Welcome to “Successful Church Secretary News”. Glad to have you as a subscriber! You will receive a new issue every week. I hope my tips, resources, and articles help you enjoy your day a bit more and help make your church duties easier.
It’s great when you’re chosen to serve your church. Sometimes we forget that the church must go through the same functions as a business in order to survive. Without the church secretaries and the volunteers helping with the office duties, our beloved places of worship would be in danger.
Thank you for serving!
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God Bless!
Diana Cacy Hawkins
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I hope you enjoy it and find it useful in your own service. Thank you for signing up!
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What makes us succeed and fail as a church secretary or volunteer?
Often, we point out to others as the excuse. “It’s not my fault. I’d feel good about volunteering if THAT person didn’t hog all the spotlight and have to control everything.” “If only they’d allow me to make my own decisions on how to do the job.” “I prefer to stay away from THAT person, and THAT person is always at the church functions. Can’t stand being around THAT person.”
Often, we don’t point out anything as excuses, and just don’t volunteer … or just don’t do something because it’s “not my job.”
Sometimes, though, it’s just because we don’t feel good enough about ourselves. So what causes that to happen?
The mental roadblocks we put up around us may have something to do with that.
It’s safer to doubt ourselves and not believe that we can make a difference in someone else’s life. It’s safer to look at past mistakes and hold on to them, using them as excuses to not intervene again in someone else’s business. It’s safer to limit ourselves in our secretarial duties or volunteering to what we know, and not risk failure by trying to learn how to do something we’ve never done before.
God uses people to help other people. God answers prayers and provides for His children, but often it’s by providing the way out of a situation through opportunities. Often, He does it by placing another person in the path of the one praying for help. We must be willing to be used. We should be willing to be used, because let’s face it … this is God. He’s going to use us whether we feel capable or not.
Look at how God used Moses and how Moses denied being the right person chosen for the job in Exodus.
When Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharoah and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)
Know what God said? God said, “Certainly I will be with thee…” (Exodus 3:12)
Before turning away from volunteering in your church, or before avoiding THAT person, think. “Am I avoiding this issue because of my own mental roadblocks? Is God using me to change THAT person? Is God placing this opportunity in my path again so I can learn from my past mistake and do better this time? Is this something new God wants me to stretch myself and learn?”
God will not change you. He will not give you new abilities or strengths, but He may use opportunities to mold your characteristics so that they suit His purposes. When an opportunity for helping others, connecting with another person, or volunteering in your church comes around, ask God, “How do you want me to use my abilities and strengths to do Your will?” “Is this in Your plan?”
Develop this as a habit of obedience to God, and trust that He does not ask of us more than we’re capable of doing. As church secretaries and church volunteers, you are also a leader sometimes. As a leader, you must often react. If we want to react with instincts consistent with God’s will, we must develop habits of obedience to God.
Study Exodus chapters 3 and 4 to see more of how God used Moses in spite of his own mental roadblocks.
Diana Cacy Hawkins
©2008
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“Successful Church Secretary News” is published weekly by Diana Cacy Hawkins, owner and creator of The Digital Church Secretary at [website here]
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Diana Cacy Hawkins
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Digital Church Secretary series is a complete guidebook series I designed and offered to church secretaries for a number of years.