‘Cookies on the low shelf’

If you had a mother who would make cookies when you were a child, you may remember the sensory overload you experienced as you began to smell the scent of fresh-from-the-oven cookies, the feel of heat coming off of the warm cookies, and the sight of a perfectly displayed plate of cookies in front of you. And then you may have realized, being a child much shorter than mom, it was going to take a miracle to reach for one of those treats on the counter above you. You saw an opportunity to grab for sweet satisfaction, but it was just simply unattainable because the desired object was not on the low shelf within reach.

There is a very good chance that there are members of wonderful, healthy, God-honoring churches who may be experiencing a similar feeling: They see an opportunity to serve, but have difficulty actually getting to it because of various hindrances. This is typically the case for ministry opportunities that require more steps in the process of getting involved. And depending on the ministry, those steps are necessary in order to make sure that the volunteer is confident and equipped before he or she begins serving as a lay counselor, for instance, or as a volunteer in your church’s accounting department. Obviously, these types of ministries call for a more involved orientation or training process.

For this reason, it is so important to provide your members with serving opportunities that allow them to get involved immediately! If someone has a desire and a sense of excitement to begin serving, you want to get them going as soon as possible, which is why placing basic ministry opportunities on the “low shelf,” or within immediate reach, is something we at Saddleback highly suggest. You could call these kinds of ministries first-serve opportunities, those opportunities that anyone can take on, whether a first time attendee to your church or a family with young children who would like to serve together.

Some examples of these kinds of ministries can include:

Administration work in the church office

Campus cleaning

Set up and tear down classes

Serving coffee or donuts

Stocking resource room

And with Christmas approaching, this could be a perfect time to give your members the chance to easily pick serving opportunities from a “shelf” within their direct reach, helping you prepare for a busy season, and blessing them with a sense of significance and fulfillment.