Your first response is vital

Since stepping down from vocatoinal ministry I’ve dipped my toe into a few activities at various churches as a volunteer.

It was a process I haven’t really negotiated in over a decade.

I had to discern my willingness, volunteer my interest to get involved, discover what was required and then do the activity for the first time.

One thing I was reminded of was a vital step for those in ministry - the response to someone doing something for the first time.

The reason this is so important is because your response can, and often will, deeply affect the likelihood that someone will volunteer a second time.

Your response, in short, can either encourage or burn the volunteer.

This is the power those in leadership wield and the vulnerability new volunteers open themselves up to.

If nothing else, an appreciation of this power dynamic would deeply strengthen the health of current, novice and potential volunteers.

The only constant answer to the 'What if...?' question

What if...
What if I did x instead of y?
What if I'd listened to x?
What if things turned out differently?

We all have these questions.
Everyone.

About a lot of things.
Things in the near and distant past.

The nature of life and the curiosity of humanity leaves us bound to these hypotheticals.

So, what do you do with 'what if' questions?
Ignore them?
Entertain them?
Dwell on them?

No matter if they revolve around family, relationships, friendships or vocation these 'what if' questions will always leave us dangling.

Because we can never know.
We don't hold enough info.
We can't see how things would play out.

Furthermore, our imaginations either drag us into the extremes of an overly rosy outcome or the precipice of ruin.

When it comes to one of the areas I ask this question the most, my previous churches, I have a simple rule...
Assume, no matter what happens, that God will work in whatever context created.

And it would be unpredictable.

If I were involved or not.

For, that is the nature of the goodness and faithfulness of God.
He works in ways we don't expect.
The Spirit moves in ways we don't always expect.

But, God is always to work.

No matter where in the 'what if' scenario we find ourselves.