Nehemiah as a Biblical Model of Volunteer Workers for effective Church Administration

Coordination is an essential tool for an organisation's surviving and smooth running. Christian ministry needs proper administrative functions for the effectiveness of church business and human and financial resources. To achieve this noble goal, the chief administrator and a pastor need to acquaint himself or herself with the knowledge of administration. This paper attempts to provide a study of Nehemiah as the biblical model of volunteer workers for effective church administration. The name Nehemiah in the Hebrew language "nechemyah" or "NehemYah" means the comfort of Jehovah or Jehovah's comforts, and the paper argues that Nehemiah’s models and the pattern used by him are an archetype or perfect examples for the volunteer workers to embrace in the realisation of effective church administration. The authorial intention and motive for this study is to affirm the value and contributory efforts of the local Church's volunteer workers and the necessity for effective administration in managing human resources by the church administration. The efficiency of volunteer workers in church administration connotes the proper concept within the Church that volunteer workers and leaders exist and are needed in the Church. It is stated in this paper that in the Church, the word volunteer is considered in the light of Christian stewardship. The required significant parameters for efficient volunteer services as inferred in this study are organisation and management, recruitment, screening, and training and re-training of volunteer workers, which is the church pastor's primary task. To this end, the paper submits that volunteer workers are needed in church business, yet, the functionality of viable volunteer workers hinges on effective church administration; the pastor is supposed to be a coach-player and not the sole player in the field of Christian ministry. The paper recommends that Christian leaders should do their best to avoid distractions and make themselves available for the godly task by incorporating Nehemiah's models of leadership into their system of administration.