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Category: Volunteers

Covers topics such as volunteer leadership basics, onboarding, shepherding, appreciation, equipping/training

Stop Recruiting [Volunteers], Start Retaining [Volunteers]

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

stop recruiting start retaining

Last month at Group’s KidMin Conference, I shared a ministry challenge and a ministry joy at the opening General Session.  This is what I said:

“I’ve been chosen by God to not recruit volunteers to ‘fill holes’ (which is a pet peeve phrase of mine).  I’ve been chosen by God to recruit volunteers to a vision, shepherd them, train them, equip them to serve, connect them with other volunteers and place them in their volunteer sweet spot so that they serve with us for the long haul.”

Recruiting volunteers ranks near the top of the list of challenges for ministry leaders.  It really doesn’t matter whether your church is large or small; no church is immune.  You rarely hear someone say, “I don’t need anymore volunteers.”

Yesterday I attended a local networking event here in Baltimore for kidmin leaders.  The topic: Stop Recruiting, Start Retaining.  The speaker was Christine Kreisher, who serves as the Family and Connections Pastor at Glad Tidings Church in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Here are the notes, 4 things to give volunteers so that they stay around for the long haul:

SIGNIFICANCE

“People don’t need another job; they need, and crave, purpose and meaning.” – CK

Leaders:  Create a FUN and meaningful experience where volunteers feel that what they do matters.

Volunteers will say:  “I love this!” or “I’m making a difference.”

Best Practices:

  • Connect the vision
  • Find the fit
  • Improve the process
  • Fill their bucket

SUPPORT

“It’s the lack of communication and preparation that kills volunteerism.” – Dr. Darren Kizer

“People matter to God, so they matter to us.” – Nelson Searcy

Leaders:  Ensure that every volunteer has the necessary information, resources, & encouragement to fulfill their role in ministry.

Volunteers will say:  “I have what I need.” or “I feel valued.”

Best Practices:

  • Communicate early and often
  • Huddle up
  • Train for success
  • Organize volunteer teams

COMMUNITY

“God created us with a hunger for relationship – for relationship with Him and with our fellow people.  At our very core, we are relational beings…The soul cannot prosper without being connected to others..” – Henry Cloud

Leaders:  Establish a culture where volunteers feel connected and new friendships can be developed.

Volunteers will say:  “I belong here.” or “I’ve got friends here.”

Best Practices:

  • Friendship-friendly programming
  • Make it fun
  • Plan connections
  • Get it on the calendar
  • Embrace the mess!

EMPOWERMENT

“The local church should be one of the greatest leadership development agencies on the planet because Jesus was a great leader and developer of leaders.  The church does not have a leadership problem…there are plenty of leaders…the church has a leadership development problem.” – Mac Lake

Leaders:  Invest your time and resources to empower people to develop as a leader.

Volunteers will say:  “I’m trusted and have opportunities to develop into a better leader.”

Best Practices:

  • Replace yourself
  • Set them free
  • Delegate vs dump
  • Make it helpful

Keep the conversation going!  What strategies have you seen that work in retaining volunteers?  Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Infinitely More

Kathie Phillips 1 Comment

Yesterday, I shared details about the Children’s Ministry Tailgate party we threw for our volunteers.  (If you missed it, you can catch that post here.)

At the event, I shared a bit of what God had laid on my heart months before.  You see, for the past two years, I have asked God for a word, one word, that would be our theme or focus for the upcoming year.  Last year, the word was “new”.

This past May, God laid a verse on my heart and one word kept jumping out at me each time I read the verse.  The word?  More.  Here’s the verse:

Ephesians 3:20, NLT
Ephesians 3:20, NLT

Here is a portion of what I shared with our volunteers that evening:

This spring, I asked God to give me a word – a literal word – that will serve as the them for the upcoming ministry year.

This year, I clearly heard Him say “MORE“.  (Refer back to Ephesians 3:20)

I wonder what this will look like this ministry year.  What will God do if we ask Him to help us be…

more intentional as we partner with families…

more intentional as we build relationships with the children we lead…

more connected to those we serve with…

more committed to lead and serve with excellence?

Something I’ve quoted regularly in the last few months is, “With God, all things are possible.”  I truly believe that.

I am trusting God to do exactly what His Word says – to accomplish INFINITELY MORE than we would ever dare to ask or hope. Will you trust Him to do the same?  Are you up for the challenge?

What about you?  How would your ministry be different if you believed God can accomplish infinitely more than you could ever dare to ask or hope?  Keep the conversation going by leaving a comment below!

Volunteer Training Idea: Tailgate Party!

