Have you ever thought about the process to get Lottie, Annie, or Eliza offering envelopes, posters and prayer guides to your church? When a missions offering prayer guide and offering envelope are included in your church bulletin, how did they get there? When there is a missions offering poster on the bulletin board, how did it get there?
Most of us realize that some how, some way, these materials were delivered to our churches. We know that volunteers or church staff placed the materials in the pew or church bulletin. Beyond that, we are not sure. In Kentucky, part of the process includes a host of volunteers (51 this year) who help us fill orders, stuff envelopes, enter information into our data base, and many other tasks.
Our volunteers range in age from children to senior saints. Some come and simply bundle envelopes and prayer guides into packs of 25, 50 and 100. Most of our orders are some combination of these numbers. Some fill the orders taken from our standing order system. Others come to help us prepare mailings, walking around a table to pick up the items and place them in mailing envelopes.
We have two volunteers who do data entry for us. This task is more than typing names and addresses because we must often call individuals to confirm if they might already be in our system at another address. When making these calls, these volunteers are experienced WMU leaders and often help church and association leaders with other information while they are on the phone.
We have several church groups that come together to volunteer. It’s a party when they are in the office! One of our volunteers makes cakes for all the WMU staff on their birthdays and always brings cookies and other treats whenever she comes. (Thank you, Cookie Lady! aka – Linda Devine!)
We will honor the Kentucky WMU volunteers on Thursday, November 21 during our Volunteer Luncheon. Join us in giving thanks to God for them and how they help us distribute missions materials across Kentucky. Also consider joining the ranks of the WMU volunteers! Amanda-Grace Richey would be happy to add you to our call list and work with you to find a job that suits your schedule.
Scripture likens believers to various parts of the body of Christ. When we receive each missions offering or carry out a missions project, we remind the Kentucky WMU volunteers that they were part of making this happen. WMU volunteers are willing hands!
