Now, open your eyes. You aren’t dreaming. In fact, this can become a reality at your church with a few tweaks or additions to your follow-through with volunteers. Since churches need many hands to work effectively, ministers are often quick to recruit volunteers but may forget to notice them, thank them, and express appreciation for them.

Doesn’t it feel good when someone notices your work and thanks you for your contribution? You might receive a thank you when you help a family member. It might be a friend who thanks you for being a good listener. 

Some amazing things happen internally when we receive appreciation.

Here are just a few of these reactions:

• First, our brain releases a feel-good hormone, which helps us to feel happy and calm.
• Next, our stress level decreases.
• Finally, we want to continue the thank-you-worthy behavior. 

As an elementary teacher, I recall an almost magical trick to help student behavior improve. It’s pretty simple—notice and celebrate the students who are following directions, and other students will emulate that behavior.

While ministry involves adult volunteers rather than children, the principle remains the same. When we express appreciation for our volunteers, they feel valued, their stress levels decrease, and they are inspired to continue serving with joy.

10 Practical Ways to Show Volunteer Appreciation

With Volunteer Appreciation Week just around the corner (April 20th-26th), here are 10 creative ways to celebrate your volunteers: 

1. Candy Bar Surprise: Set up a colorful Candy Bar with a sign that reads: Thank You, Volunteers! Provide snack-size candies and small bags or mugs so volunteers can fill them up as a sweet token of appreciation.
2. You’re So Sweet! Dessert Table: Host a dessert table with mini treats and a sign that says: You’re So Sweet! Encourage volunteers to enjoy a well-deserved indulgence.
3. Care & Prayer: Dedicate a moment during a worship service to pray over the volunteers, asking for God’s continued guidance, strength, and blessings in their lives.
4. Brag Bag Shout Outs: Include a Brag Bag section in your ministry newsletter, bulletin, or social media. Feature a few volunteers at a time or mention some collective things that make you want to brag about them. 
5. Thank You Card: Write a personal thank you card to each volunteer, stating a few reasons why they help your ministry run smoothly. 
6. Volunteer Appreciation Meal: Set a date and time, send invitations, and have a meal catered (by a restaurant or some great cooks in your congregation) to thank your volunteers with a yummy meal.
7. I Spy: Encourage team members to play “I Spy”—whenever they witness a fellow volunteer doing something great, they write it down and pin it on an I Spy bulletin board. Share these moments in newsletters or during meetings!
8. Coffee & Cocoa Bar: Set up a coffee and hot cocoa station with flavored creamers, sweet mix-ins, and sprinkles. Leave a note: You are our pick-me-up every Sunday—enjoy one on us!
9. Use Your Words: Instead of assuming volunteers know they’re appreciated, tell them! Speak directly to them, share what you admire, and highlight how their efforts make an impact.
10. Merci!: Place a sign on the wall that says Thank You in various languages. Teach each children’s or youth ministry class to say thank you in one of the languages. Invite them to use their newfound language to say thank you to each volunteer they see on a specified Sunday. 
    Here are some examples:

Appreciation All Year Long

While Volunteer Appreciation Week is great, we can be sure to spread the love throughout the year. Here are some ideas to thank your volunteers throughout the year:

• February: Valentine’s Day: Grab some heart cut-outs and show your volunteers some love with handwritten thank-you notes. You can even encourage others in your ministry to write a note to your volunteer team members to express their gratitude for the team. 
• March/April: Easter: We all love Easter surprises! Attach a note of thanks to a small, sweet, Easter treat.
• May: End of School Year: They made it! Celebrate making it through the whole school year. Share a meaningful prayer of thanks with your volunteers for their dedication throughout the year.
• August/September: Kick-Off Encouragement: We’re back! During your volunteer training meeting, begin with a few stories of impactful volunteers and share how valuable they are to your ministry. 
• October: Light up the Ministry: Share Matthew 5:16 on a printed note: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Attach a mini flashlight or candle as a symbol of their impact.
• November: Season of Gratitude: Take time during this thankful month to send messages, emails, or even small gifts to express appreciation.
• December: Christmas Cheer: A simple Christmas gift will show your volunteers how much you appreciate them. Consider a $5 gift card to a local coffee shop or a useful item with your ministry’s logo. 

Are you looking for a few new recruits to appreciate? Check out this free Volunteer Recruitment Guide. When appreciation is woven into your ministry culture, volunteers feel seen, valued, and motivated. They become more engaged, more committed, and more likely to invite others to serve alongside them.

After all, regular appreciation isn’t just about retention—it’s about creating a joyful, thriving ministry where people love to serve. So, start today. Notice. Thank. Appreciate. Watch your volunteer team grow—not just in numbers but in passion and purpose.