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

We’re almost half way through September and it has been a very busy time for us!  I’m sure you can relate.  The month of August found us finishing out the summer and prepping for fall – updating our volunteer handbooks, recruiting leaders and planning for our volunteer training.

At the beginning of August, we met as a staff team to brainstorm ideas for our volunteer training.  First, I wanted us to call it something other than ‘training’.  No one wants to come to a ‘training’.  I wanted us to go with a themed ‘training’.  After about 45 minutes of idea swapping/brainstorming, we landed on a tailgate theme.  With that decision, we were off and running, gathering ideas (thank you Pinterest!), purchasing decorations, designing and sending invitations, reserving rooms, drawing diagrams of room set-ups, selecting a menu and all of the other important details that go into pulling off a themed party successfully.

Here’s a little peek into the planning & execution of our tailgate party:

Purpose:  The purpose of the event was to serve as a re-purposed volunteer training that would be infused with food, fun, prizes, inspiration and information to get our volunteers ready and excited about the new ministry year.

Planning:  The event was divided into 5 areas of planning:

  1. Food
  2. Decor
  3. Games & Prizes
  4. Inspiration
  5. Information

Each area of planning was delegated to one of our children’s ministry staff members.  Each person ‘owned’ their area, so it made implementing rather simple.  Here are some specifics and photos from each area:

  • Food:  We selected a tailgate-inspired menu of foot long sub sandwiches (including veggie ones for our vegan/healthy eating friends), potato chips, pretzels (I found football-shaped ones!), popcorn, cookies, lemonade, water, and fresh fruit (for a healthy dessert option).
Sandwiches - lots of sandwiches!
Sandwiches – lots of sandwiches!

 

 

  • Decor:  We wanted the environment to be fun and festive, and I think we achieved that!  We chose to go with a sports theme but we selected bright, vibrant colors to make the room come alive.  The colors chosen are colors used throughout our ministry rooms.
Banner over the food area
Banner over the food area

 

Table centerpieces: sand buckets, pom poms, balls, and foam pennants with the names of each ministry area
Table centerpieces: sand buckets, pom poms, balls, and foam pennants with the names of each ministry area.

 

We didn't forget about the cars - it was a tailgate after all!
We didn’t forget about the cars – it was a tailgate after all! Here, volunteers picked up their raffle tickets before heading inside.

 

We had volunteers pick up and decorate their name tags here.
We had volunteers pick up and decorate their name tags here.

 

Even my car was decked out!
Even my car was decked out!
  • Games & Prizes:  We set up a prize table in a corner of the room – we chose sports-themed prizes (general items as well as items from our local professional football and baseball teams) as well as boxed candies.  We did raffles throughout the evening to give away all of the fun prizes.
  • Inspiration:  In July, our church did a parenting series that focused on passing faith on to the next generation.  During that series, our Family Ministry Pastor preached a sermon that talked a lot about mentoring and the long-term impact of passing faith on to the next generation.  I thought that some of her points were appropriate for our event, so I invited her to come and share a few highlights from that sermon.  It was a perfect tie in!  The intention here was to inspire our volunteer and help them see our vision and the role they played to help us move toward that vision.
  • Information:  Since our event was a training, we needed to make sure that our volunteers received the information that they needed to equip them for the upcoming year.  We had some changes in safety policies and procedures and some tweaks in our curriculum, so we broke up into age-level groups for the last hour of our time together.  We invited our key leaders (or Team Captains) to lead this portion of the evening.  Each area of our ministry (Nursery – Infants; Nursery – Toddlers; Preschool; Younger Elementary; Preteens) went to different areas of the building and received information targeted to them.  During this time, we wanted to focus on practical tips that they would find useful.
Our Nursery handbooks
Our Nursery handbooks

 

Our preschool handbooks
Our preschool handbooks

 

Our elementary, preteen and welcome center handbooks
Our elementary, preteen and welcome center handbooks

 

Overall, I was very pleased with the evening and based on feedback from volunteers, they seemed to be as well.  Here are a few of things they said:

“My congratulations to the detail oriented person(s) who planned and implemented the meeting / party last night.  I used to work at a retirement community, and one of the things I did there was help plan themed parties.  So, I noticed (and enjoyed) all of the details last night, from the centerpieces to the background music! 🙂  Oh, and thanks for the box of M&Ms, too. :)”

“This was awesome!”

“Please do something like this again!”

“Last night was fun, informative and inspiring.…….”

Training your volunteers is necessary but no one said that training has to be boring.  Brainstorm ideas with your team and see what you can come up with – and then share them with me…I’m always looking for new ideas! 🙂

Keep the conversation going!  What creative themes have you used to make volunteer training fun for your volunteers?  Leave a comment below!

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