I refer to a church’s volunteer base as the “Y Factor.” That phrase is based on a simple equation: X + Y = Z, where Z represents the fruit of a church’s ministry, X represents the paid staff, and Y represents the church’s volunteer base. Most churches can’t increase their paid staff, but they can almost always increase their volunteer base.
When a church or organization increases the “Y factor,” everyone wins. Most importantly, of course, God wins. He is honored as the architect of the plan and the octane behind the whole enterprise. Here are some foundational tasks for how church leaders can increase their volunteer base:
Take responsibility.
Church leaders need to get personally involved. They need to take God's Word and blowtorch the volunteer value until everyone understands that it's a really important, biblical, kingdom value. Leaders need to stay focused on this for as long as it takes to achieve the goal. After that, leaders can to throw a party and thank everyone who volunteered.
God gives the gift of leadership in order for a church to move ever closer toward the goal of becoming the church God wants it to be.
God gives the gift of leadership in order for a church to move ever closer toward the goal of becoming the church God wants it to be. Like other major initiatives through the years, upping the Y factor requires heavy lifting from the senior pastor. It isn't something he can assign to someone else.
Share the joy.
Leaders sometimes feel guilty asking people to serve in the church. But the church is made up of car dealers and stockbrokers, bankers and bricklayers, teachers and plumbers—and while the best of them are doing all they can to give God glory in their workplaces, few of them derive ultimate satisfaction from their jobs. Leaders have been given the unspeakable privilege of inviting people like these to participate in the thrill of knowing that the Creator God has used them to touch the lives of others spiritually.
Cast a positive vision.
If I was working as the director of a children’s ministry, here’s how I’d share the ministry with “Fred.” First, I’d invite him out for a cup of coffee and get reacquainted. Then I'd say:
“Fred, the ninety minutes I spend with kids in this ministry each weekend are the best ninety minutes of my week. When I teach a kid from an unchurched family how to pray; when I tell a kid from a broken home that God loves them; when I take some kid who's scared and tell him that he doesn't need to be afraid because God is his friend—well, nothing beats that.”
Then I'd have every word of the next part carefully planned: “Fred, we need some extra helpers in the children’s ministry. I don't know if this is something you'd be interested in. But would you be willing to come with me one time to see what God is doing there?”
Telling a potential volunteer about my own weekly experience casts a positive vision of the children's ministry. Asking Fred for a one-time visit lowers the fear that he might get permanently roped into something before he even understands what he's doing. Asking him to come with me assures him that he won't be left alone in a roomful of pant-leg-clingers. No arm-twisting—just a powerful vision and an open invitation.
Debrief, refocus, and reassign.
What if someone agrees to volunteer in a particular ministry, and it’s not a good fit? What's the next step? Debrief. Ask questions and offer assistance. You might be able to connect that person to another ministry where he or she would thrive.
Often the first place someone volunteers to serve is not the option that best fits his or her gifts and passions. It's likely, in fact, that the person doesn’t even know what their gifts and passions are. Leaders can help volunteers to discover how and where God has wired them up to serve, but sometimes this process takes a year or more. It might require constant debriefing. “Does this seem like a better fit? Do you feel more useful or effective here? Are you feeling an increasing sense of God's pleasure?”
Hopefully, each new volunteer means that one more Christ-follower is discovering the thrill of serving, and one more spiritual need is being met.
