix C. I am confident, now that I have a more practical approach, that I can generate some excitement that will outlast my time in this charge.