Churches seem to have rotas for everything: welcoming, reading, praying, cleaning, arranging flowers … even cutting up the bread for communion. And the average church noticeboard can at times look like operational HQ for a global logistics firm.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being organized. And it’s far better to have a rota than just ‘wing things’ on the day and hope that everything will be OK. But how much thought and prayer goes in to formulating our rotas? If you are anything like me – not enough!
We know that it’s important to deploy members of the congregation wisely … placing them on rotas in ways that use and develop their gifts to the glory of God. But in reality we all too often default to simply sticking names in boxes because the jobs need doing and we’ve got to find someone to fill the gap. The trouble is, that’s a system that invariable ends up with some Christians getting over-burdened and others under-developed – while administrators just get stressed and fall into nag-mode. Hardly a God-glorifying scenario!
Formulating rotas needs to be a team effort – a job where leaders and administrators work together not to fill in charts but to help people grow. It’s a task that needs us to be:
It’s time-consuming doing it this way. But the results can be exciting. It grows willing volunteers, keen to develop, prayerful and clear about why they are doing the job they are doing, convinced that their service is of value to the Kingdom and confident that they wont be stuck on the rota for ever! So next time you’re writing a rota, give it a go and put Jesus right back at the centre of the planning …
