To celebrate their dedicated volunteers – and encourage some new ones – St John’s Church in Grove threw a special Volunteering Sunday service earlier this year.
The festivities had three aims: Celebrate, Inform, Commission. Starting with a church service, with the Bishop of Dorchester preaching, the morning continued on with refreshments, while different church groups shared their work through stalls and short speeches.
Celebrate
Churchwardens Nick Terrill and Nicky Gibbard shared how the idea for Volunteering Sunday came about:
“We held a Volunteering Sunday to celebrate the incredible people who volunteer in all sorts of roles in both the church and in the community of Grove. We wanted to showcase the work of the volunteers, as well as give opportunity for people to join up to new groups and roles.”
“T
he congregation were given the opportunity to wander around the church hall, look at the displays the groups had prepared, and speak to the volunteers to find out what they do, importantly why they do what they do and what the wider congregation might be able to do in practical and prayerful support of this volunteering.”
St John’s has recently been in an interregnum stage, during which the PCC took the opportunity to put out a questionnaire to the parish, to help shape their parish profile. Through this, they found that a huge portion of the congregation are already regularly serving the church in a volunteer capacity.
“We recognise that the church can only thrive, grow and reach out to our community with people giving of their time and skills. We were very encouraged to find out that more than 75% of our total church family volunteered in some way, which is amazing!”
During the service, volunteers were asked to raise their hand, and the congregation prayed for them, giving thanks for all that they have done and all that’s to come. Bishop Gavin also shared a message of thanks:
“The sign of a healthy church is every member helping each other encouraging one another to spread the love of Christ outwards. So, thank you from me.”
Dozens of groups showcased their work, from flower groups and the tech team to board games and bible study meetings. The day was built around the knowledge that “people stay if they do things they love”, and the breadth of activities showed there’s something for everyone.
Inform
John Harris, a member of the Facilities Management Group, responsible for the maintenance of the church buildings and grounds, first started volunteering at St John’s about 20 years ago, when the then-warden asked him to get involved with work on the new church foyer. A former electrician, when John retired ten years ago, this part-time role became almost full-time, and John can be found fixing or maintaining something at St John’s almost every day. When asked what he enjoys most, John says, “Cutting the grass on a summer’s day – although less so when it’s raining!”
Barbara Talmage is another long-serving volunteer; for almost two decades she has been part of the ‘Open the Book’ team that goes into Grove CE Primary School each week to share Bible stories with the children in collective worship.
Barbara originally trained as a teacher and says she loves going into school, dressing up to act out the stories and seeing the reaction of the children. She believes Open the Book is an important form of outreach which the church should be doing.
When asked how Open the Book impacts on her faith, Barbara says;
“It makes me look at Bible stories in a different way, so that I can explain them to the children.”
Anne Cheeseman trained as a Street Pastor in 2016, when she lived in Reading, and she continued volunteering there for several years after moving to Grove. However, following a break during the Covid pandemic, Anne decided to join the Wantage and Grove Street Pastors initiative, and in 2021 she also became their Safeguarding lead.
Anne says, “I became a Street Pastor because I wanted to show the love of Jesus to people in my local community in a practical way. Although Street Pastors aren’t there to preach the gospel, people often ask us which church we belong to – and they are surprised to hear we come from lots of different churches.”
“At a time when the media frequently reports on disagreements between different Christian traditions and denominations, Street Pastors shows how we can work together really effectively.”
Commission
The morning was enjoyed by all, and a welcome opportunity to give thanks to all volunteers who make the church and community a welcoming, vibrant place to live and worship. It’s also proved a successful recruitment drive: since the event, people have signed up to be welcomers at the main Sunday service, someone has started the process to become a Street Pastor, and conversations have begun with a few people regarding volunteering at Cornerstone, the Christian bookshop and cafe in Grove.
If you'd like to become a volunteer, chat to your vicar about how you can help in your local church.