Romans 16; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
It’s tough to recruit good volunteers, but tougher to keep them. Here are some ways to keep them playing on your team for many seasons:
- Make sure everyone gets “paid.” There will never be enough money to reimburse volunteers for their service, but each person who donates time or energy deserves to be “paid.” For some, the only “salary” they need is the inner satisfaction of a job well done. The supportive leader will be careful to get out of their way and remove potential obstacles to the successful completion of tasks. Most people feel rewarded by public or private affirmation from leaders they respect. Handwritten notes of appreciation, personal compliments that identify specific actions, pictures of volunteers in action posted in a prominent place, gifts of gratitude-all serve as means of “paying” volunteers.
- Observe volunteers in action. The word evaluation may strike fear in the hearts of workers, salaried and volunteer alike. But supporting volunteers through observing their work means finding their strengths and offering to help build on them. After obtaining permission of the volunteer to visit his or her ministry, the pastor or leader might ask the worker what to focus on during their time together. A Sunday school teacher, for example, might request, “Tell me how well I use questions in the lesson.”
- Help volunteers develop. Management consultant Tom Peters suggests five means for helping people develop. In a ministry context, they could be explained as follows: Educate: Orient newcomers to current ministry expectations, train novices to master ministry skills, and facilitate changes in ministry expectations. Sponsor: Enable gifted persons to make special contributions to ministry and free a person from a task that has been outgrown. Coach: Provide special encouragement before or after a first attempt at ministering and making simple, brief corrections in ministry efforts. Counsel: Correct the problems that have damaged effective ministry and give specific training not accomplished through educating or coaching. Confront: Eliminate persistent performance problems and relocate people inappropriately placed in ministry positions.
- Create volunteer communities. Create teams of workers who provide nurture for each other, thus freeing one person from having to sustain all the volunteers. Team members express concerns, support in prayer, and offer love.
To Discuss
- Do we “pay” our volunteers enough? How would we know if we do?
- What system do we have in place to mentor teachers in our Sunday school program?
- What area of our church promotes the use of teams? What areas could use a team approach?
From Building Church Leaders, published by Leadership Resources © 2000 Christianity Today.
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