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2002 Volunteering
Resolution on Volunteering
Adopted by the Annual Meeting of The Evangelical
Covenant Church, June, 2002. Presented by the ECC Christian Action
Commission.
Introduction 2001 was the International Year of Volunteers. Volunteering1 was heralded
as a fundamental building block of civil society and volunteers were praised
for their positive impact on community. And yet, statistics show that
as the need for volunteers is growing, the number of those volunteering
is not keeping pace, resulting in increased burdens for volunteer organizations
and those they serve. In 2002, what do these developments say to us as
Christians and as members of the Evangelical Covenant Church?
Biblical Background Ministry is one response to God’s love. Having been given new life
in Christ (John 3:15, 36; 10:10) and the gifts needed to build his kingdom
(Romans 12;1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4:7-13), we voluntarily “minister”
by following the “servant ministry” example of Jesus Christ.
The gospel stories show how Jesus responded to the needs of people by
listening, teaching, touching, and healing. Matthew 25:35-36 elevates
the importance of responding to the needs of people. It aligns action
with the coming of the Son of Man and inheritance of the kingdom:
I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.
Our servanthood finds expression in volunteering with those within and
those outside the household of faith.
Christian volunteering is distinctive in that it is an intentional response
to Christ’s sacrificial love: “Love one another as I have
loved you” (John 13:34). We will, out of gratitude and love, desire
to carry temporal and spiritual blessings to others. The love of Christ
constrains us, then, to be volunteers (2 Corinthians 5:14a).
Denominational Understanding
Article III of the Covenant Constitution outlines our purpose: “to
make known the good news of saving faith in Jesus Christ, to encourage
a Christlike life among its congregations and their members, and to carry
out Christ's redeeming work of love, mercy, and justice in the world.
The Evangelical Covenant Church relies on the ministry of volunteers to
fulfill its mission or purpose.”
A study of Covenant history reveals the witness of volunteers who have
faithfully served Christ and our denomination.
Declaration
We declare, as followers of Jesus Christ, that the act of volunteering
is both a significant expression of citizenship in God’s kingdom
and identification with those he has come to save (1 John 3:18-19, The
Message).
We declare that, for Christians, volunteering is ministry—the act
of expressing God’s love in meeting the needs of people who know
him or could be reached for him. We further declare that ministry not
only embraces what we do inside or for the church, but also in our neighborhood,
the community, for our province or state, and in the world at large.
We declare that effective management of volunteer programming in the
church involves working with and through people, in an environment of
grace and love, to accomplish goals for God’s glory.
Response
We, the delegates to the 2002 Covenant Annual Meeting, call upon our
churches and fellow believers to take the following steps of action to
strengthen volunteer ministry for God’s glory:
1) We call every Covenanter to prayerfully evaluate his or her volunteer
commitment of time and talent.
2) We invite Covenant churches to prayerfully seek God’s guidance
either to identify and establish at least one new ministry, or to update
and improve an existing program that relies on the ministry of volunteers.
This new or updated ministry could be established in partnership with
another church, organization, or group.
3) We call every Covenant church to recognize that the management of
volunteer ministries is a serious business that demands prayerful and
prudent attention, and further call every Covenant church to review its
systems for the management of church-volunteer programs by 2004. This
review may include volunteer recruitment, selection, placement, orientation,
education, supervision, support, legal dimensions, evaluation, and recognition.2
4) Recognizing that the Evangelical Covenant Church has valuable volunteer-based
ministry programs such as Covenant Mission Connection, urban-ministry
internships, and camp-volunteer opportunities, we call denominational
leadership to prayerfully consider new or expanded full-time volunteer
opportunities for post-high-school Covenanters.
1 Throughout the resolution, the meaning of the terms
volunteer and volunteering are based on Webster’s definition of
volunteer: “a person who enters or offers to enter into any service
of his/her own free will.”
2 For reference, please see Marlene Wilson, How to
Mobilize Church Volunteers (Augsburg/Fortress, 1990).
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