Where Should Volunteers Park?

A while back I attended a church and, like everyone, parked in the church parking lot. I arrived a few minutes early, but the parking lot was already half full. As I was walking in, I made a harmless comment to another attendee about some rust on a minivan we were walking by in the parking lot. The attendee informed me that the van belonged to one of the children’s ministry volunteer leaders. I smiled and we finished the short conversation without incident.

However, internally I couldn’t help but ask the question, “Is this the right place for this van to be parked?” I remembered a conversation with one of the church leaders a few weeks ago about their desire to be a ‘guest friendly’ church. This van was parked in a prime ‘guest’ spot. It was in the closest parking place to one of the main entry doors.

As a general rule, the “Guest Friendly” church will make the path from the car to the front door as short as possible for guests.

Where should church volunteers (and leaders) park?
Answer: far from the main entrances to your church. This maximizes your volunteer’s service to your local church – for both guests and attendees. Check out these few thoughts on why I believe this should be your general policy:

• It strengthens a ‘Guest Friendly’ culture.
  I’ve talked about being a ‘guest friendly’ church before. You can check out that series right here. Parking far from the main entrance opens up space for your guests to park that are much closer to the front doors.

• It communicates honor to others.
  Your volunteers have ‘volunteered’ to partner with you. They show up on Sunday’s to serve. Hopefully, their goal is to help your leadership team provide the best possible environment for church attendees and guests to experience Christ’s transforming love. When others see the deference of your volunteers and leaders in something as simple as parking, it speaks of honor, servant-hood  and humility.

• It reminds volunteers to serve others.
  It can be easy for regular volunteers to forget ‘why’ they show up each Sunday. The act of parking far from the entrance and making the extra long trek to the church doors is a weekly reminder that they are not here for themselves, but for others.

• It fosters an “Outsiders Looking Out” perspective.
  You’ll have to go back and read my post entitled, “Guest Friendly Perspective” to understand the language here. Suffice it to say, it’s part of an intentional culture shift on the part of your leadership team. I’ve heard it said that volunteers should get the best spaces in the parking lot in order to honor them for their service to the church. I believe that perspective is inappropriate. We will honor everybody (guests, attendees, and volunteers) by making sure volunteers and leaders do their very best to fulfill their roles with excellence. Let’s DEFINITELY honor our volunteers – but in other ways.