{"id":77486,"date":"2023-04-20T19:37:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T01:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/?p=77486"},"modified":"2023-04-20T19:37:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T01:37:55","slug":"5-ways-to-build-the-size-and-strength-of-your-volunteer-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/5-ways-to-build-the-size-and-strength-of-your-volunteer-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Build the Size and Strength of Your Volunteer Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>5 Ways to Build the Size and<br \/>\nStrength of Your Volunteer Teams<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/mesoamericaregion.us4.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=03e55b045b4b2d81fc3a5a85b&amp;id=e453d0220a&amp;e=1e0613ef18\">Dan Reiland<\/a><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Are your volunteer teams healthy and thriving?<\/li>\n<li>Do you have enough volunteers to adequately lead your ministries?<\/li>\n<li>What is your greatest pressure or challenge when it comes to your volunteer teams?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most of the church leaders I\u2019m talking with say their volunteers are amazing and they are so grateful for all they do. However, they\u2019re struggling, bluntly stated, to gain\u00a0<em><strong>enough<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0volunteers. Why do you think that\u2019s true?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t have\u00a0<em>the answer<\/em>\u00a0to that question but there are a few big picture factors I believe to be true.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Culture has changed<\/li>\n<li>People view their time differently post pandemic<\/li>\n<li>Habits have changed<\/li>\n<li>Church is more an option than a lifestyle<\/li>\n<li>Families are busier than ever<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yet, one thing that hasn\u2019t changed is the design and nature of the church to include and function with volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>I sometimes hesitate to use the word<em>\u00a0volunteer<\/em>. As the body of Christ, we are all called to serve. In fact, Ephesians 4:11-12, makes it clear that our responsibility as pastors is to help each person discover their gifts and ministry to build up the body of Christ.<\/p>\n<p>But since we know what is meant by the term \u201cvolunteer,\u201d I\u2019ll keep this post clear by using it.<\/p>\n<p>As a brief encouragement from me to you, please don\u2019t get discouraged about recruiting. It is challenging at times, I know, but God didn\u2019t bring you and your church this far without a plan, and this season hasn\u2019t caught Him by surprise.<br \/>\nMy hope and prayer is that this post is helpful to you!<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s get practical about how to increase the size and strength of your volunteer teams.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1) Start with vision-based invitations<\/strong><br \/>\nThe heart of a church leader is always to love and care for volunteers, wanting more for them than from them. But on occasion the pressure for more volunteers can get the best of even great leaders.<\/p>\n<p>We should never recruit volunteers with a sense of desperation to \u201cget more help\u201d as our motivation. Our pressure will leak and push people away. Instead, let\u2019s help them discover their purpose and invite them to a vision.<\/p>\n<p>A vision-based invitation to join a ministry team creates an opportunity for each person to participate in something larger than they could create or sustain on their own.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vision-Based \u201cRecruiting\u201d:<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>(<\/em><strong><em>Note<\/em><\/strong><em>: the word\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>recruiting<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0isn\u2019t always the best word, but we shouldn\u2019t be afraid of it either. So, I\u2019m using it interchangeably with\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>inviting<\/em><\/strong><em>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Starts with a vision<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Recruiting should never begin with a job description. That\u2019s important, but instead, cast vision for how people\u2019s lives will be changed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Is based on spiritual gifting<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Use a spiritual gifts test of your choice to help each person discover their God-intended purpose. This deepens meaning in each volunteer\u2019s life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Is redemptive in nature<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Knowing God\u2019s intended design for your life is intimately connected to salvation and spiritual maturity. He loves us so much He created us for a spiritual legacy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Values people<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 An invitation to serve on a ministry team always communicates value to a person. Inclusion communicates love, acceptance, and significance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Is strategic and empowering\u2013\u00a0<\/em>Christians are certainly free to do ministry on their own, but nearly always, it\u2019s more powerful and produces greater results when part of a larger team.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2) Be aware of any potential hindrances to recruiting<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Not wanting to \u201cbother\u201d someone<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 I have felt this many times over the years, thinking the person is so busy and I\u2019m burdening them with more on their plate. That is faulty thinking. This is a biblical invitation to God\u2019s greater plan.\n<p>Don\u2019t hesitate to ask, and don\u2019t decide for the person, let them choose.