Often ministries forget that the easiest way to have volunteers who are capable of and are passionate about performing the tasks you need them to perform is through volunteer development. Instead we beat our heads against a proverbial brick wall as we struggle to fill needs with “warm bodies” who aren’t prepared to do what we ask. Then we wonder why they get out of their commitment as quickly as possible.
Volunteer development may take more time on the front end, but it makes future recruiting easier and the quality of your ministry is higher as people are performing the tasks God gifted them to do. Over time, we will share ideas about the recruiting and training aspects of volunteer development. In this post, however, we want to give you the tools to really examine your volunteer pool and make appropriate choices in their development.
If you don’t already have a list of all of your volunteers, create one. Then look at each individual and complete our volunteer development form for each person. If you don’t know your volunteers well, this may take some time. You need to have private conversations with each volunteer exploring their gifts, talents, training and experience. You may be surprised to find that some of your volunteers have a wealth of training and experience about which you knew nothing. Other volunteers may truly be unsure whether or not they have any gifts from God. Since we know everyone has at least one gift, using our gift discovery worksheet can help you and the volunteer discover the gifts and talents God may have given him or her.
Don’t forget to talk with people who do not currently volunteer for your ministry. Often we get in recruiting ruts, going to the same small group of people over and over. Others don’t volunteer because they either don’t think they have gifts we can use or they think we don’t need their help. Church wide announcements don’t connect with most people as they assume the announcement is not meant for them.
Once you have noted the strengths and potential of your volunteers, patterns for needed training will start to emerge. Sometimes articles and books can work as well as actual training sessions. Others will grow more quickly with mentoring and guided practice. Even volunteers who are gifted in their tasks for your ministry can still use the encouragement of learning something new or honing a new skill set.
In a world where young people are living Christianity en masse, we need our ministries to be as effective as humanly possible. Developing volunteers is a great way to improve your ministry and make your job easier in the process.