Elaine Pendergrass

elaine.pendergrass@ministryarchitects.com

Elaine comes with a wealth of knowledge about teaching and learning, child development, and children’s discipleship. She holds a B.S. in Elementary Studies and an M.A. in School Administration, both from Gardner-Webb University (Boiling Springs, NC). Elaine has devoted her career to education and children’s ministry. She has served both in public and private schools as an Elementary teacher, Instructional Specialist, Preschool Director, and Head of School. She served as a Children’s Minister at two large churches in Houston, TX. Elaine is passionate about loving children, making disciples, and equipping families to raise their children in faith. Elaine and her husband David have two beautiful children, Hayden and Julia.

The post Volunteer Appreciation Week 2025: Don’t Miss It appeared first on Ministry Architects.

Read each statement and determine how true it is for your church or ministry. Then, add up your points to learn just how full and fulfilled your volunteers are:

100% true 5 points

Mostly true 4 points

Somewhat true 3 points

Mostly untrue 2 points

Not true at all 1 point

1. Our roster of volunteers is 90% full at any given time.
2. We know exactly which volunteer positions need to be filled right now.
3. We follow the same tried and true strategy for recruiting volunteers each year and across all departments.
4. All volunteers are trained and know what their responsibilities are.
5. Our volunteer structure includes leaders and leaders of leaders.
6. Our volunteers are growing in their roles and some stay in the same role for years.
7. Each volunteer has a job description that is updated each year.
8. We have a plan for when a volunteer doesn’t show up.
9. We know that at least 90% of our volunteers are living into their God-given gifts and talents in their volunteering.
10. When a volunteer position opens up, we have a list of people to contact.

Add up your score to see how you’re doing. And remember: no matter where you land, we’d love to hear about it! Sign up for a free coaching call to learn a couple of quick action steps that are guaranteed to get results.

10-15  – You most likely are feeling the pressure of running ministries without adequate volunteer support.

In addition to doing most of the work yourself, you may find yourself scrambling to find help at the last minute. Most likely, you are feeling desperate, discouraged, and exhausted. You are ready for significant change. Many churches have found relief from this stress through our volunteer matching tool, The Volunteer Accelerator. Sign up for a free demo today to see if it can help you, too. 

15-25 – You are experiencing the pressure of week-to-week volunteer recruiting.

You’ve got a couple of volunteers you can count on but you’re also spending several hours each week filling in the gaps. You most likely call on the same faces over and over which might have your volunteers feeling tired and wondering when they can take a break. You need a strategy that gets you out of the cycle of weekly recruiting and back to running a life-giving ministry. We recommend that you consider signing up for our four-week Volunteer Intensive. You will learn and implement a tried-and-true system for getting all the volunteers you need.

25-40 – You’ve got some volunteers you know you can rely on, and many of them are feeling fulfilled in their roles.

Occasionally, you’ve got some last-minute recruiting to do but, for the most part, volunteers are recruited, trained, and deployed into life-giving roles. If you don’t have a clearly defined system for recruiting that includes a list of potential volunteers to call when you have an opening, we recommend you download our volunteer megaboard with instructions to help you find all the volunteers you need.

40-50  – You’re probably feeling pretty confident about your volunteer situation, your teams are full – or close, and your volunteers are fulfilled in their roles.

If this is you, we’d love to meet you and share a couple of actionable steps that will help you continue strengthening the sustainability of your ministry.  Click this link to be connected with a coach who is ready to talk about volunteers.

The post Volunteer Inventory: Just how full and fulfilled are your teams? appeared first on Ministry Architects.

This is what it had come to.

I was hoping that my lament about the disorder in our basement would eventually lead to one of my children volunteering. As the father of four, didn’t I know better? How could I be so delusional to think that one of them would suddenly succumb to my cries with a sudden joy for volunteering? I could have made my son clean the basement. But I ended up just paying one of them and the work was completed in a couple hours. 

I’m not sharing this with you in the hopes of getting nominated as Parent of the Year. I’m just confessing that sometimes I solve problems with unhealthy, unsustainable methods. 

How about you?

In our churches, we are experiencing a particular flavor of the Great Resignation that so many are talking about. Yes, we have paid staff who are resigning. But the particular flavor that I’m calling out is the decline of our volunteer base. Our people are not coming out of the pandemic starving for things to do. They aren’t jumping back into all of their old roles and we don’t find ourselves with new volunteers breaking down our doors. Why aren’t people volunteering? What should we do? How can we avoid falling into the trap of unhealthy, unsustainable coping methods?

After many conversations with fellow pastors and church consulting clients, I have noticed the same four reasons keep popping up. And I have some ideas on how your church can try to respond to each.

1) “I Don’t Have Time”

People often tell their ministry leaders that they don’t have time to help at the church because they are too busy with other commitments. They list all of the other activities that they or their family are involved with. Their list disproves their point. It isn’t that they don’t have time. It is that they have chosen to give that time to something else. On some level, the church activity just doesn’t seem worth it. I would guess that if you offered $30,000 college scholarships to any family who volunteered in your youth ministry, many of you could fill your vacancies. Oops! There I go again, just like the $20 basement cleaning solution. 

The “no time” reason is a value reason. They don’t value the opportunity that you are offering.

