Members of the church feel the successes most when they are involved, when they are informed, when they can refer to an activity as “THEIR” activity whether their involvement has been great or small.People like to be associated with, or have a connection to, success; successful people, successful organizations, successful businesses, successful groups and, of course, successful churches.

When members feel involved, they support the activity verbally, financially, and in some manner, through their participation.    Take Vacation Bible School (VBS) for example.  Members can be involved by:

• Actively being part of the VBS presentation team.
• Supporting VBS financially
• Being part of the “prayer warrior” team
• Helping, as needed with some aspect of the VBS program

The latter offers the best opportunity to be involved because people of any age, physical or mental ability can participate. Below is an example of one church getting members to help with preparation of materials to be used with the crafts part of VBS.

A mobile of hanging fruits was one of the craft projects to accompany the Bible lessons about “The Fruit of the Spirit”.   Paper had been punched out to different fruit shapes but needed a hole punched at the top. Then yarn of a specific length had to be attached the fruit cut-outs.   Here were three jobs, menial in a sense, but time-consuming if done by only a few people.  So, involve the congregation.

Job #1 The strings (pieces of different colored yarn had to be cut a certain length.  We asked members to stay after church for one-half hour to help with this task.  We provided the scissors and yarn, and in 23 minutes 500 pieces of yarn had been cut to length.

Job #2 The fruit had to be punched (no pun intended).  At first, the volunteers used a paper punch, but that took too long, so one member who had a drill press took the fruit home, clamped the paper designs down tight so the stack of apples became almost like a piece of wood and could be drilled quickly.  The same for the bananas, peaches, oranges, and cluster of grapes.  It took him 15 minutes.

Job #3  The next step was to tie the yarn to each piece of fruit.  That task took two Sundays.  Each work session had 8 – 12 volunteers.  There were a total of 33 different volunteers who participated in that project.

• Everyone had the opportunity, in some manner, to be part of the VBS  
• Another project was to cut out symbols to identify different groups of children. They were plastic which lasts much longer than cardboard. However, it is harder to cut.  We needed ten-inch circles, ten-inch happy face circles and ten-inch  We needed six of each in red, yellow, orange green and blue,  Again the call was made for volunteers to cut for one-half hour after church.  Seven different volunteers plus some from the previous session accomplished the task.
• Some bible study materials needed to be copied and, in some cases, created. A group of volunteers from one of the bible study groups took on that task.

Church members were asked to assist with other tasks as well.  During the ‘commissioning ” ceremony before the departure of the VBS team,  the pastor requested members of the congregation to stand if they had had any part in helping the team.  A little over 20% of the congregation rose and received resounding applause.

This is important.  Everyone had the opportunity, in some manner,  to be part of the VBS  mission.  No one was asked for money, although donations for missions increased.  We feel financial support grew because the people had an understanding of the mission effort and actually felt part of it.  Young, old, some infirm, were able to help to the limits of their ability.

The people had an understanding of the mission effort and actually felt part of it.

During the actual VBS, frequent reports were sent back to the church for display to the congregation. Thanks to the internet, many were able to get daily reports and pictures of the VBS in action.  They got to know the leaders and the children, some by name.

You see, people tend to condemn things that are new, that they don’t understand.  Above are just some examples of how the members of the congregation can really be part of the church mission effort.  Get them involved at every opportunity. Upon return of the team, a report and another thank you to everyone will help ensure even greater support the next year. Another benefit can be  an increase of giving and desire to actually be an active participant on the VBS team.

“Involving the congregation cannot be an after-thought,  it must be a fore-thought!”         Warren Jaycox

Next week:  Funding