Keeping Lay Workers Fresh
Virginia Vagt
Perhaps there would be less burnout if more churches could adopt some of the training and support techniques that volunteer organizations use.
—Virginia Vagt
"I don't want to go to church tomorrow," I moaned to myself Saturday after Saturday during my final months at Resurrection Church.
It wasn't the pastor, his sermons, or a lack of warmth in the congregation that caused me to dread driving up the church's gravel driveway every Sunday. I was twenty-six years old and trying to find my place in church life. My problem was that I was in over my head in a program called Women's Outreach.
The founder of this program, Margaret Schiller, did lay mission work in Honduras every summer with her dentist husband. Her lifelong commitment to outreach was exciting. When she asked me to be one of her workers, to make weekly visits to a poverty-stricken young widow, I eagerly said yes. The extrovert in me and my need to find a meaningful ministry seemed to have found a good match.
Margaret put me in touch with Karen, who lived with her three-year-old son in a nearby low-income apartment building. What exactly was I supposed to do in my visits with Karen? Other than befriend her, I didn't know, but I felt reassured; Margaret told me the Lord would lead me.
At first, the dreary apartment building with its dark halls didn't deter me. Karen would open the thin, scuffed door each Saturday and offer me her warm smile. For several weeks we just sat and talked the way new friends do. Karen seemed grateful to see me, and I felt I was doing God's work.
As I drove back and forth, however, I questioned myself: What is my purpose? Is Karen's life supposed to turn around and improve because I visit her? Is Karen supposed to become a Christian through my friendship? ...
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