TRY THIS:

Make it a point to regularly communicate the value of your ministry volunteering opportunities. What is a result or impact that you can lift up when celebrating your current volunteers and recruiting future volunteers? Invest time in communicating the value of your ministries so that potential volunteers can know why they should value them, too.

2) “It’s Just Not My Thing”

Some church leaders are hearing back from their people that they just aren’t interested in any of the activities of the church. This often comes up when we try to recruit younger generations to be part of established ministries that the older generations want to hand off. And, sometimes, ministries just lose their following.

TRY THIS:

First, consider pausing or stopping the ministries that are constantly short of volunteers. The lack of interest may be a sign that this ministry is no longer aligned with the heart of your church. Or you need to try something else. Next, take time to find out what does interest these people. Many churches have started using Ministry Architects’ Volunteer Accelerator tool to help connect people’s interests with ministries that are actually a good fit for them. We need to believe that God has equipped people with interests so that they can serve. We should not fall prey to thinking that people need to bend their interests to fit our church volunteer needs or keep alive something that might need to be laid to rest.

More Volunteers. Guaranteed.
Learn more about the Volunteer Accelerator here.

3) “I’m Really Not Good At That.”

Some people have really low self-esteem. They look at their lives in comparison to the picture-perfect Instagram snapshots of their neighbors and the insecurity creeps over them. The church should be the place where people feel the immeasurable value they have as creations of God. But instead, so often the church just becomes another place where people see superstars outshine them. So, they get caught in the same unhealthy comparison trap that keeps them from contributing anything at all.

TRY THIS:

Find ways to celebrate those who are volunteering without glorifying the volunteers who can do it all. If your church is still picking a “Church Person of the Year,” stop it. Instead, recognize the particular efforts of all volunteers with appreciation events and communications. In addition, remind people that God has plans for everyone in this beautiful, divine family. God makes people sufficient for the calling that He has for them. And the church gets to be a safe place they can discover that calling. We should be investing as much time in learning about the passions of the people as we do in filling the slots of our ministries.

4) “I Just… Can’t.” 

Suffering, wounded, and overwhelmed, the COVID pandemic has created many secondary pandemics, particularly in the areas of stress, anxiety, and overall mental health. Not everyone in our communities is okay. But every psychologist I know is taking appointments over 6-months out, because bookings are that high. Many people simply feel overwhelmed as the rush of normal life returns on top of the lingering pandemic stress levels. Our people are suffering, tired, and still wounded from what has been.

TRY THIS:

Take care of your people. Tend to the wounds of your church people even if it means you have to cancel several events or ministries. Be brave enough to risk the backlash that might come when holding the status quo gets dropped in favor of caring for each other. Perhaps it’s time to teach people how they can lean on their faith in troubled times. Jesus brings a healing presence in our lives. If we invest in a season of kind, steadfast love, there may be a harvest of renewed and healed people in our churches. We need to be seen as places where people find peace, not just worthy jobs to do.

Will these suggested ideas solve all of your volunteer issues? Probably not. But when you look at these suggestions together, they do paint the picture of a healthier, more sustainable approach to engaging volunteers to serve in ministry. 

Try all of these ideas and you may find yourself in a church that is regularly communicating and celebrating the impact that the church is making through volunteering in the name of Christ. That same church could be seeing the potential in every person and reassuring them that God has a purpose for them. This transformed church is also celebrating what God is doing through all the people, eagerly curious about the way God has gifted each person. This responsive church is looking at the suffering of the people and meeting them with compassion, grace, and healing. 

That all sounds like the kind of church I’d like to serve. How about you?

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The post <strong>Four Reasons People Are Not Volunteering and What To Do</strong> appeared first on Ministry Architects.

Finding the right volunteer recruiting strategies can be difficult. Raise your hand if you’ve heard – or said – something like this in the last few months:

“I am having to rebuild teams from the ground up. First, my older volunteers weren’t comfortable returning. Then, other volunteers chose to worship elsewhere. Now others long to simply experience the worship service. Oh, and my senior pastor keeps asking why we can’t offer kids ministry at BOTH services!” 

If you’re struggling to find new volunteer recruiting strategies in this season – you’re not alone. For most ministry leaders across the country, what was already one of our most daunting tasks seems to have become even more challenging in this post-Covid world. But I’m a “glass half-full” type, who loves to reframe challenges as opportunities. So, when I heard those words above spoken by a friend, my mind started thinking, “but what an opportunity!” An opportunity to…

• Engage new families in serving
• Discover new leaders
• Reimagine ministry culture
• Grow your leadership muscles

Now, here’s what I’ve learned about my optimistic outlooks: when we’re in the weeds of our work, a reframe isn’t always a breath of fresh air…

Unless we have the tools to truly turn our challenges into the unique opportunities they are. And in the case of my friend, myself, and many of you – I believe, we do.

In fact, I recently experienced The Volunteer Accelerator, a new tool developed by Ministry Architects. IMHO, this is THE game changer for volunteer recruitment.  

