The AVC staff decided recently to do a simple little study of a sample group of volunteers who served overseas during the year 2001 and this is what we found. The study sample included approximately 1721 individuals performing a wide range of tasks for an average of 5.64 months. Using the US minimum hourly wage rate of US$5.15 along with a 38-hour work week, we came up with a total of US$7,598,201.20.

Many of the volunteers included in the sample were doctors, dentists, nurses, educators, professionals from all walks of life who in their home setting could command wages far in excess of $5.15 per hour. So, the total of 7.6 million US dollars is an ultra-conservative estimate. If the Church had to employ these individuals we could probably in all honesty conclude that the total might be five or six times US$7.6 million. And remember that many of these volunteers pay their own expenses, including airfares. If we were to include these expenses in the statistics the total contribution to the church would go much higher.

In actual fact it is really impossible to estimate the value of the contribution our volunteers make to the Church. One of the hardest statistics to collect is determining how many thousands of volunteers donate their time to the Church in any one time period. If we could calculate how many volunteers serve the Church faithfully each year, the next challenge would be to determine the length of service and choose an appropriate wage rate that fits their professional calling.

While it is an interesting exercise to postulate on the pecuniary worth of the volunteers' collective contribution to the Church, it is even more exciting to imagine the "worth" of this great workforce as they stand shoulder to shoulder in proclaiming that Jesus is coming soon. Such worth is inestimable!

By: Vernon P Parmenter, Associate Secretary, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and Director, Adventist Volunteer Center