This document discusses how churches can use community volunteering and job portal websites to connect members with service opportunities. It provides examples of churches that have built their own sites or partnered with organizations like Meet the Need and Needs Met. These sites allow churches to post both internal and external volunteer positions as well as jobs. The document also introduces TechMission and ChristianVolunteering.org, a nonprofit that provides templates and APIs to help churches integrate volunteer and job listings into their own websites with minimal cost and effort.

1. Part 1:
How Churches are Using Community
Volunteer and Job Web Portals

2. What are Community Volunteering
& Job Portal Websites?
 Community Volunteering Portal:
◦ Provides an online directory of volunteer opportunities
for your church members to serve your city (Rescue
Missions, Soup Kitchens, After-School Program, Tutoring,
etc.)
 Job Portal
◦ Provides church members with site to find and post jobs
 How is this different from internal church
volunteering?
◦ Outside ministry partners might post volunteer
opportunities
◦ Might want to integrate with city-wide ministry volunteer
directories
◦ Might want “public” volunteer opportunities to encourage
non-church members to volunteer (tutoring, etc.)

3. When Are Community Volunteering &
Jobs Web Portals Useful
 Volunteer Portal: When you have many
church members that you want to connect
with many community volunteer
opportunities
 Job Portal: When you have many people
in your church who could post jobs for
other church members

4. Examples of Megachurch Community
Volunteering and Jobs Websites
 Willow Creek
◦ Built own volunteering website with 186 volunteer opportunities
placing thousands of volunteers
◦ www.willowcreek.org/volunteer
 Meet the Need
◦ Provides custom volunteer websites with 1,000+ opportunities to
The Crossing, Van Dyke Church, Bell Shoals, Baptist Metropolitan
Ministries and Dallas Baptist Association
◦ Imports data from ChristianVolunteering.org’s API
 Needs Met / Job Connection
◦ Provides custom job websites to Willow Creek, Destiny
Metro, Second Baptist Church (Houston), Career Solutions, The
Chapel & Resurrection Life Church
◦ Imports data from ChristianVolunteering.org API
 ChristianVolunteering.org
◦ Provides 10,000+ Christian volunteer opportunities and 5,000+
Christian jobs to hundreds of churches to build into their existing
websites either using templates or their Christian Social Graph API

5. Sample Site Designed by Willow Creek

6. Sample Site Designed by Willow Creek

7. Sample Site Designed by Meet the Need

8. Sample Site Designed by Meet the Need

9. Sample Job Site Designed by Needs Met

10. Sample Job Site Designed by Needs Met

11. Options for Creating Church Community
Volunteer and Job Websites
1. Build your own site and find the volunteer
opportunities and jobs and populated it yourself
(Willow Creek)
◦ Cost: $10k-50k
2. Partner with Needs Met or Meet the Need to build
custom website (they can help populate it with
ChristianVolunteering.org and other data)
◦ Cost: $200-$600 startup + customizations
3. Have existing church website developer build
section of existing website and populate it with
ChristianVolunteering.org data
◦ Cost: Whatever your website developer charges (API and
templates are free)

12. Who is TechMission & ChristianVolunteering.org
 TechMission is an evangelical Christian
nonprofit parachurch organization founded in
2000
◦ See more at: www.techmission.org
 ChristianVolunteering.org is the primary
online program of TechMission
◦ TechMission manages Web portal with 1.4 million
unique annual visitors across our website to connect
churches and parachurches with the poor
 2011 Budget: $1.8 million
◦ Funded primarily through grants & earned income
◦ Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
Member

13. TechMission Partners

14. ChristianVolunteering.org
Partnership Options
1. Use ChristianVolutunteering.org’s template
system
◦ Summary: put your church website header and footer on
a turnkey volunteering and jobs website for your church
◦ Pros: Quick and low effort, provides a list of volunteer
opps and ministries in your area to start with
◦ Cons: Less flexibility than API
2. Use ChristianVolunteering.org’s Christian Social
Graph API
◦ Summary: you can import ChristianVolunteering RSS
feed data on volunteer opportunities, jobs and ministries
into you website and customize it
◦ Pros: most flexibility and provides a list of volunteer
opps, jobs and ministries in your area to start with
◦ Cons: may require significant web development

15.  Click for Part 2: How to Create a Church
Community Volunteering Website Use
ChristianVolunteering.org Free Template
System
 Click for Part 3: How to use the
ChristianVolunteering.org API