Here are five reasons I think that the Volunteer Accelerator is the BEST TOOL for recruiting church volunteers: 

1. A simple four-minute survey allows your congregation to discover volunteer roles that align with their interests and talents. Better fit = happier, longer serving team members. Win!
2. Additionally, that same survey creates a database that allows you, the leader, to easily discover people best suited for specific roles. So, no more “hunting for a needle in the haystack” recruiting! Focused conversations = faster placement and stronger teams. Double Win!
3. In truth, 80% of your church won’t fill out a card, visit a lobby display, or respond on a webform. However, those same people are significantly more likely to participate in an online survey they can fill out on their phone during a service. More responses = more people to invite. Triple Win!
4. Likewise, most tools are one size fits all. Volunteer Accelerator, though, is completely customizable. Your volunteer roles + your survey questions = responses aligned with your church roles. Quadruple win!
5. With most tools, you need to read and interpret an instruction manual to use it correctly. As a result, you’re on your own to figure things out. (Envision: assembling IKEA furniture.) Not so with Volunteer Accelerator. This tool comes with a real live ministry architect to advise, guide, and encourage you, ensuring you actually implement it in your ministry. You + Ministry Architect guide + Volunteer Accelerator = more volunteers…guaranteed. Win, win, win, win, win! 

After all this, I couldn’t wait to get this tool in the hands of my friend – and I feel the same about you! I’d love for you to join a demo to experience The Volunteer Accelerator in action. I’m pretty certain you’ll discover its game changing potential, to engage more church volunteers than ever before! And, who knows, you just might adopt a permanent “glass half-full” stance around volunteer recruiting, too.

More volunteers. Guaranteed. Get a Free Demo Today!

——-

Melinda Kinsman is a staff consultant with Ministry Architects who’s been in vocational ministry for over 30 years. Transitioning from public school teaching in the early 90s, Melinda eventually became a pastor of children’s and family ministry, which allowed her to fully embrace her passion for equipping parents as spiritual leaders. In 2016, Melinda earned her Master’s in Strategic Leadership from Life Pacific College, feeding her passion as a strategic leader. You can read more about Melinda here and email her about her glass half-full ways anytime. She’d love it!

The post 5 Reasons The Volunteer Accelerator is THE Game Changer for Volunteer Recruitment appeared first on Ministry Architects.

Building reliable volunteer teams should be very close to our number one priority if we want kids to embrace a vibrant faith in Jesus and if we want to have a life beyond rat-race existence. The bad news? It takes work, intentional work and focus, LOTS of focus! The good news? If you do the work, investing the needed time, your life will dramatically improve, you will gain a pipeline of leaders and almost guaranteed, end those dreaded Friday/Saturday communications.

Currently, I’m serving as a coach/architect, helping a mid-sized church build sustainable kidmin systems. The church’s DNA hasn’t supported a healthy children’s ministry for decades. So when invited to this role, I discovered that every system, and I mean EVERY system, needed to be built from the ground up. Not a surprise, that included the volunteer teams.

For starters, I read, re-read, highlighted and underlined pages in Sustainable Children’s Ministry  by Annette Safstrom, a Ministry Architects lead consultant. Her book is my preferred go-to resource (right after the Bible!) for building a healthy children’s ministry. I also accessed some of Ministry Architect’s helpful free resources focused on team building. Armed with tons of prayer, experience from past roles, and Annette’s and the Ministry Architects team’s wisdom, I began building sustainable systems, including volunteer teams. 

Consider WHY volunteers serve… It’s all about relationships!  

Identifying the needed roles, creating job descriptions and recruiting to those roles are vital steps. If you’ve done that, congratulations! But it’s also wise to take a closer look at your structure, keeping in mind why volunteers say “yes!” to serving. We know that one of their primary motivations is to experience stronger relational connections with others in the church. Imagine your various volunteers on a Sunday. Is it possible for them to show up, serve and leave, without having meaningful interactions with other team members?

If your volunteer team is depending on you as their sole point of relational connection, you’ll fail them. If the ratio is one of you to 15, 20, 50 others, you lose!
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Those you’ve worked so hard to recruit and train won’t feel connected to the ministry or to the people they envisioned connecting with. The result? They’ll begin calling on Friday or Saturday to let you know they can’t come. They’ll show up sporadically. They’ll serve a while and then leave. And the crazy cycle is set into motion, yet again. 

We know it’s much easier to retain volunteers than to continually have to replace them. And, we know that a reasonable span of care, the number of people with whom you can have meaningful, caring relationships is limited… most research says 8-10. So how do you build a system that creates connection and provides a reasonable span of care for you and others? Through volunteer coaches. These are high-level leaders who lead teams of leaders, prioritizing building community and relational connections within the team.

What do coaches do?

• They connect with leaders during team huddles on Sundays or midweek, offering support and relational connection while leaders are serving. 
• They are aware of what’s happening in the leader’s life apart from serving and communicate needs, occurrences with you. (i.e. death of family member, diagnosis of illness, moving, etc.)
• They communicate regularly with their assigned team, noticing wins and sharing ministry vision they’ve received from connecting with you.
• They commit to meeting in person with each team member once every six months for the purpose of connection and gauging next growth steps.
• They help recruit, develop and train leaders. 
• They encourage connection with parents.
• They form your leadership team and are the ones you, as the pastor or director, disciple, providing the care and connection for them that you desire for them to provide your various teams. 
• Different from ministry directors, who typically focus on the ‘doing” aspect of the ministry, they focus on relationships, leadership and team development.

