I am a life-long church member, and love being involved in ministry. I have worked as a volunteer or on staff in a variety of different roles in churches throughout my life. My favorite verse about ministry is Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Sometimes contemporary and popular worship songs do not reflect reformed theology. All our songs go through a review before we add them to our song list. In some cases, we have chosen just to simply not sing a particular verse of a song if it's questionable. (I know of one song we do this for, and if I can just remember the name of it, I'll post it as an example.)
An example from the news recently was when a church (PCUSA, I *think*) opted not to include the popular hymn, "In Christ Alone" in their new hymnal because they wanted to change the words "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied" to "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified" and the copyright holder declined to approve the change.
I am loving planning worship using the new Lift Up Your Hearts hymnal, but ensuring correct licensing is BIG. DEAL. As in, taking a lot of time to make sure we are doing it right. But I LOVE this hymnal, it's terrific.
Just thought I'd share our practice. We have one worship service each Sunday and two offerings. The first offering is for the "general fund" which goes towards the church budget. (Our church budget includes denominational and classical ministry shares, so those are not collected separately.)
The second offering is a schedule set by our deacons. They recently looked at this from a whole-year perspective and identified a plan about how to allocate the second offerings. These offerings support things like (not a complete list): local community organizations, specific missionaries, a few ministries of our congregation, CRWM generally, Home Missions and World Renew as well as an offering once per month for tuition aid which provides assistance with Christian school tuition for families on a need basis. Sometimes an offering is rescheduled so our congregation has opportunity to respond to a timely need like disaster relief.
Curious if anyone can comment on the September 19 event, what was learned, any information or ideas that can be shared?
Also, who is the primary group that this is for (and that you hope will attend)? Are you primarily wanting Young Adults to attend to meet with the named leaders? Or should any church leader who wants to learn more about reaching Young Adults be encouraged to attend? (In other words - who is asking, and who is answering, the questions?)
I work at the same church as Rick (Sherick) De Baan. I just wanted to add that for Weddings and Funerals, our facilities rental contract requires that an authorized church person run the sound & tech, and the contract stipulates they will be paid and how much for working at events that are not regularly scheduled worship services.
As Rick noted, he is paid a small stipend, but his responsibility also extends to keeping our church office computers running and helping all our staff with technology and intergrating technology in worship; not just Sunday morning responsibilities. Those who serve on the sound team and other tech-related jobs related to worship, serve as volunteers and are unpaid.
I am so saddened that you are not feeling appreciated by your church. The work you are doing is important and is I'm sure you are a great blessing! I think you would be doing a service to your church leadership to speak with them about how you are feeling. Whether it's simply lack of appreciation, or perhaps that you are overextended with how much you serve (you are BUSY!), I would hope that they would respond well to your concern.
I hope this is not the case, but it's possible that a church where a volunteer is not feeling appreciated may have other volunteers who feel the same, and they may need to think about whether they are actively working to thank and appreciate all their volunteers. It's also possible that there is a culture like this and someone just needs to be reminded of all you do!
You seem to have a heart to serve, and it is my hope that you will rediscover joy in serving God's church.
I appreciate the book version of the Heidelberg Catechism that includes the Scripture texts along with the Q&A's making it very easy to study the catechism and the scripture side-by-side. I wish I had more insight to offer regarding the millennial generation (that's what I came here looking for) but thought I'd share this recommendation. The specific book I'm talking about is available from Faith Alive: http://www.faithaliveresources.org/Products/155295/the-heidelberg-catechism-with-scripture-texts.aspx .
I've sometimes just sent a personal email to someone at church along these lines.
Dear _________,
I just spotted this article about [topic related your ministry] on the network, and I thought you might find it helpful for your ministry. It seems like there is often interesting information here, and you can subscribe to receive email updates for this [blog/forum/topic] by visiting this page. [Include link.]
Thanks for everything you do!
If they choose to sign up or not, that's up to them, but I know of several ministry leaders who have subscribed and read the content regularly, even if they don't frequently comment on the site.
I'm the Ministry Coordinator at Crossroads CRC in San Marcos, CA as of 9/1/10. Would love to connect with some of you and am happy to be a resource as I learn more myself.
I'm happy to share my job description if that's helpful to anyone, although it would be easiest to send it by e-mail attachment. Henk, I already sent you a note with my email address, but anyone else can contact me through a private message with their email address if they'd like it.
I've only been a Ministry Coordinator for 6 months and it's not only a new job for me, but for the church as well. I think the details of the work is going to vary a lot depending on the culture and mission of any particular church. Also, my impression is that the job can change over time. In other words, even if the "big picture" goals are the same, the way in which those are reached will change.
Posted in: Question About Changing Words of Copyrighted Songs
RE: Why change lyrics?
Sometimes contemporary and popular worship songs do not reflect reformed theology. All our songs go through a review before we add them to our song list. In some cases, we have chosen just to simply not sing a particular verse of a song if it's questionable. (I know of one song we do this for, and if I can just remember the name of it, I'll post it as an example.)
