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Volunteer Series Part 4
We will be focusing on setting volunteers up for success in small church ministry. Sadly, this is the opposite of what most people experience. Rather than setting volunteers up for success, we often set up volunteers for frustration and failure. Follow along as we learn how to create a culture where people want to serve, and where they feel loved, honored, and supported. We will go over simple, doable steps that lead to vital small church ministries. They have the potential to result in a volunteer culture where people aren’t stepping in to fill a role, but joining in a greater mission to make an impact. Keep reading to find out:
- The key to developing passionate ministry partners, instead of reluctant volunteers.
- Why agreeing on a job description isn’t just necessary, but motivating and empowering.
- A 4-step involvement process to yield more consistent results and confidence.
- How to help your volunteers go from feeling used to being supported and cared for.
A Quick Recap
We are headed into Part 4 of our series on volunteers. This post will be about setting volunteers up for success. If you haven’t read our last few posts, you might be tempted to think this episode is a great place to start. The topic of this episode is often where most of us start our journey with volunteers. However, falling into that trap is one of the biggest mistakes.
You will end up continuing the pattern that most small churches have of asking the same person to serve over and over again, or of burning out the volunteer you have. You will become frustrated by seeing the lack of commitment and the lack of support from others in your church as well. Inevitably, you will continue the cycle of recruiting volunteers, losing volunteers, and looking for more volunteers over and over again.
We started with the first I, Identity. We need to be looking at the 80% who aren’t involved before we look at the 20% who are already active and serving. The second I, Invite, is where we invite people to come and see! We aren’t asking people to volunteer, but simply come and see what we do. This is crucial in regards to helping people get to the right places from the start.
Involving Volunteers
Volunteers don’t often feel set up for success. Rather, they feel set up to fail or set up with no support. They may even feel set up for an eternal commitment that they don’t remember agreeing to. Instead of feeling like someone has our back, we feel abandoned, insecure, and unequipped. It doesn’t have to be this way.
If you’ve experienced these things in your past volunteer experience, or are experiencing it right now, I’d like to apologize on behalf of church people everywhere. I am so sorry. It shouldn’t be this way. It isn’t God’s design.
People can try to tweak things a little because they want to do better. We can decide that we’re going to be kinder and more supportive. However, you can’t give what you don’t have, and you can’t teach what you’ve never learned. So, grace to you and all of us on this journey as we commit to doing better.
If, in the next few posts, you notice things you feel guilty about, don’t let yourself spin into any type of condemnation. That’s not from God at all. We’ve all been there. It’s human. I’ve been there, and I still go back. I forget to be clear about expectations, and I get wrapped up in my own busyness. If you’ve messed up, I have too. This is why we practice, and that’s why there’s grace. All the grace to you and me as we journey into setting volunteers up for success.
3 Tips For Setting Volunteers Up For Success
1. Write A Great Job Description
Don’t get caught up in thinking that this job description has to be a formal, long, or intimidating task. A great job description should contain a start and end date. At the end date, there should be time to evaluate and there should be clear permission to leave a job. It should also contain clear points on how they’ll know if they’ve done a good job. It should contain steps to ask for help, what to do if they can’t make it, and who their support or supervisor is. If you don’t communicate what to do or what their backup plan is, you’re setting your volunteers up to fail.
2. Volunteers Have To Agree To The Job Description
An agreement includes a clear ‘Yes!’ Do you realize how often this isn’t agreed upon? This is so common in church ministry. Too often, people have no idea what result they are counting on and no one ever agrees on goals. People are not on the same page regarding the mission. This isn’t right, and it doesn’t set people up for support or success. You can’t have an environment of accountability and growth if no one has agreed to the goals.
3. Follow This 4-Step Process to Get People Involved
We are actively changing a cycle. Rather than throwing your volunteers into a job or task and watching them burn out, set them up for success by following this 4-step involvement process: you watch and I do, we do it together, you do and I watch, and then you do. I want to show you what this process looks like.
Let’s say that you’re recruiting someone to take over the social media graphics for your church. You would first ask if they would come and watch the process of making and scheduling social media graphics. Next, do it together. You could make the graphics together. They start, you can give input, and you’ll both figure it out together.
you do it together, ask them what they think or what they like about the process. Ask them if they’re ready to do it by themselves or what they need to learn. Then have them do it, and provide feedback at the end. The final step is that they do it on their own. You can touch base weekly or even monthly, but have them go for it.
What do you think about these steps? It’s simple, but it does take both time and intentionality!
Frequently Asked Questions About This Process
“It takes 4 weeks to go through this process? I don’t have time for that”
My answer: No! It doesn’t only take four weeks, it could take a lot longer.
Setting volunteers up for success isn’t something that happens overnight. This could happen for months, or it can happen quickly. Everything is contingent upon the confidence, availability, motivation, and even ability of your individual volunteers. The timing is not what’s important here. The process is the key. Be sure to communicate through every step. Affirmation, feedback, and questions are vital! This process speaks to your value and care for others, as well as the ministry that you represent.
“What if I don’t have time for this process? We are desperate and I need a volunteer right now.”
My answer: If you don’t have time for this process or to set up someone for success, I would encourage you to pray about whether or not you should be doing the ministry you are trying to do.
We get ahead of ourselves so easily when we run programs. Because of this, we damage people in the process. Rushing because of our desperation sets people up to fail. It doesn’t seem Jesus-like to me, to throw people into ministry, where they are used up, beaten up, and feel like a failure. Let’s do better! Instead, become clear about what you need and want to see. Get their agreement on the vision of the position, and go through the 4-step involvement process of setting volunteers up for success.
Strive To Do Things Different
Setting volunteers up for success is possible! Can you see how volunteering would be different if we followed these steps consistently? Can you see how your volunteer culture would change and how God might be glorified as we care for volunteers instead of using volunteers? We have the chance to do things differently. Even though it takes time, setting your volunteers up for success is vital to the success of your ministry.
Read More:
How To Get Church Volunteers Back In The Door
A “Thank You” That Your VBS Volunteers Will Treasure – Small Church Ministry