Word on the street is that teams who serve inside a coaching model have significantly higher retention rate than teams without coaches. They show up more often. They are less likely to call and cancel because they are invested…
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You might be thinking, “You’re crazy!  You’re asking me to recruit yet another set of leaders?” And, “That is a high level of commitment, I can’t get people to commit to showing up once a month!” You’re right! The coaching model does require a high level of commitment, but it’s worth it.  And, it’s been proven that asking for greater commitment results in gaining higher quality leaders who build stronger teams.

I’m convinced. How do I start?

I’m six months into my new assignment and I’m just now taking my first steps toward this goal. It’s taken this long to gain a sense of church culture and build some relational capital and trust.  Here’s what I’m doing:

Pray!  I have been and will continue to pray for God to faithfully provide the right people.

Discern why.

Why do you want these leaders? High level leaders respond to vision. They want to know, “Why is this important?” You need to be personally convinced that relational connection builds longevity. Be ready to share.

Discern what.

What ministry values have you established that you want your coaches to embody and replicate? For me, I am convinced that vibrant spiritual transformation for kids is best realized in the context of relational connection. I want my coaches to model this with those they are leading, which is then lived out in their leadership of children. Other values I want my coaches to embody include a vibrant and growing relationship with Jesus, and a deep value for partnering with parents and a  

Discern who.

Ask yourself:  “Who do I ask to cover the ministry when I’m away on a Sunday?” They might be the ones to step into this higher level leadership. Or, there could be leaders sitting in the pew who might not consider serving with kids, but would love to mentor leaders. 

Observe: Who does a great job leading a small group? They MAY be your best coaches as they replicate their leadership in others.  You might be thinking I can’t spare them as leaders. As their first task, ask them to recruit their replacement! 

Invite and keep inviting! 

Recognize this is a slow building process. I’m meeting  with a couple this week to invite them to this role. I’m not in a hurry, but I am focused and intentional.

And, repeat!

I’ll keep praying, discerning and inviting because I’m convinced this model provides the sustainability I long for and that I want to hand off to the leaders following me. 

Looking forward to fewer Saturday night calls and a transformed church DNA that values ministry to kids and hope you can as well!

The post Want Stable Serving Teams? Consider Volunteer Coaches appeared first on Ministry Architects.

You have just heard in casual conversation amongst youth workers in your congregation that the very fine college freshman young man who started working with your youth in the spring semester is now the unofficial “very fine prom date for senior girls.” He has three prom dates lined up already, one of which is past. How could this happen?!

And then you realize that it happened because you never told him that he shouldn’t, that operating as an adult amongst teenagers would be very different than simply being Mr. Wonderful Prom Date for teenage girls.

Many long-serving, well-trained volunteers know the rules of the road when it comes to serving with children and youth. But even the best equipped ministry volunteers need to be reminded, at least on an annual basis, what the expectations and ground rules are for serving in your ministry, not to mention Mr. Wonderful, who means well and will do a good job once he gets the lay of the land.

Your ministry needs a full statement of youth ministry personnel guidelines for staff and volunteers.
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Start with a sound child protection policy.

Since their introduction circa 1990, child protection policies (like “Safe Sanctuaries”) have become standard practice for churches who want to express a full commitment to the protection of the young people in their care from abusive situations and relationships. Instituted by Tennessee teacher Frank O’Neal, the resulting guidelines for churches and other organizations have addressed issues that have long hampered the credibility and effectiveness of faith-based ministries and, even worse, grossly impacted the lives of innocent children and youth.

Click HERE to explore information about “Safe Sanctuaries.”

But there are a number of other areas with which church volunteers should be familiar.

VISION – Spiritual, Scriptural, and Philosophical Underpinnings

Your volunteers need to know why you do what you do.
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They need to know the scriptures that inform that vision and the mission statement that expresses it. They need to know how the ministry operates and the spirit by which it does so. They need to know the goals you are trying to accomplish and how you will know when you’ve arrived.

If you don’t have a Mission Statement, set of Core Values, and Three-year Goals for your ministry, now is a good time to get those visionary ideas on paper.

ACCOUNTABILITY – To Whom You Answer – So when a problem arises or an incident occurs, to whom are your volunteers expected to turn? They need to know the lines of accountability – who’s the “boss” and who can help when they’re stuck.

SAFE SANCTUARIES – Being Familiar and Signing Off – Volunteers should receive training in child protection policies, they should become familiar with those policies, and they should affirm in writing that they have that knowledge.

REQUIREMENTS OF LAW – Abuse, Self-harm – Consult your state law. – Most, if not all, states have laws requiring reporting to authorities when persons in authority, including your ministry volunteers, have knowledge about things such as child abuse or likely self-harm, even disclosed in confidence. You should consult the laws in your state about what those circumstances are, and communicate these to your volunteers.

