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Ninth Sunday of Kingdomtide-Oct 27

25 Oct

Volunteer in Social Services -Until recently, most social service work was done by the church and more recently by Christian social service agencies. Volunteer work with the agencies was seen as part of the church’s ministry and members frequently volunteered. Until recently churches supported Christian social service agencies directly and members had close contact with the agencies through regular reports but churches have increasingly withdrawn their support leaving the agencies to depend on  community-wide funding campaigns and many church members no longer have contact with them. As a result, members no longer see social service work as ministry and rarely volunteer anymore.  Since the 1930’s, the government has taken over the majority of social service work. In the past, many members learned to minister to others through specialized positions in the church, such as deacons and deaconesses that ministered to members and those in the community in need. Few churches have such positions any more or they do little more than provide meals for sick members or at funerals and weddings, since most such work is done by government and Christian Social Service agencies. Government agencies are well funded with tax dollars but Christian social service agencies must depend on donations. As a result, Christian Social Service agencies are often tight on funds and so cannot afford adequate staff. Therefore, they must depend on volunteers to help. Volunteering provides an excellent way for members to learn to minister to others because the agencies often provide training and supervision while they learn. Some enjoy the work so much that they go to school and get training to work in Social services.

 

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