By Daviss King
For the past several years I have volunteered in the church office assisting with worship and Sunday school attendance records and other clerical tasks. This was not a volunteer opportunity that appealed to me out of a sense of altruism.
Shortly after joining this church I was unable to keep my pledge – the first financial pledge of my life. Even though I was assured that I shouldn’t, I felt embarrassed and disconnected. One Sunday there was a request in the bulletin for help in the office – could this be a means of atoning for my unfulfilled pledge? It has done far more than that and I have continued far beyond my initial commitment.
Volunteering in the office has connected me more deeply to the life of this church than I could have imagined. While entering attendance data, I have been able to put names and faces together. I know the name and meeting place of each Sunday school class and weekly group. I have answered the phone as joys and sorrows have been shared. I have come to love our staff and appreciate greatly what they do. I have greeted both member and visitor and offered a ministry of listening to our neighborhood congregation.
There is so much more to First Church than what happens on Sunday morning. Volunteering at the church office has been a ministry opportunity that I could not have predicted.