SPIRITUAL MATURITY – Sharing Your Faith – If yours is like most churches, you will have volunteers at a variety of spiritual maturity levels. Some could replace the best of your staff. Others are hanging by their spiritual fingernails just trying to figure it out week to week, looking to you for guidance. So set your expectations high, and many will live to reach them.

MORAL INTEGRITY – Setting an Example – You will want your volunteers to set a high moral example from which your teenagers can learn. And may the Lord save you from the one who falls from grace on a regular basis.

SOME SPECIFIC AREAS OF CONCERN

What are your expectations when volunteers drive their vehicles?

Do you have certain expectations if volunteers accompany a group of your teenagers to movies?

Do you want to address anything about when youth ministry personnel date others in the same role?

What specifics might you share about fraternization with youth?

How would you address a volunteer or staff person who shares about their personal issues with young people? In public? In private?

Won’t you want to address the implications of the use of social media?

… and there’s always more …

If you don’t tell them, they might not know, even Mr. Wonderful Prom Date and the mothers who suggested him to their daughters for this year’s prom.

If you want to see a sample of youth personnel guidelines, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about equipping your volunteers to be the best that they can be.

The post Equipping Your Volunteers appeared first on Ministry Architects.

There may not be an “I” in team, but there are two in limit! You see, limiting your ministry impact is easy: just try to do everything yourself. A good leader is a great fit for a group of twelve, but those who want to impact fifties, hundreds, and thousands will need a team.

To reach fifty people you will need to build a team. To reach 100, you will need to develop your team. To reach 1,000, you will need to empower your team to do the ministry without you.

Last week was spring break, and a lot of our team was out. With so many missing, I was responsible for more than ever. So I spent most of the day putting out fires instead of building relationships. I was working in the trenches instead of directing traffic, and too busy with tasks to invest in people.

A limited team means limited impact, and the best way to limit your ministry is to do too much yourself. Last week was a limiting week, and it reminded me of three lies we buy into that limit our ministry impact. Let’s take a look at these lies and how to overcome them!

3 Lies that Limit a Pastor’s Impact

1) If I want it done right, I’ve got to do it myself. 

This is the lie that keeps us from building a team. When we buy into it, we believe no one else can do what we can do. We put the weight of the ministry on our shoulders. The problem is it’s a weight too heavy for one person to bear.

The truth is if you want it done right, you need a team. No one person, no matter how talented, can pour into more than ten or so people. A team of ten can impact fifty though. So if you want to reach more people, it’s time to build a team.

2) That’s something only I need to do. 

Lie number two is similar, but just as limiting. Believing lie number one keeps us from building a team, but lie number two keeps us from developing a team.  Pastors who believe this lie don’t try to do everything themselves, but keep the most important things to themselves. 

The more people our ministries reach, the more we will need to trust others to do. Just this week a mentor reminded me: If anyone around you can do anything you do 75% as well, then let them do it. If they can do it at 75%, I can develop the other 25%. Don’t get me wrong, there are always things you will need to do as the leader. However, the key to maximizing your impact is keeping that list as short as possible.

3) If they can do it without me, they don’t need me.

This lie keeps the best leaders from going to the next level because it keeps them from empowering their team. The leaders with the greatest impact spend their time empowering others to lead instead of doing the ministry themselves. Developing leaders is only half of the battle. Empowering them to do the ministry in your place and own it is next level leadership.

The most indispensable leaders are those who can build a team, develop them, and then empower them to do the ministry they used to do. When you empower others to take your place, it doesn’t make you less needed, but more! The pastor who will impact hundreds and thousands is the one whose ministry becomes empowering others to reach the tens and twenties.

If you want to limit your ministry impact, buy into these leadership lies. If you want to make an eternal impact, build a team, develop people, and empower them to do high level ministry.

Which lie do you struggle with most? What’s your next step?

The post How to Limit Your Ministry Impact appeared first on Ministry Architects.

No, I’m not talking about prom-posals, or college acceptance letters.

But, it’s that same existential dread that sometimes stops me from pursuing volunteer recruitment with all my heart. As spring approaches, and I’m making plans for next year’s programs, I know that I’ll need to start asking folks to join the team and partner with our church’s youth ministry. It’s daunting. That empty recruiting board seems to taunt me.

At Ministry Architects, there are a ton of free resources to help you develop the systems to organize your recruitment. Yet, even when I have a system in place, there is also some hard work that has to be done in my own heart to prepare for and truly tackle recruiting volunteers.

1) Pray.

We love the children and youth in our ministries. We long for other adults in the church to volunteer with the ministry so that they can also see how amazing these young people are. God longs for the same thing! We can pray for God’s provision of the right folks to come alongside and volunteer. Prayer also reminds us that this work we’re going to do – emails, phone calls, meetings – isn’t about us, it’s about trusting that God moves hearts.

