When was the last time you had 100 percent turnout to your volunteer training? What about 50 percent? Or even 25 percent? Don’t be discouraged—we’ve all been there! But if your volunteers don’t come to your training, how can you ensure that kids are having the very best experience in classrooms and growing closer to Jesus? If this is your story—struggling to get volunteers to come to trainings at your church— it’s time to change things up.
Getting older is fun, isn’t it? We’ve all heard the jokes. Your knees creak, memory fades, hair gets little lighter — or thinner. But the truth is with age comes wisdom and experience. Just because you seen a few more birthdays than perhaps your friends that doesn’t disqualify you from volunteering in children’s ministry. If you have a heart for children than be encouraged! God wants you in His army. As someone staring 50 in the face,
At the first of every calendar year, I tend to spend a lot of time planning but no plan can be worked successfully without good help, right? I don’t know about you but it feels is more challenging to locate volunteers than it was twenty years ago. Maybe it really isn’t more difficult, maybe it’s simply that potential volunteers (and repeat helpers) have more specific needs—needs that we should be meeting. I talked to past and present
You have an exciting, growing ministry but filling your volunteer roster is a challenge. Despite some eye-catching incentives and advertising some fun volunteer events, the number of willing hands remains low. What’s the deal? That’s a great question and one that many of us are familiar with. Don’t give up! Sure, sometimes volunteer signups are seasonal but did you know that there are a few other factors that flat turn off a potential volunteer? Get familiar with
A few months ago, I wrote an article called 10 Things That Drive a Children’s Pastor Crazy. So many folks responded to the humorous punch list, that I followed that up with 6 More Things That Drive a Children’s Pastor Crazy. (Thanks by the way for all the shares, likes and comments you gave us.) It was kind of cathartic to finally share collectively what many kids’ pastors wished everyone knew. As I mentioned before though, we
I am about to be very transparent here, learning how to manage people kindly and thoughtfully didn’t come easily for me. I have been blessed to work with some wonderful people but working with me, a creative, sometimes unorganized children’s pastor hasn’t always been easy. We’d show up to teach and realize I didn’t delegate a craft properly, or forgot to mention we needed a snack this week. I’m sure God has a special crown laid up
When praying about my ministry, I can’t help but reflect upon my blessings. I have such faithful volunteers; without their help, children’s church would be a whole lot crazier. However, during busy times, it’s easy to see my team get stressed out and me too! I must confess that I rarely have difficulty with volunteers but when problems do arise I understand that it is just a part of ministry. Sometimes, it’s not simply snapping at children
It’s spring–time to refill those volunteer vacancies. What’s your strategy for filling those spots with excited, faithful volunteers? Bringing in new faces can feel like a full time job and it can require a bit of skill and patience. Why not make it fun? This year, approach your challenge with a few new tactics. Now recruiting friends! Birds of a feather flock together. People love doing things with friends, including volunteers. Invite “besties” in your church or
I don’t believe for a minute that any, kindhearted, loving children’s leader would ever intentionally hurt a volunteer’s feelings but sometimes it does happen. Often, it’s an offhand remark or a negative response that causes the friction. Regular volunteers know when you are teasing and when you’re not but the new guy hasn’t quite figured it out. Guess what? The onus isn’t on the newbie volunteer–it’s on the leader. We really do need to watch our words,
Without volunteers most children’s ministry would have a difficult time managing the many details of ministering to children. From leading at the crafts table to distributing snacks to teaching, willing hands make it happen. Most of the time, they work without all the recognition they deserve and of course, pay. However, because you do depend on them so much, it’s really an inconvenience when one doesn’t show up–especially repeatedly. So what do you do when volunteers don’t
After a season of working solo, an extra pair of hands is a welcome sight but in our zeal to lighten the load, we can make recruiting mistakes. Recruiting for kids’ ministry is an ongoing process but don’t fall into the trap of desperation and compromise. While the gospel is an “everyone welcome” message, not everyone is “called” to work in children’s ministry. I’ve labored in this special and spectacular ministry for fifteen years so I’ve got
* This idea was submitted by Bethany Tapp, the director of children’s ministries at the United Christian Church of Dubai. Click here to download as PDF document. You can also download the original document from Google Docs and make your own changes. I created a ‘volunteer survival kit’ to give my team this week for the first week of the year. Thought it might be something that you’d want to share with others. My goal was to use simple
After surviving the lean years of having little or no help, I wasn’t prepared to have too many volunteers, but it did happen. I remember the days when I couldn’t beg, cajole or convince a parent to stay and help, now everyone’s on board (and I’m not complaining.) Here was my situation, a large group of kids graduated up to the youth group and a mass exodus occurred when some military families got reassigned to other stations.
