The church is like a body. We are all like the different parts of the body with important roles to play (see 1 Cor 12:1-30). To be a healthy and growing church body, each of us needs to be working together, serving one another as an expression of our love for Jesus (see Eph 4:16-17).

Or more accurately, we need each other (see Eph 4:16-17 and 1 Cor 12:1-30 again).

Grace Church only employs a few part time staff due to the cost involved, which means the majority of our activities, projects and ministries don't happen unless we are all working together.

What gifts, talents, interests, skills and abilities has God given you to share with others? If you're not sure, ask someone who knows you well. Or, why not begin to volunteer with us to explore and find out.

We've all seen (and may have been) passionate people that hit the wall because of burn out. Sometimes it's because not enough time is given to enjoy being part of the church family vs. serving it.

We want our teams to be resilient to burnout. That means;

1. Not trying to do everything. Just because other churches might do something, doesn't mean we will. If we don't have enough people or resources, maybe we could partner with another church? Or maybe we'll do something, but less frequently.
2. Building sustainably, with breaks in mind. We will always aim to build big enough teams that afford people regular breaks. We don't think it's healthy for someone to serve every Sunday without regular time just to attend and be part of church life.
3. Pausing to rest. If teams reduce in size, or people are temporarily unavailable, we might pause an activity for a week if we don't have enough volunteers. In the worst case scenario, we might stop doing something altogether.

There are lots of opportunities, but some volunteer roles require you to become a church member first (quite an informal process). This is because some of our volunteers interact with vulnerable people, or have access to church funds, personal data, and public platforms. We're rightly protective of these things, and so require a level of relationship, commitment and shared values that come with church membership.

* Roles that require membership are marked with a star *

If you volunteer at Grace Church, we promise to treat you equally, fairly and consistently. We will also ensure that we're compliant with all relevant legislation and guidance around recruiting volunteers.

We are committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults. So, we will also follow safe recruitment processes and recommendations published by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), our local safeguarding boards and our advisors at Thirtyone:eight.

We need a big team to serve our kids (aged 0-12 years). You don't have to be a teacher! A passion for kids, being reliable and the ability to have fun are what we're looking for. We have a syllabus and resources provided for our volunteers by our team leaders who do most of the heavy lifting for us.

As this role is working with children, we'll not only require you to be a church member first, but also you'll need to go through some safeguarding training and submit to a DBS check (for free).

Contact s

Check out our Students page to find out about the ways that we serve students and twenties in the church or contact Nick, our Student Coordinator directly (nickc@gracechurchstoke.org).

Every Thursday morning we have been pleased to open up our distribution centre on behalf of Stoke-on-Trent Food Bank. Two teams alternative each week, making up food parcels, welcoming guests that need them, providing a hot drink, and praying for anyone that would like us to. We have volunteers that wouldn't necessarily consider themselves Christians yet, let alone part of the church. This is a team that doesn't require membership of Grace Church.

On a Wednesday evening we also open up our hospitality area as an open lounge for anyone that would like some company, get together with others, play games or have a hot drink.

Providing counselling, advice and advocacy through our affiliation with Community Money Advice (CMA), the Grace Money team meet with clients on a totally free basis and have so far alleviated over £250k worth of debt in the five years we have been going. You will require some training, a registration fee with CMA (paid for by us) and a DBS check.

We'd love to serve hot and cold drinks after our Sunday meetings again, but we need enough volunteers to make that happen. Church membership isn't a requirement for this team and it can be a great way of beginning to serve in the church if you're relatively new!

Helping to set up the venue as well as welcome people attending our in person meetings is a really important role. A friendly face who is willing to talk to others and look out for guests is best for this role and as our Stewards are some of the first people guests will interact with, we only invite church members to join this team.

Skilled as a singer or musician, audio technician or willing to be trained on projection software? Importantly, do you enjoy worshipping God with others? We'd love to expand our team!

Creating and managing content for our social media channels and website, as well as designing graphics for our preaching series, events and flyers etc. As you'll most often have access to very public media channels and need to agree to our data protection and privacy policies, we need you to be a church member.

We currently rent our converted warehouse, but we're responsible for nearly all its upkeep. Those with skills to repair and decorate parts of the building are occasionally asked to help out. We also need support from time to time to open up for trades people working on site, and setting out the venue for different events and functions, especially when it is hired out.

Easter, Halloween and Christmas are often times that we hold special events for our community to enjoy. This can require some significant planning and volunteer hours to make happen. Anything from decorating the venue, to organising extra special refreshments, to booking comedy acts, arranging charity auctions or prepping quiz nights.

We encourage all of the church to join a community group in order to be part of a small group that you can build real friendship with. Most of our pastoral care is undertaken through these groups, but some of the church (especially those new to us) may not be in groups and as such, we have a small team that looks out for others and coordinates and care needs or prayer needs as they crop up.

Some of these roles can be with vulnerable people, so may require a DBS. Church membership is important to be part of this team. We also have people with experience as counsellors, special/additional developmental needs and advocacy.

Our Trustees are all volunteers and need others around them that can help, advice and practical support with finance, policy, governance, charity law and administration.

If want to find out more or let us know you'd like to sign up to serve in one of our teams, please contact us using the form below.

If you're not yet a member of Grace Church and want to find out more visit our membership page.

PLEASE NOTE: WE VALUE YOUR PRIVACY. FOR MORE INFO ON HOW WE HANDLE DATA, PLEASE SEE OUR PRIVACY POLICY.