Show your volunteering and church roles

Years of leading a choir, running a youth group or organising outreach teach real skills. They deserve a place on your profile. This guide shows you how to add volunteer and church roles to Brethreign so they appear in their own Volunteering section, and how to describe them in words that make sense to anyone reading.

Why service belongs on your profile

Plenty of people learn to lead in church long before they lead at work. An usher coordinator learns to manage a rota and a team. A youth leader learns to teach, plan and keep young people safe. A welfare committee member learns to handle money carefully and account for it.

Some of us are tempted to leave this out because it feels like it doesn’t count. It does. Brethreign gives it a home of its own, so your service sits clearly alongside your paid work without being mixed up with it.

“Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” (Colossians 3:23)

How the Volunteering section works

When you add experience, you choose an Employment type. Most types (Full-time, Part-time, Self-employed, Freelance, Contract, Internship, Apprenticeship) show under Experience on your profile.

Two types are different:

• Volunteer, for unpaid work with a charity, NGO, school or community group.
• Church or ministry service, for roles in your church or a ministry.

Roles with either of these types show in a separate Volunteering section on your Professional tab. The form reminds you of this right under the Employment type.

Add a volunteer or church role

1. Open your Professional tab. Go to your profile, tap the Professional tab, and tap + Add on Experience or Volunteering. You can also do this from Settings → Professional (/settings/professional/edit).
2. Enter your title. Use the name your church or organisation uses, such as “Choir Director” or “Youth Leader”.
3. Enter the organisation. Your church, assembly, ministry or charity.
4. Change the Employment type. It starts as Full-time. Choose Church or ministry service for church roles, or Volunteer for other unpaid work.
5. Add the location and dates. Tick I currently work here if you still serve in the role, or pick an end month if you’ve stepped down.
6. Describe what you do. This box is optional, but it’s where the real value is. See below for how to write it.
7. Save. The role now appears under Volunteering on your profile.

Describe it in words anyone understands

Church language can be unclear to people outside your church. “Head of the Sanctuary Keepers” means something specific to your congregation, but an employer may have no idea. Keep your title as it is, and use the “What you do” box to explain the work in plain, transferable terms.

Think about four things most service roles involve.

Leading people

How many people did you lead, and what did you help them do?

• Choir director: “Led a choir of volunteers, ran weekly rehearsals and chose music for Sunday services and special events.”
• Usher coordinator: “Built and managed the ushering rota, trained new ushers and handled seating and safety for services.”

Planning events

Events are projects. They have budgets, deadlines, suppliers and people to keep happy.

• Outreach volunteer: “Helped plan community outreach days, organised volunteers on the day and arranged supplies.”

Managing money

If you counted offerings, kept accounts or ran a budget, say so plainly.

• Committee treasurer: “Kept the committee’s accounts, prepared reports for church leadership and managed the budget for programmes.”

Teaching

Sunday school, Bible study, youth classes and mentoring all involve preparing lessons and helping people learn.

• Youth leader: “Planned and taught weekly sessions for teenagers and supported other volunteer leaders.”

For NGO work, the same approach applies.

• NGO volunteer: “Supported a community health programme by registering visitors and keeping records.”

Make the most of it

Your Volunteering section works best alongside the rest of your profile.

• Add the skills you used, such as public speaking, event planning or bookkeeping, to your Skills list.
• If you led a project with photos or a write-up, such as a youth camp or outreach week, add it to your Portfolio with the kind of work set to “Ministry & outreach” or “Community & charity”.
• Pick your church from the Church/Assembly list in Settings → Professional, so people from the same church can find you.

Keep going

• Set up your professional profile
• Build a portfolio that gets noticed
• Add your certifications and languages