There is profound confusion in our neighbourhoods and churches about volunteering. Community activities and most churchwork is not voluntary work.
There is nothing wrong with voluntary work. It is extremely useful for the charities and recipients of the hours of voluntary time people contribute. It is also a classic example of self interest, volunteers benefit from voluntary work. They benefit in many ways; a good example is the work of Impasse.
All of this is true of neighbourhood and church work. But the difference is this ... Voluntary work is like paid employment, without the pay. It is in effect working for someone else. Volunteers can pick and choose and so the work can sometimes be more fulfilling than paid work but in principle it is working for others.
Neighbourhood work is self-help. It is like self-employment. When I participate in my local community organisations (or local church) I am working for myself; it is more accurately work for the mutual benefit of my neighbours or fellow church members. This means I don't simply work for an organisation, I'm a part of it and have an interest in its future. Usually we call people who work in self-help organisations activists rather than volunteers.
Both volunteers and activists add to the social capital in their communities. We need to keep hold of the distinction though if we want to understand what is going wrong in our communities and churches.
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