All volunteers need two things: encouragement and recognition but there’s a few that want a little more. They want to learn to teach! You’ve inspired them to lead children to Jesus or they feel that God has called them specifically to teach kids about His Word. God does most growth work behind the scenes, internally speaking to fledgling leaders. Still as a leader yourself, it’s only right that you offer any help you can and teach them
I’m not great at predicting summer attendance in my children’s ministry but I still like to offer the community a few kids’ events between June and August. To pull off my wacky outdoor programs and big Sunday promotions I need volunteers – and lots of them! I know it’s a big sacrifice to volunteer during the summer months; lots of people take off to spend time with their own families. Despite these natural setbacks, my volunteer roster
What’s the one ingredient your VBS, Kids’ Crusade and summer events all require? Volunteers! Especially during those warm months when most everyone’s mind is focused on vacation and leisure activities. Children’s ministry does not shut down when the weather gets warm; it’s still an important function of the church that needs multiple hands to make it work. You might think finding summer help is impossible but we’ve got some ideas that might help you get the help
Spring is approaching and you probably have a big year planned for kids’ church. As someone once said, “No man is an island,” and you cannot achieve those plans all by yourself. For many kids’ ministries, this means finding fresh faces in areas like games, crafts and worshipping. Volunteer recruitment needs to go big and from experience, I have found a multi-approach method works best. These ideas are proven to work for both small and large ministries.
Volunteers are essential in every children’s ministry, but too many get discouraged and eventually quit because leaders make the following mistakes. We simply can’t be careless with the people resources God has sent our way. Work to avoid these mistakes and help keep your volunteers committed and serving in the children’s department. Click here to add your comment to this conversation. 1. Matching volunteers with the urgent need (and ignoring where they are gifted) Matching service opportunity with gifting is the first
That’s right, I said potlucks are a great ministry resource. Some churches call this a pitch-in dinner or covered dish supper. Whatever the name, this could be the key to your next children’s ministry training. I am at a smaller campus of our church and potlucks fit the informal atmosphere. It just feels right when everybody brings a covered dish and enjoys a time of fellowship. Typically, when you advertise a training meeting the same 5-10 dedicated volunteers show
How many times have you heard a volunteer say that they want to quit serving because they feel disconnected from other adults? I know I’ve heard it more times than I can count. This is a legitimate need and most adult will eventually burn out if their connections to other adults is limited. Therefore, an important part of a leader’s job is to help adults connect with each other. This is often tougher than it might sound,
Recently, I was talking with someone about volunteer recruitment in kids ministry. A well-meaning conversant suggested we should publicize the fact that volunteering in children’s ministry is “easy.” I totally understand the heart and sentiment behind the suggestion – that we need to help assuage the fear and trepidation that many people feel about volunteering in children’s ministry so that they will take that step into serving. That said, I do have worry about trying to “sell
We all have them. Volunteers who agree to help, but only do the minimum. They arrive for their assignments with seconds to spare and leave right when it’s done. Of course we desire for them to be more committed than that. There is no magic bullet, but there are some things we can do to help move them to a higher commitment level. 1. Treat them as more than a name on a spreadsheet. Often volunteers live
A couple of months ago I scheduled a time to meet with my Sunday morning elementary volunteers. Having become the director of preschool through elementary at this church last summer, I had been taking my time to observe what was taking place and look for ways to improve the ministries. After taking a bit of time to see how things were functioning and running in our elementary area, I decided it was time to meet with my
Volunteers are needed! How many times have we seen this sign or posted it ourselves? Too many! We lose good volunteers and sadly ministry helpers do come and go. Sometimes the volunteers quit for reasons we could have prevented. While that is not always the case, leaders should know the five reasons why this most commonly occurs. Retain one of the most important elements of your ministry, the volunteers, and build a stronger team and reach all the