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Failing to see potential<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Be careful not to assume what a person can or can\u2019t do. You may be surprised by what God can do through a genuine invitation from your heart.\n<p>Practice seeing the potential in others through God\u2019s eyes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Fear of being turned down<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 They might say no, and that\u2019s OK, take the risk anyway. If someone says no, continue to love and value them just the same. Don\u2019t take it overly personal. (I use the word \u201coverly\u201d because when you care it\u00a0<em>is<\/em>\u00a0personal, but it\u2019s not all on you.)\n<p>Don\u2019t let the fear of being turned down when inviting someone onto your ministry team cause you to hold back and potentially rob that person of an opportunity that could change their life and the lives of others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>A history of \u201cinvite and abandon\u201d \u2013\u00a0<\/em>A healthy environment or culture of teams and development is important to people seeing the value and the vision. If there is any history of recruiting and leaving the person to figure it all out on their own, fix that first.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Asking the same people again and again<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 This is a natural and common temptation. They are your wonderful go-to team members. But resist overloading volunteers at all costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3) Make a personal investment<\/strong><br \/>\nThere\u2019s a direct relationship between the quality of time and care invested in a new volunteer and how well they do plus how long they serve. The personal touch in your leadership investment really matters.<\/p>\n<p>This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean an overwhelming amount of time, they are busy too. But a heart connection showing that you care and are grateful they\u2019re serving on your team makes a big difference.<\/p>\n<p>The most meaningful investment you can make is to know each person who is directly under your supervision on a personal level. Find out, at appropriate levels, what\u2019s going on in their lives. Maybe there\u2019s a way you can be helpful, even in a small way, and you can always pray!<\/p>\n<p>One of my favorite quotes comes to mind here:<br \/>\n\u201c<em>People don\u2019t care how much you know, \u2018till they know how much you care<\/em>.\u201d<br \/>\n<em>John C. Maxwell<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>4) Make training a top priority<\/strong><br \/>\nNow that they know you care, it\u2019s time to show up with what you know and train every volunteer well.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers want to succeed in the area they serve, don\u2019t assume they know what to do or how to do it, train and equip them well. Create the right environment for training volunteers in order to realize the best ministry results.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll be candid with you, I\u2019ve visited churches where the training meeting for volunteers were last minute, ill-prepared, disorganized and the coffee and dessert was not good. Think of how the volunteers feel in that moment. Not only has their time been wasted, but the unspoken communication is that they are not valued.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase I use to paint a clear picture in my mind is, \u201cSet the table well.\u201d Meaning, be very prepared and communicate that each person is highly valued. Don\u2019t waste their time, make sure the content is outstanding. And when they leave, they should feel even more excited to be on the team.<\/p>\n<p>Qualities of effective volunteer training:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Relevant \u2013 Keep the training fresh and up to date.<\/li>\n<li>Practical \u2013 Speak directly to the actual responsibilities of the volunteers<\/li>\n<li>Inspiring \u2013 Connect the training to the vision.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>5) Recognize the value of systems<\/strong><br \/>\nIt\u2019s easy to dismiss ministry systems as unspiritual, unfriendly and something that slows you down. When in fact, they help you become more effective so you can spend more time with more volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>Three valuable benefits of systems in serving volunteer teams:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Systems help you stay focused on next steps<\/em>.<br \/>\nWhen everyone knows the direction and the next steps to take, confusion and frustration can be eliminated, and progress increases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Systems help you follow up more consistently<\/em>.<br \/>\nA follow up process to track things like engagement, training, communication and outcomes is invaluable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Systems help you scale your volunteer base<\/em>.<br \/>\nSystems help you move from inviting one at a time to inviting many to find their purpose and make a difference!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope this post is helpful!!\u00a0Use it for discussion with your team leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2023 Dan Reiland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5 Ways to Build the Size and Strength of Your Volunteer Teams By Dan Reiland Are your volunteer teams healthy and thriving? Do you have enough volunteers to adequately lead your ministries? What is your greatest pressure or challenge when it comes to your volunteer teams? Most of the church leaders I\u2019m talking with say <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/5-ways-to-build-the-size-and-strength-of-your-volunteer-teams\/\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":77487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3380,4661,276,266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-leadership-articles","category-resources-ndi","category-sunday-school-and-discipleship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}