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By Diane Strzelecki
February 2009
If a brand name is designed to show the heart of an organization, Trinity Lutheran Church in Lisle, Illinois, hits the mark with the name and logo (right) for its new service ministry. By calling it weServe — with a small "we" — staff and members hope to emphasize the end goal of service: to glorify God and bring Jesus to those who do not know him.
"The small 'we' is actually 'me' flipped upside down, to emphasize that we serve others together," notes Linda Arnold, Trinity's director of Parish Nurse Ministries. "We also want to emphasize that we are serving people outside of the church."
Nearly two years in the making, the new ministry launched last fall is part of a process of self-examination and re-invention for Trinity. The congregation set out to determine if they were really living up to their church's mission of Loving People to Christ. The new service ministry was one result of that study.
"We modeled weServe after the service ministry of Granger Community Church in Indiana," notes Arnold. "We liked their idea that 'the church has left the building' — that the church is in the community and making a real impact."
Trinity leaders also liked that Granger offered multiple monthly service opportunities appealing to people with diverse gifts and interests, while attempting to remove any possible roadblocks to service.
"Granger always seemed to offer a family-friendly project, one where families could serve together," Arnold says. "We've made that a goal of weServe as well. That way, parents don't have to find someone to watch their kids. After all, we want to be modeling for our children what it means to serve, so we should be serving alongside them."
Another way to encourage involvement is to make it easy to volunteer, Trinity learned. Activities are ready to go for volunteers the second Saturday of every month. There are several options each work day. "We sum it all up by saying: sign up, show up, and serve," Arnold notes. "People can sign up via paper form in the church lobby, by using our website registration, or by calling the church." She notes that 30% of registrations for service opportunities come from the website.
Trinity's weServe emphasis began last fall with 65 volunteers helping several community organizations. Again in December, 72 weServe volunteers spread out across the community to lend a helping hand at a local food pantry, resale shop, a benefit for hospice care, and at the Feed My Starving Children warehouse in Aurora.
Trinity member George Howard serves as the weServe liaison to Feed My Starving Children, helping to organize volunteers and attending every month when weServe works at the FMSC warehouse.
Howard first learned of FMSC through a Girl Scout event he attended with his daughters. "I thought this would be a great weServe event; everything's organized and structured, and the whole family can get involved," Howards says. At the warehouse, he watches the FMSC conference room door for more weServe volunteers, then steps to greet them, help them get settled and answer any questions.
For Mary Ann and Brian, Trinity members for several years, the December FMSC event is their first with weServe.
"We haven't volunteered much before, but now that the kids are gone we have more time to get involved," Mary Ann says. "The weServe leaders make it so easy: it's all organized and all you have to do is show up!"
Howard looks forward to weServe participating in more FMSC packing events — with one catch. "Because of the popularity of FMSC, you have to book your organization's involvement months in advance," Howard says. "We're already committed to serving FMSC for several months, including an event in June 2009."
Affordable service open to all
Volunteers do not have to pay anything to be part of weServe events. The day volunteers have signed up to serve, they come to Trinity where they pray and then drive together to the work sites. According to Arnold, weServe has a policy that the organizations they work with supply most, if not all, of the materials used by the volunteers.
"Right now Trinity is not in a place to include weServe in the budget, so this helps us keep our costs down," she says. "It's also a way for the receiving organizations to have some 'skin in the game' by being responsible for providing materials."
As an example of this policy, Arnold points to one of weServe's December events. While weServe volunteers provided the cookie dough for homemade cookies to bring to Advocate Hospice clients, the Hospice organization provided the fleece material for blankets that were made.
"This fall we also served the Village of Lisle by painting a pedestrian tunnel, and the village provided all the paint, brushes, etc., we needed." Arnold notes.
An important component of this service ministry is providing community members the opportunity to serve and build relationships with the Trinity family. That's why weServe is publicized heavily in local newspapers and other outlets.
That's also why none of the serving opportunities are held at the church — more proof that in the case of weServe, the church has indeed left the building.
Meanwhile, Arnold feels that extensive promotion inside Trinity has helped launch weServe so successfully and will continue to help it grow. "If all the staff are on board with it and talk it up in their ministries, you can be sure that members would see this as a value and participate," she says.
weServe is just one result of Trinity's self-examination and reinvention. Sunday's Trinity @ 11 service and the subsequent new Saturday night worship venue also came about from this time of self-examination. Read about it here.
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