Any ministry is only as good as it’s volunteers. So when people stop serving, you should pay attention. Here are my observations.
Why do people stop volunteering in a ministry?
life changes – Something core to the flow of life changes, and everything goes out of whack. A new baby. A new spouse. A new job. A new obsession. What used to be normal, routine volunteering gets put on hold.
gift changes – I’m a firm believer that God is the one giving out the spiritual gifts in the Church. And since they are His gifts, He can take them back if He chooses, or give them to someone else. Someone will stop volunteering if the gifting for that ministry leaves.
vision changes – Maybe the direction the ministry is headed is somewhere the volunteer can’t/won’t go. They’re not onboard with the overall vision of the ministry and what needs to happen.
spiritual life changes – God does something in the life of the volunteers and priorities get reset. Instead of volunteering in a ministry, something else that is needed is done [by the leading of the Holy Spirit].
spiritual life doesn’t change – Stagnation. The conduit for the Holy Spirit that we can potentially be gets clogged up due to inactivity. Volunteers stop seeing the point of serving. Or worse, they don’t “feel” anything from serving. Or even worse still, they don’t “get anything out of it.” When did the definition of servanthood change to “personal fulfillment/benefit”?
nothing changes – In other words…people get bored! Volunteers start dropping out when they don’t feel connected with other volunteers. When the job is so monotonous and there is never a challenge or new twist volunteers don’t believe it is worth their time.
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