“Catering Team”
Coffee time, gathered meals, lunches after some services; food and the kitchen are big parts of most evangelical churches. If you grew up in an evangelical church you are likely familiar with the catering and meal preparation/clean-up protocol. Some churches are big enough that they have a dedicated (and paid) catering staff, but most rely upon volunteers.
There are various names for the people and groups who volunteer, for example, “Catering Team”. You may have been on a catering team. You may have even led one. If so, you will recognize the following:
Schedule
There is some kind of schedule based on the calendar or on particular events. If your team was responsible for December and April, that might mean significantly more work than the July and November team.
Team Leaders
If there are teams, then there are leaders. Your experience of catering is largely determined by who the team leader is. My experience in church was that there was a range of leadership personality. Upbeat, organized, taskmaster, consistent complainer about lack of commitment from others, super-involved never complain leader, etc.
Sign-Up
In some churches you sign-up to volunteer on a catering team. In other churches you are signed-up without your consent. You are not dragged into service, but you might have to let someone know that you won’t be part of a catering team.
Uncertain or Reluctant Participants
Sometimes this can occur because of assumptions around gender roles. The uncertain/reluctant participant has somehow taken on this volunteer role, but they might actually not be kitchen or food gifted in any way.
Stalwarts
In any church, there are catering stalwarts. These are the people that have taken on kitchen duty for years, decades, almost centuries. For some people, part of their service to a church community is consistent, dependable kitchen volunteering.
Elite
The elite are stalwarts and then some. These people are usually catering team captains, but they go far beyond that. They seem to be able to almost effortlessly prepare coffee for 15 people or a multi-course meal for well over 100 people. They are grocery and planning geniuses, and their presence brings calm to the team and the and the church as a whole.
“Kitchen Ladies”
In my experience in church, catering teams have prescribed to particular assumptions about gender roles. In churches that sign-people up to serve (a kind of negative option volunteering, otherwise known as “volun-told”) it is often the women of the church who are signed-up in such ways. Sometimes there is an eager and super-helpful man who joins a catering team to work in the kitchen. You might spot him happily doing dishes. It is also a possibility that catering team tasks are divided up into food preparation and cooking, room set-up (chairs, tables) and clean-up and dishes. Often the men on a team are assigned the less food related tasks.
The Worst of Times/The Best of Times
As a pastor I spent a significant amount of time speaking with the people serving on catering teams. This could be the worst of times, because it provided opportunity for general complaint, criticism of the church or leadership, criticism of the young people or just general consternation about the state of the world.
This could be the best of times, because these kitchen conversations could provide opportunity for real discussion, support and prayer. Through the years, one of the contexts in which pastors get to know people is in the pre and post service times around kitchen work.
Life Together
Sometimes there are people who seem only to go to church when they are signed-up for catering team duty. I can recall people whose only contact with the church for years was on the Sundays when they were helping out.
This points to one of the great positives about things like catering teams. We make connection and community in serving together.
An added blessing is that this community is often made up of people who might otherwise not know one another at all.
So, even with an awareness of the shortcomings and frustrations around catering teams - a big shout out to the many people who have volunteered in such ways. It really is the case that some people have given extraordinary amounts of time and energy to making sure that others get coffee, tea, treats and even a meal.
Much gratitude from me and many others.
Well said! My episcopal church has a breakfast team that I joined on a recent Sunday. This was out of my comfort zone but I really enjoyed the connection, service and getting to know the folks who have been doing this for years. Great call out to the work they do!