2) Remember: It’s not personal…

The hardest part of volunteer recruitment is bracing for the rejection. For every person who says they’d love to help, there are probably 3 more who already said no. My heart skips a beat when a new email pops up from someone I’ve asked to consider volunteering. “Did they say yes or no??”

Even when we logically know that those rejections are about the other person’s time availability, giftedness, or ministry interests, hearing “no” to our emails, calls, and conversations over and over can feel like a personal rejection.

So remember: it’s not you, it’s the Spirit at work in people’s lives that will move them to say yes or no to a call!

3)   … But make it personal.

Individual emails and calls will always go infinitely farther than a blanket statement in a newsletter or a bulletin. I can count on one hand the number of newsletter volunteer requests I’ve responded to. Typically, when I’ve volunteered for something, it’s because an individual person sent me a personalized note, telling me why I am the person needed for a role.

Even when you don’t personally know the individual well, you can always name drop your common acquaintance: “Miss Nancy told me that you’d be a GREAT Sunday school teacher!” It’s even more meaningful when it’s a youth who gave you the recommendation!

4) Stick to it.

Recruiting volunteers is a marathon, and never a sprint. Ask someone who’s run a marathon, and they’ll tell you about the weeks and months of training leading up to the race, and the perseverance it took, even on rainy and snowy days. Volunteer recruitment — not to mention development, training, and support — is never a quick job that’ll be wrapped up in a day. You might send 10 emails today, have 5 phone calls next week, and get 1 yes from that group. (I might be exaggerating a LITTLE bit.) And then you’ll start again to get the next yes.

Through that perseverance, all of the above steps will repeat themselves. As you wait, pray. As you send personalized invitations, don’t take the no’s personally. And then, do it all again.

Finally, trust that God will work in this process! God will bring the right folks to walk alongside your children and youth, even if they’re different people than you first imagined. God will remind you to trust in His provision and His love for His children.

Now, go forth and recruit!  

Some bonus Volunteer Recruitment resources and links!

Building Your Volunteer Team: 30-Day Change

Sample Youth Ministry Volunteer Recruiting Template

Volunteer Recruitment Process and Script

Volunteer Megaboard Template

The post Four Tips for Volunteer Recruiting appeared first on Ministry Architects.

I hear a lot of questions from youth ministry leaders I meet across the country. A few questions seem to pop up in nearly every youth ministry conversation though. These questions stem from common problems and tensions that we all face in youth ministry. I hear them from large churches, small churches, and all sizes in between. Youth ministry leaders across all denominations ask them. I even hear them from youth workers in both urban and rural contexts. I love these questions, and not just because they’re great questions, but because they’re questions that bind us all in the commonality of youth ministry. These questions prove to me that I’m not alone, and that we all face common problems that we can best solve together in this thing called youth ministry. They’re great questions, and I want to share what I’ve found about one in particular: “How do I find great volunteers?”

Now, to be fair, this is a big question that no one has all of the answers to. I don’t claim to have all the answers either. However, for this article I want to focus in on a more specific part of this question: “What makes a high capacity volunteer?” If we know what makes a high capacity volunteer tick, then it becomes easier to recruit them. When we know what makes them so high capacity then we can know what to look for when recruiting. So today I want to share five things that I’ve found in every high capacity volunteer I’ve worked with. I believe these are markers that you can look for that will help guide you to the right kinds of people to lead your youth ministry to the next level!

5 Things to Look for When Recruiting High Capacity Volunteers

#1: Doers Over Thinkers

When recruiting high capacity volunteers, look for doers. Strategic thinkers and highly intelligent people are great to have on your team. They have a lot to offer. They make you better. Here’s the deal though, by itself thinking is not enough. Analysis without action is useless. Ideas without implementation are a waste of time. You need action from your team. You need people who will roll up their sleeves and DO the work. So look for action oriented people.

The old adage is true: Actions speak louder than words. High capacity volunteers are always predisposed to be people of action. They’re doers, not simply thinkers. It doesn’t matter how many smart people you have serving with you if no one is doing the work. And let’s face it, the work of youth ministry is difficult and dirty work. We need doers in youth ministry. A person with a lesser idea that acts on it will make a greater difference than the person with a perfect idea that does nothing! We don’t want people who do stuff without thinking, but sometimes waiting for the perfect strategy will mean missing the window of opportunity. Its easier to get a doer to think than to get a thinker to do, so look for volunteers who will think, but won’t miss their opportunity to do!

#2: Owners Over Renters

High capacity volunteers are owners, not renters. Owners care more deeply because they have more at stake. Owners don’t just attend your church, they make an investment in it! The best volunteers I’ve served with over the years have all been owners. They go the extra mile and do whatever needs to be done because they feel like it’s their ministry.

Renters are different. We all probably have some renters serving in our ministries. A renter will do what’s easy, but never go the extra mile. They will do what they are told, but won’t take the initiative to do much else.

When recruiting volunteers for your youth ministry, look for owners. Look for people who stop to pick up trash in hall instead of just walking by. Look for people who show up early and stay late. Look for people who will ask permission to try new ideas rather than those who wait to be told what to do. When you recruit owners into your ministry you instantly get better, so recruit people who will make you and everyone around them better!

