While I am not opposed to receiving a piece of chocolate from you as appreciation for volunteering in your ministry, it really doesn’t communicate as much encouragement as you might think. In fact, if it’s accompanied by a type written anything and just left for me to find, the best it can do is a add a bit of joy to my day (assuming I like the brand of chocolate) and may even make me feel a bit taken for granted as merely a face in the crowd. While there is something to be said for adding a little joy to the lives of your volunteers, I think you want them to truly feel appreciated and understand the value they are adding to your ministry and to the lives of the young people you are serving.
I understand you have limited time and money and a lot of volunteers you need to encourage. Ironically, some of the things volunteers find most encouraging don’t cost much and take relatively little time. Here are some of our favorite ways encourage volunteers in a ministry to children or teens.
- Observe volunteers teaching a class and afterwards name something specific you appreciated about it. Want to go the extra mile – tell them how you saw it impact a child in a positive way during the class or how you believe it will impact one or more children outside of class. Most volunteer Bible class teachers have an unspoken fear that they aren’t making a difference or that they are wasting their time or don’t have the gift of teaching. Actually observing them teach and giving concrete, positive (honest) feedback is a huge encouragement.
- Encourage the students and parents of your volunteers to write encouraging notes or say something encouraging to the teacher. As strange as it may sound, even encouraging every student to come up to the teacher and say “thank you” at the end of every class can be hugely encouraging, too – even if the teacher knows it’s just a habit. The extra mile on this one is encouraging your teachers to also thank students at the end of class (for coming to class, participating and learning).
- Offering to help. What teacher wouldn’t appreciate a little extra help changing classroom decorations or an extra pair of hands during an activity? Helping volunteers with the “mundane” tasks encourages them and communicates you are a servant leader… not a tyrant.
- Handwritten notes….in the mail. Teachers may be adults, but they will get as excited at “real” mail as a child will. Taking the time to write even a postcard by hand (postage is less) and mailing it may be old school, but sometimes old school is more meaningful, because it takes a bit more time and effort.
- Asking them to mentor new volunteers. This one takes a little more wisdom and discernment. If you have teachers who are truly gifted in their ministry, pair them up with new volunteers and ask them to train and mentor them. Nothing is more encouraging than being asked to mentor someone else.
- Asking for top tips to share. You can collect these all at once and then share them over time in your communications with volunteers. Make sure to acknowledge the person who provided the tip by name.
- Providing meaningful training opportunities. Provide training that helps your volunteers truly grow. Don’t waste their time with basic training if they are already gifted teachers. Teaching them something new that helps them be even more prepared or gives them a new effective skill set to use (like a storytelling workshop or teaching children with trauma in their background) will be encouraging to most people.
You don’t have to stop giving people chocolate…. Just recognize its value is in brightening a day, not necessarily the deep encouragement you had hoped for. Doing a few of the things in the list above will provide the encouragement your volunteers so badly want and need.