Volunteers and Conflict
What church or nonprofit organization could live without its volunteers? As vital and integral part of the organization, volunteers most often represent the “face” members or clients see. Ironically, they are also the group that seem to add the most value while presenting the most risk.
It is not an uncommon practice for churches and even some businesses to ask new associates to sign various employment agreements. These agreements can range from confidentiality, non compete, to ethic agreements. I would imagine, in the world of churches, if I were to hire a new team member to my ministry team, I would most definitely require them to sign a Standards of Christian Professionalism document. As outlined in the blog on Standards of Christian Professionalism , this agreement would simply address basic Christian Code of Conduct basics for the new associate. Ironically, when considering the role and expectations of volunteers, churches most often neglect to administer such a document for volunteers.
Without mentioning the obvious need for such agreements for volunteers to avoid lawsuits against the church, let’s focus more on the aspect of what type of damage the mishandling of volunteers can have on the church as a whole.
In recent months, within my own community, I have witnessed how volunteers representing the church can bring great harm not only to the reputation of the church, but harm to the Christian Gospel. Sure, we could all hide and say that nothing goes wrong in the Christian community, but the truth is we are not immune. The only plead I would make is to be sure that we as a church community do everything we can to protect ourselves from potential and sometimes unknowing “wolves in sheep’s skin.”
This is why I strongly suggest that church either implement a Standards of Christian Professionalism document or ensure the volunteers acknowledge receipt of the Church HR Policy Handbook. Either of these steps will not completely rid us of the potential for such conflicts, however, if one occurs, it provides us with a great way to act responsibily and with just cause. Many times, when volunteers are involved in sketchy or “grey area” activities, they claim ignorance to the fault of the activities. By simply providing them either the Standards of Christian Professionalism document or the Church HR Policy Handbook, you provide the church ample opportunity to cover any gaps in understanding on either side.
One final recommendation I would suggest is to have a Volunteer training once or twice a year. This is a great time to thank them for all of their hard work as well as provide updates to the Standards of Christian Professionalism document or Church HR Policy Handbook.
Again, I know this is not the easiest of topics to discuss with someone who is wanting to share their time and talent with your church or organization, however, our first duty is to protect the flock. Unfortunately, this is part of the job description.
If you have any questions about the Standards of Christian Professionalism document or the Church HR Policy Handbook or would like more information on how to develop one of these for your church, please contact Christian Management Consulting. We have great resources that range from form documents where you can simply plug in your church’s information to hands on consulting to design a more structured document.
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Stumble It!About the Writer:
Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.
