Mission salutes secretaries
"Overworked and underappreciated"
By Marlene Skinner Special to ChristianWeek
STOUFFVILLE, ON–The most unheralded contributor to God’s work is often the church secretary. An enormous workload, malfunctioning equipment and the stress of having to manage multiple church-related tasks effectively while remaining calm under pressure all contribute to many secretaries feeling overworked and underappreciated.
As a tribute to local church secretaries, the Christian Blind Mission in Stouffville recently held its 10th annual "Honour the Church Secretary Day." More than 50 area secretaries enjoyed a luncheon and thought-provoking program complete with software demonstrations and shopping in the mission’s "World of Goods" gift store.
"We want to be an encouragement to them," says mission coordinator Paul Fawcett, who organized the special "day away" from the office free-of-charge as a way of saying "thank you" for all the behind-the-scenes hard work church secretaries perform.
"It’s really nice to meet with other secretaries and find out you’re not the only one going through the same thing," says Helen Horlings, administrative assistant for 16 years at the Willowdale Christian Reformed Church in North York. Horlings has never missed a "secretary’s day" in 10 years.
