Volunteers amaze me.
Volunteers humble me.
Volunteers inspire me.
The local church cannot function without the loyal and dedicated volunteers who carry on the leadership and mission of ministry. This is God’s purposeful design. Ephesians 4:11-13 among many scripture passages make that clear.
I’m amazed at how hard volunteers work. Their passion humbles me and their contribution to the Kingdom is a blessing that stirs my soul.
I could express appreciation for any number of the teams at 12Stone Church, but for this post, let me say that over the years the Set Up and Tear Down teams of our mobile campuses has amazed, humbled and inspired me. Currently Jackson County is our load in – load out campus and they are incredible!
Without these called, gifted and dedicated people, the worship services and ministry won’t happen. Showing up about 5:45 a.m. they begin to unpack storage spaces full with everything from high-end tech gear to children’s equipment. With precision teamwork, it comes together flawlessly, and then they pack it all back up again after church, 52 times a year. With people like that, it’s an honor to be part of the organization called the local church!
There are so many teams that stir my gratitude, from the parking lot to children’s ministry, and from local outreach to hospitality, and they all come together in unity to serve others and reach people for Jesus.
The ability to lead, love, train and encourage volunteers is core to the health and spiritual vitality of your church.
How would you evaluate your ability to develop your volunteer teams?
5 proven practices to help you lead volunteers:
1) Lead with clarity.
Very few things frustrate a volunteer more than the lack of clarity. Plan well, prepare diligently and communicate it clearly.
Loving relationships will cover much human error, but no matter how good the relationships, lack of direction gets old quick. Each time I re-read the part of Moses’ leadership story where the children of Israel “wandered in the wilderness,” they were rarely happy and often complained!
People flat out don’t like to wander aimlessly, only to wonder what lies ahead. If serving feels like running in a hamster wheel, essentially going in circles without making progress, that invites even the best volunteers to quit.
In contrast, people will endure stress and difficulty if there is a sense of direction and some progress is being made. Knowing where you’re going with some idea of how to get there inspires volunteers!
The great news is that certainty of outcomes is not required, but clarity is essential. No one knows exactly how the journey will go or turn out, but when the vision is clear volunteers are in!
2) Train with purpose.
When I was a kid, I loved to hunt for cool stuff in the Sears Catalogue! It was a huge phone book sized advertising piece that categorized products in three categories. Good, Better, and Best! Back then, it was a brilliant advertising idea.
I think training fits into those same three groups. Any training offered compared to none is good! However, intentional equipping for specific ministry responsibilities is better. And developing people first for their personal growth, along with the church’s mission, is best.
Training your volunteers with an awareness of purpose is important, and a combination of better and best is ideal.
Your volunteers feel better about their ministry and their own sense of meaningful contribution when they have been trained well for what you’ve invited them to do.
Equipping volunteers for specific skills is needed to accomplish the vision and mission of the church. And developing the volunteers for their personal growth is the best investment you can make.
3) Communicate with consistency.
I’m a champion of the local church but must admit that communication is one area many churches struggle with and need to improve.
It’s a broad and complex topic based on the tension of either over-communicating or under-communicating, and of course the ever-evolving question of communicating by what method? Which one is best?
Communicating clearly, consicisely and frequently is so important, but I want to emphasize consistency.
Infrequent blasts of over communication (too much stuff) is just as frustrating as not knowing what’s going on. Developing a consistent flow of helpful information is the goal, along with availability to respond to questions.
In short, volunteers want to know what they need to know on a consistent basis, in a simple format, that is concise and to the point. How are you doing in this area?
Volunteers are encouraged when they feel in the loop and they know what’s going on. The people who are lifting the load should not be kept in the dark.
Here’s a helpful tip. If you were volunteering, what would you want to know?
4) Encourage with sincerity.
Encouragement is the lifeline to your volunteers. It breathes life into their souls.
It’s like oxygen to a healthy and active body, you just have to have it!
We all know that it’s virtually impossible to encourage someone too much, but let’s not be too hard on each other when we get running so fast that we occasionally miss an opportunity to encourage.
Instead, let’s take this moment, and others like it, to be reminded of the extreme importance of encouragement.
So allow me to encourage you.
- It’s nearly impossible to encourage someone the “wrong” way.
- Encouragement is a skill, and that means you can learn to do it better.
- The only way to mess up a moment of encouragement is to be disingenuous or manipulative.
So, simply stated, be sincere when you encourage your volunteers. Encouragement doesn’t have to be elegant or precise, just from the heart!
Encouragement is the lifeline to your volunteers. It breathes life into their souls. Click & Tweet!
5) Pray with passion.
Prayer brings transformational power to your vision, training, communication, and encouragement.
It’s always been a frightening thought to me that we can build the church in the flesh, (by mere human effort and talent), but it’s true. Further, when that does happen, the results don’t last.
Prayer brings the life-changing power to your ministries. Prayer is the supernatural foundation that allows your volunteers to effect life change.
Busyness in ministry without the power of the Holy Spirit is futile if not foolish.
When your volunteers know of and experience your prayers, they serve at a different level, and in time, they also pray for you and each other!
One of the best-kept secrets to flourishing volunteer teams is prayer!
