Social Work with Religious Volunteers: Activating and Sustaining Community Involvement

Abstract

Social workers in diverse community practice settings recruit and work with volunteers from religious congregations. This article reports findings from two surveys: 7,405 congregants in 35 Protestant congregations, including 2,570 who were actively volunteering, and a follow-up survey of 946 volunteers. It compares characteristics of congregation volunteers and nonvolunteers.Volunteers tended to be married, older, more highly educated, longer-term congregational members, and to score higher on all measures of faith maturity and faith practice than did nonvolunteers.Volunteers perceived their involvement as meaningful, important, and challenging. A large majority of volunteers (80 percent) reported changes in faith, attitudes and values, and behavior as results of their volunteer work. Findings provide insights into how religious individuals begin and continue to volunteer in service settings and how congregations promote high levels of community service among their members. These findings have implications for effective social work practice with congregation volunteers.

Integrating religion and belief in social work practice: an exploratory study

“…Equally important is that belief and spirituality often act as motivators for individuals to enter the profession. This position is congruent with Healy's (2008) argument about religious and political forces which led to the formation of social work as a profession, but also Garland, Myers and Wolfer's (2008) work about the involvement of religious volunteers to carry out social work tasks.…”

Volunteerism Among Homeless Persons With Developmental Disabilities

“…What can be deduced from the correlation between volunteerism and visiting friends/family is that those able to maintain ties to these important persons in their lives and volunteer are more likely to be involved in healthy community integration. Moreover, this study is consistent with Garland and colleagues’ (2008) findings that non-disabled volunteers recruited from religious congregations were more likely to be stable, and perceived their volunteerism as meaningful and important than those who did not volunteer.…”

Comparing Stewardship Across Faith-Based Organizations

“…As such volunteering fulfilled a religious mandate as much as providing support to the organization (Garland, Myers, & Wolfer, 2008;Hugen, Wolfer, & Renkema, 2006;Unruh & Sider, 2005). As such volunteering fulfilled a religious mandate as much as providing support to the organization (Garland, Myers, & Wolfer, 2008;Hugen, Wolfer, & Renkema, 2006;Unruh & Sider, 2005).…”

“…Emphasis on volunteering stemmed from practical theology that saw faith-based organizations as places where individuals could act out their personal calls for service. As such volunteering fulfilled a religious mandate as much as providing support to the organization (Garland, Myers, & Wolfer, 2008; Hugen, Wolfer, & Renkema, 2006; Unruh & Sider, 2005). The vast literature on volunteering notes that congregations are a key source for volunteers (e.g., Caputo, 2009; Cnaan et al, 2002; Hodgkinson & Weitzman, 1996).…”