An example from the news recently was when a church (PCUSA, I *think*) opted not to include the popular hymn, "In Christ Alone" in their new hymnal because they wanted to change the words "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied" to "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified" and the copyright holder declined to approve the change.
Posted in: Question About Changing Words of Copyrighted Songs
RE: Copyright for new hymnals (Diane)
I am loving planning worship using the new Lift Up Your Hearts hymnal, but ensuring correct licensing is BIG. DEAL. As in, taking a lot of time to make sure we are doing it right. But I LOVE this hymnal, it's terrific.
Posted in: Ideas for a Church Communications Survey
Sounds like a really interesting project. Like the others, I unfortunately have no suggestions, but am very interested in what you learn.
Posted in: How many churches no longer take special offerings?
Just thought I'd share our practice. We have one worship service each Sunday and two offerings. The first offering is for the "general fund" which goes towards the church budget. (Our church budget includes denominational and classical ministry shares, so those are not collected separately.)
The second offering is a schedule set by our deacons. They recently looked at this from a whole-year perspective and identified a plan about how to allocate the second offerings. These offerings support things like (not a complete list): local community organizations, specific missionaries, a few ministries of our congregation, CRWM generally, Home Missions and World Renew as well as an offering once per month for tuition aid which provides assistance with Christian school tuition for families on a need basis. Sometimes an offering is rescheduled so our congregation has opportunity to respond to a timely need like disaster relief.
Posted in: YALT Hangouts Kick Off
Curious if anyone can comment on the September 19 event, what was learned, any information or ideas that can be shared?
Also, who is the primary group that this is for (and that you hope will attend)? Are you primarily wanting Young Adults to attend to meet with the named leaders? Or should any church leader who wants to learn more about reaching Young Adults be encouraged to attend? (In other words - who is asking, and who is answering, the questions?)
Posted in: YALT Hangouts Kick Off
Thanks so much for the info!!!
Posted in: Paid Tech ... Need Opinions
I work at the same church as Rick (Sherick) De Baan. I just wanted to add that for Weddings and Funerals, our facilities rental contract requires that an authorized church person run the sound & tech, and the contract stipulates they will be paid and how much for working at events that are not regularly scheduled worship services.
As Rick noted, he is paid a small stipend, but his responsibility also extends to keeping our church office computers running and helping all our staff with technology and intergrating technology in worship; not just Sunday morning responsibilities. Those who serve on the sound team and other tech-related jobs related to worship, serve as volunteers and are unpaid.
I am so saddened that you are not feeling appreciated by your church. The work you are doing is important and is I'm sure you are a great blessing! I think you would be doing a service to your church leadership to speak with them about how you are feeling. Whether it's simply lack of appreciation, or perhaps that you are overextended with how much you serve (you are BUSY!), I would hope that they would respond well to your concern.
I hope this is not the case, but it's possible that a church where a volunteer is not feeling appreciated may have other volunteers who feel the same, and they may need to think about whether they are actively working to thank and appreciate all their volunteers. It's also possible that there is a culture like this and someone just needs to be reminded of all you do!
You seem to have a heart to serve, and it is my hope that you will rediscover joy in serving God's church.
Posted in: Young, Restless, Reformed, and ... Disgruntled?
I appreciate the book version of the Heidelberg Catechism that includes the Scripture texts along with the Q&A's making it very easy to study the catechism and the scripture side-by-side. I wish I had more insight to offer regarding the millennial generation (that's what I came here looking for) but thought I'd share this recommendation. The specific book I'm talking about is available from Faith Alive: http://www.faithaliveresources.org/Products/155295/the-heidelberg-catechism-with-scripture-texts.aspx .
Posted in: Dress Code
My pastor never wears a tie, unless he knows he's going to have his picture taken for The Banner. :)
Then again, shorts and flip flops are pretty common attire for worshippers at our California church, so he fits right in.
Posted in: Network Use
I've sometimes just sent a personal email to someone at church along these lines.
Dear _________,
I just spotted this article about [topic related your ministry] on the network, and I thought you might find it helpful for your ministry. It seems like there is often interesting information here, and you can subscribe to receive email updates for this [blog/forum/topic] by visiting this page. [Include link.]
Thanks for everything you do!
If they choose to sign up or not, that's up to them, but I know of several ministry leaders who have subscribed and read the content regularly, even if they don't frequently comment on the site.
Posted in: Fellow Ministry Coordinators
I'm the Ministry Coordinator at Crossroads CRC in San Marcos, CA as of 9/1/10. Would love to connect with some of you and am happy to be a resource as I learn more myself.
Posted in: Fellow Ministry Coordinators
I'm happy to share my job description if that's helpful to anyone, although it would be easiest to send it by e-mail attachment. Henk, I already sent you a note with my email address, but anyone else can contact me through a private message with their email address if they'd like it.
I've only been a Ministry Coordinator for 6 months and it's not only a new job for me, but for the church as well. I think the details of the work is going to vary a lot depending on the culture and mission of any particular church. Also, my impression is that the job can change over time. In other words, even if the "big picture" goals are the same, the way in which those are reached will change.