#3: Team Players Over Super Stars

The best volunteers are the ones who care more about the team’s vision than their personal vision. They are volunteers who seek after the team win before a personal win. Why? The reason is simple. These volunteers know that everyone gets better when the team gets better. They know they will only be their best when the team is at its best. They are team players.

Not all volunteers are team players though. Some are what I’ll call “Superstars.” Beware of superstars. So who are these so called superstars? Well, they are often some of the most talented and charismatic  people you will meet. On the outside they seem like they would be a great addition to your team, but please heed my warning: Don’t recruit them! Superstars seem like they are great on the outside, but their talent and gifts mean little if they are in it to win it. Superstars are not about making the team better, they are about making themselves better. They don’t work to advance the team, they work to advance their own agenda. The truth is that they tear apart great teams.

Now please don’t get me wrong, you want talented people on your team. Just be careful when recruiting them to make sure they are team players and not superstars. Your team will only be great when the team members focus on making it that way, and one superstar out for themselves can wreak all kinds of havoc. So, when recruiting high capacity volunteers, look for team players, not superstars.

#4: Contributors Over Questioners

This one is a small distinction that has incredibly powerful results. When recruiting for your team, look for contributors over questioners. The truth is you want people on your team who will ask questions. Questions and the people who ask them have powerful potential to make us better. The distinction between a contributor and a questioner is one of attitude and heart though. For instance, a contributor will ask tough questions in order to make the team better. They will ask questions because they see things that could be better and want to help the team get there. Questioners, on the other hand, tend to ask questions simply to point out what is wrong. Their questions are not designed to make things better, but to point out what is wrong and complain about it. Simply put, contributors bring solutions when questioners only bring complaints.

Recruiting high capacity volunteers is often about recruiting contributors over questioners. Look for people who care enough to ask good questions and take time to offer possible solutions. Steer clear of people, no matter how talented, that ask needling questions just to complain. Contributors are driven by solutions, questioners are driven by frustration.  A contributor will make you grow when a questioner will make you groan. Recruiting contributors is a great way to recruit high capacity volunteers.

#5: Lovers Over Fighters

Have you ever heard someone speak the phrase “I’m a lover, not a fighter?” The truth is that all lovers are fighters, but not all fighters are lovers. When recruiting for your team, look for lovers and not fighters. The difference is huge here. Lovers are volunteers who fight for people. Fighters just fight against people. Lovers will fight tooth and nail to do what’s best for the people they serve. They will fight for changes that make them personally uncomfortable if it means reaching students far from Christ. Fighters, on the other hand, just seem to like conflict. They fight for what they want, not necessarily what’s best for others. They don’t fight for people, they fight to win. You want strong people on your team who are willing to fight when necessary, just make sure they are fighting for people and not against people.

When you recruit volunteers, look for people who fit this profile. If you do, you will build an incredible team! What do you look for in great volunteers?

The post Recruiting High Capacity Volunteers appeared first on Ministry Architects.

1. Brag on them. Just as grandparents tell their friends how wonderful and talented their grandkids are, do the same for your volunteers. Brag in writing, to their family members, and in public settings. A little bragging goes a long way.
2. Give them treats. Find out what they like and surprise them. In Texas, Sonic is a big deal, and bringing someone his/her favorite Sonic soda, tea, or slush can mean the world to him/her. Candy, coffee, and other small treats offer an inexpensive, yet thoughtful, way to say thank you.
3. Leave a little note. Write a short note thanking volunteers for what they do. Be specific. Say things like this: I love how you make Bible stories come alive. Having you on our team brings us up a notch. Thanks for attention to detail.
4. Set up a coffee bar, hot cocoa bar, or dessert bar for your volunteer team. Be sure to include a sign that proclaims your thankfulness for the volunteers who serve.
5. Throw a party. Make your volunteer team your guests of honor, and make it a party to remember.
6. Say thank you. Sometimes we just get busy walking through classrooms and solving problems. Take a moment to stop and thank a volunteer.
7. Step in and help. It says a lot when a pastor (of any age group) is willing to do a thankless job. Change a diaper, take out the trash, or give your volunteer a restroom break to say thanks.
8. Send an unexpected text or message on social media. It’s easy to make ministry all business, but it is important to let volunteers know that they are not simply a tool to get work accomplished. So, with no strings attached and no opportunities to serve, send an electronic thank you.
9. Honor volunteers. Set aside a Sunday, or a week of volunteer appreciation. School teachers are honored for a week each spring, so why can’t we honor those who teach our children about eternal things?
10. Pray for them. Find out how you can pray for your volunteers, pray, and follow up by asking about the outcome of the prayer request. Tell them that you prayed for them.

Volunteers are a vital asset in churches. Without them, pastors (of all age groups) would be even busier than we already are. So, take a few moments this Thanksgiving to thank your volunteers.

The post 10 Creative Ways to Say Thank You to Volunteers appeared first on Ministry Architects.