Is this an appropriate way to respond?

Question

At our church instead of having a paper bulletin with song lyrics and the service program on it we use powerpoint and put it on screens to display it. I am a tech on the team and we are currently lacking people because we just lost 2 of our members because of college. Today I received an email from the leader of the screen techs to all of us who are techs. He proposed this idea "Nature abhors a vacuum! Conventional wisdom says that people will not step up to help until they perceive a void. Should we request a weekend off each month to highlight this point? At this time, a point for discussion—your comments are welcome." I have some comments about the issue and was wondering if you think the following would be an appropriate and professional way to respond : "I do understand where you're coming from with the thought of requesting a weekend off each month, with it being a method to highlight your point, which is a good point, but I personally don't think that this would be the best method. Not saying I have any better ideas at the immediate moment. I only say this because we've gone essentially paperless it could cause difficulty for those in the congregation that rely on the screens for song lyrics (at the contemporary services), the prayers, the creed, and when there is a baptism. Yes I do believe that this would make a point, but I also believe that it could be difficult to the congregation members. This is just my thought on the situation." ?

Answer 1

Since your goal is recruiting new volunteers with the ultimate goal of service to the congregation, I would think that interruption of that service is rather detrimental to your purpose. It is like you are staging a strike or boycott one week per month. It could even result in loss of membership. Church people can be fickle and it only takes one time of upset and they will leave and go elsewhere. That one lady who depended on the screen for the words to the song will leave if she isn't getting what she expects when she enters the sanctuary. Don't risk that moment of upset with a pre-staged absence of service.



Place an announcement on bulletin boards, in newsletters, on the screen both before and after the service, and have the clergy speak briefly about the need for new volunteers to cover the loss of the students. Someone will step up to fill the void.

Answer 2

Well at my church their was something similar to this where we lost a lot of techs due to college as well but what we did was we put up a little announcement asking for help and picked out a day where we did like a workshop set up and showed them what they would be doing so they knew what they were going into.



So you can have a little sign up sheet or what ever and if not enough people come you can go with your idea of taking breaks which would be my back up plan because you dont want new members to show up and see a bunch of tech equipment and no one using them right? So this seems to be a matter worth discussion with the entire congregation not just the techs





Hope I helped and God Bless.

Answer 3

Belief is finally individual. As a lot as a few within the Catholic Church might like, the ideals of a thousand million humans can not entirely conform to at least one character's inspiration of what is proper.