Return and Report on my Service Paradigm

Some of you know I grew disillusioned with church service and refocused on community service as a proxy for church service. This was partly out of guilt (20%) and partly because so much of my life has been invested in service my life felt empty without it (30%). The rest of the motivation was a desire to simply have an impact in a significant way that helped me develop/enhance business skills that would help me in my work (50%). As a career teacher of 20 years, with unemployment a greater possibility than in the past, I felt I needed to invest my spare time in something that helped me in my career.

I want to share what happened over the last 3 years.

First, I joined a local organization that revitalizes parts of town that are deteriorating, crime-ridden, unsafe, with businesses closing. I have a business background and chaired a committee that improves the economic health of the area as its primary focus. At one point I had five different projects/sub-committees running. I was amazed at how much easier it was to get results in this context than in church leadership positions.

Then I moved on to a different organization and started a community event with another person that now draws about 1300 cars over a 4 hour period. it is now a monthly event. I trained my partner in various aspects of event management such as sponsorship funding, vendor policy, and learned about insurance, how to work with local government (rude awakenings there) and more. That was fulfilling for a while, and we founded a non-profit with the proceeds of our event(s). I am still involved with that group but have replaced myself without 3 people who now join my partner in a committee. My plan is to leave that organization as I find more volunteers to take over my responsibilities. In two weeks, I will start my own non-profit with a different mission now that I have philosophy and a desires to set a certain tone towards volunteers, heavy on appreciation and a focus on their personal growth while also meeting organizational goals –unlike what I believe I see in the church. This will be very therapeutic and an outgrowth of my LDS experience.

There were some interesting outcomes of this approach. First, I learned that I am not politically savvy. Politics didn’t seem to matter a lot in my church experience (although there is always some), but they REALLY mattered in the community. And the experience exposed my failings. I have since read many books and am learning how to be good at positive, productive politics. I no longer see politics as negative and manipulation, but as a necessary part of organizational life, and something that needs to be managed, and managed ethically and positively for good.

Second, I won four awards — one in the community, one at my local work site, and another at our regional level in my company, and then a national one — for the way I involved my students (I am a teacher). I felt appreciated on a number of levels, which was fulfilling, and therapeutic, although unexpected.

Third, I learned a lot about my individual strengths. And I got really comfortable defending programs to hard core business people. Last week I got back from a conference where I spoke to a number of leaders from chambers of commerce in our state about how to implement a Buy Local program myself and a team put together. I thought I’d be nervous but I was able to hold my own. It helped me gain self-knowledge and awareness that I’m really interested in community revitalization. And it gave me confidence.

Fourth, I learned that the interpersonal problems I experienced in the church are alive and well in just about any organization. But I was able to stomache them much better because I don’t have the same expectations as I do in the church. This is because I see community organizations as human-made organizations. I realize that it’s the grandiose claims our church makes about itself that spawns so much of my discontent with the way things run in the church. I simply don’t feel that same let-down in community organizations that make no claim to be divinely commissioned, with inspired leaders. I do suffer from high expectations in those organizations, but the let-down is far less when it happens and much more tolerable.

Fifth, I now have a clear vision of what I want my service to be like in the forseeable future, as well as a model for funding it that is proven. It is a model where the organization creates intrinsic benefits to the local population when they pay money. Essentially, there is a business arm that sustains itself with a meaningful value proposition to the community — events that serve the local community, but which turn a profit regularly. When people pay money, they get something in return of equivalent value, just as they do with any business. That way, the primary source of funding is not donations — it’s from legitimate business value. The proceeds then go back into the community at 100% less organization costs (insurance, business registration). I have adopted the unpaid staff model of the church to make this happen. There is also a committee structure that supports the mission, and has a Volunteer Resources committee that is responsible for placing, preparing, supporting, and rewarding volunteers, using a co-missioning approach. Some of you were involved in my discussions here about how to engage and set appropriate with volunteers, so this approach is something I’ve already practiced with relative success over the last three years. My hope is that this model will improve on the church’s model and will not subject volunteers to the same negatives that our system of callings and releases does.

I am excited about this, and never thought that substituting community service for church service would ignite such passion, personal growth, and hope for the future in me. After dissaffection, you can feel this incredible hole and case of the blues — but finding a new forum for service has been like church-replacement therapy.

I realize this is not for all people. Many are content with church service, and I think that’s great. And during this last three years I did help with church work in a few ways — such as harnessing my experience with events to put on some ward social events — and I can see myself contributing in that way in the future. But I will say that community service creates a wide-open field of unknown opportunity and personal growth that never materialized in the church — in spite of serving in many capacities at the Ward,and Stake level over three decades. After our church building gets refurbished close to home, I plan to re-engage there as well with event-oriented service.

I also found that you can’t expect family members or church members to place the same value on community service as they do on church service. All but one Mormon I spoke to about my switch to the community did not agree with it. Even my family expressed a bit of resentment about time I invested in community service — and admitted they would not feel such resentment if that time was directed to church service. The one Mormon who did agree with my approach was kind of semi-active and was heavily involved in Girl Scouts, and had take a similar path as myself after finding church service unsatisfying.

Also, one thing that pushed me into the community was a job interview I had in my work for a management position. I tried to use my church leadership experience as evidence of management experience — it was extensive and consistent over 30 years of serving in the Mormon church — I called it a parallel “career”. That fell flat on its face. But the work I am doing in the community, particularly as I interface with government, and local business people, has really mattered. It has helped my career as evidenced by the awards I won.

While I know that service is supposed to be unselfish, my career needed a boost, and I found this redirection of service from Church, to the community, was a phenomenal way to get that boost.

FYI — just to say that the world needs your talents, and the church is not the only context for self-expression and service. I believe that it can be very renewing, and that it can co-exist with church service. It has been a phenomenal learning experience that increased my respect for church members’ relationship values, boosted my self-knowledge and skills, and has energized my vision of service in the future….and it has put church service in the proper place in my life for this season. It has also filled the hole that my transition away from traditional church service created….