I love Starbucks coffee. However, I can’t imagine how people can visit their neighborhood Starbucks to read a book, work on a project, or just relax.
I grew up in a big city, and still lived there until a month ago. So the only Starbucks I know exists as over-crowded, under-staffed, and mighty loud. The coffee tastes great, but the atmosphere is absolutely frantic.
Surprisingly, what I hadn’t realized until recently is that I’d come to enjoy this crazy setting. In fact, I’ve grown to expect it. Why? Because the appearance of craziness behind the counter makes me think things are actually getting done.
I certainly don’t intend to sound somewhat strange, but I love standing in line knowing the employees are near exhaustion as they work to serve me as fast as possible. It’s reassuring as they run from the pastry cabinet to refilling the brewed coffee to working the cappuccino machine in seamless motion. And if the barista doesn’t have at least three drinks in the works at once, I think something’s wrong. To see sweat running down the sides of faces and hear an occasional chastising of a new employee is good. I think to myself: Okay, things move here. This is a well-run and highly efficient store.
I was in a relatively slower Starbucks the other day. The cashier called out my order. Calmly. The barista actually tried to engage in small talk before starting my drink. What are these people doing? I thought. My frustration climbed. Move, move, move! If you think you have time to be calm and talk to me or anyone else, well …you’re certainly not doing your job.
Before you write me off as an over-bearing bully, consider this: what do we expect—and often find—our children’s ministry volunteers to be?
Frantic? Or calm?
Frantic often seems the norm. It’s easy to picture a room where a volunteer talks with two or more people, scissors a craft, and deals with a behavior issue all at the same time. And if we don’t see a certain level of chaos, it’s equally easy to believe something is wrong. If sweat isn’t rolling down faces, uncertainty reflected in the eyes, and tears absent, do we wonder if our volunteers are really doing the job?
We even tend, unintentionally, to encourage and value people more when they’re frantic. How quickly we say “thank you” and encourage the behavior of someone who has nearly passed out from their morning in ministry. We point out the millions of things they juggled and commend them for a job well done.
When we walk into a room and see a leader in a quiet conversation with a child over a game of checkers, what then? Especially when considering the other 15 boys running around—and this volunteer has the audacity to just sit there and play a game.
As children’s ministry leaders, we need to be proactive advocates of a positive serving environment with a healthy, sustainable pace for our volunteers. Instead of accepting “frantic” for our children’s ministry, let’s work toward a solution called “calm.”
Here are a few steps on that journey:
Limit tasking. Assess the number of tasks expected from your volunteers. If you’ve placed one person in charge of signing kids in, playing with them, creatively teaching the Bible, and setting out a snack, you’ve placed him on a sure path to burn out.
Give each volunteer one, perhaps two specific goals for the day. If someone is only in charge of signing in children, she’s likely to stay calm and collected when the line gets long and parents ask questions. She can focus on her job, and not worry about the multitude of other things that have to happen in the hour.
Likewise, if another volunteer is solely focused on a creative Bible presentation, he or she will be unlikely to stress over check-in craziness. Volunteers may still jump in and help one another, and this is a fantastic selfless attribute to promote! But such short-term intervention is a totally different mindset from the all-consuming burden of an overly-tasked volunteer responsible for too much.
Communicate expectations. Speak candidly and clearly with your volunteers prior to Sunday morning. This is true for brand new volunteers as well as volunteers who have been around forever. Ask for questions and comments as you do.
Connect with leaders on a regular basis outside of the ministry setting. They deserve more direct attention. Help them develop an attitude for the weekends that is both fully prepared and level-headed.
If there’s a volunteer shortage or a culture of franticness in your ministry, openly acknowledge it. Let your volunteers know you’re aware of the many different directions in which they’re being pulled. Give them your assurance that this culture is not what you want for them—and that you’re working to improve it.
Encourage. Praise your volunteers regularly, as a group and individually. When you thank them, focus your comments specifically: character qualities that your group or a person exhibits, how kids’ lives are changing, or even when difficult child situations were handled well. Use concrete examples whenever possible. Avoid praise for the ability to juggle prowess, such as how great the group or a person is at managing five things at once.
Create vision. You may feel light years removed from a calm, well-paced ministry environment. In reality this may or may not be true. But being sensitive to this, and having the desire to eventually arrive at the city of “calm,” is a big step.
Make your goals for the environment of your classrooms and the expectations of leaders clear to your volunteers. Talk candidly about your current condition and how your entire leader/volunteer team can get to a better place. When your volunteers see where you’re trying to lead them, they will be much more eager to be a part of the solution—and they’ll more likely stick it out with you and invite their friends along in the process.
Celebrate the actions of well-balanced volunteers. In the face of a typical ministry crisis, when you see a volunteer choose steady, deep breaths over hysterical pants, then celebrate him or her. Help volunteers learn and develop skills that will create a positive, consistent environment and rid themselves of old, frantic habits.
The next time you see one of your volunteers running down the halls yelling “we’ve lost one again,” don’t panic. Choose a more refreshing approach in your tactics. Who knows, your ministry just may start to feel like one of those cozy Starbucks where you can sink into a chair, pull your feet up under you, and … relax. Or almost.
Truth be known, the calm cup of coffee is the better brew—just as the calm ministry is the better ministry. In fact, not simply better—fantastic!
Ashley Cornelius serves as the director of volunteerism for Promiseland, the children’s ministry of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois.
Copyright © 2006 Promiseland.
