Managing Volunteerism

Management & Leadership in Ministry

Volunteers make or break the local church.

The local church is absolutely dependent upon the generous, competent, caring and faithful service of their ‘unpaid ministers/servants’.

Without them, the local church will flounder.

Managing Volunteerism

The Sad Tradition we have:

The pastors role is to do ministry (give, provide).

The peoples role is to receive ministry (hear, evaluate, consume)

Sadly the “Pareto Principle” is aliveand well in the church (Rule of Thumb)

80% of the work of God, is done by

20% of the people of God

Or stated backwards …

At any given moment at least 80% of the people of God are NOT involved in an identifiable, formalized, intentional ministry, either in the church or outside the church NOR do they sense the urgency nor responsibility to be engaged in ‘ministry’

Many leading Christians believe the church is presently experiencing/undergoing a

SECOND REVOLUTION

First Reformation:1350-1550: John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Martin Luther

Put the Word of God in the hands of laity

Primarily about beliefs & creeds.

Second Reformation:1990’s: Evangelicalism

Put the Work of God in the hands of laity

Primarily about behaviour & ministry.

Ministers in & through the ChurchAll believers are to be involved in ministry, as either one who serve in ‘vocational/paid’ ministry roles, or those who serve in ‘volunteer/unpaid’ ministry roles. Both roles are needed and of equal importance.

One of the principle responsibilities of those in ‘vocational’ clergy ministry (Titus 1:5, 1Thess. 5:12,

Eph. 4:11-12, 1 Pet. 5:1-3) is to help lay people ‘discover, develop & be deployed & supported’ in meaningful, front-line ministries, according to their spiritual gifts & callings (Rev. 1:6, 1 Cor. 12, Rom. 12:6-8, 1Pet. 4:10).

The BIG Picture

One of the dominant characteristics of thriving, effective, growing, leading edge churches is their radical commitment to ‘giving the ministry to the people.’ Great church leaders, make it their priority to discover, develop and deploy lay people by their spiritual gifts and passions at: home, work, worship & play as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The BIG Picture . . .

It takes ALL the people of God

to do ALL the work of God to

reach ALL the people in the

world.

Foundational Beliefs & Mindsets

Wise leaders in the church, believe in … - The priesthood of all believers (Rev.1:5-6, 5:10, 1 Pet. 2:5,9)

- All Christ-followers are given at least one spiritual gift, which is/are meant to be developed & utilized. (1Pet. 4:10, 1Cor. 12:7, Heb. 12:4)

- It is incredibly unwise to serve, lead and learn alone! (Eccl. 4:9-12, Ex.18:17-18, Lk. 10:1)

- The mission of God is too big for any one person. If you can accomplish the ‘vision’ by yourself, you likely don’t have God’s vision. We need each other & only all together can we accomplish God’s work. (1Cor.3:6, 12:1-26; Eph. 2:22)

Priesthood of Believers“God loves to take ordinary people

like you and me and do through them do extraordinary things! He does not need super heroes. He is looking for everyday believers, willing vessels who He can equip and gift.”

Wayne CordeiroDoing Church as a Team

Thom Rainer

Pastors must overcome the insecurity that says: “Nobody can do the ministry but I.” This attitude reflects a condescending view of laity or a fear that the pastor will be perceived as failing to do his/her job. Some pastors even fear that they will lose recognition and admiration if others do the work of ministry… they must be willing to relinquish control and hands-on involvement in every ministry of the church. Pastors must equip and empower others to do the work of ministry, even if they perceive that no one can get the job done as well as they can. The more ministry is shared throughout the church, the greater the opportunities for growth.

The Book of Church Growth. (188, 191)

“If the average church should suddenly take seriously the notion that every lay member – man or woman – is really a minister of Christ, we could have something like a revolution in a very short time.”

Elton Trueblood

Application of the “Priesthood of Believers”

to the issue of “Volunteerism”

Volunteers serve best, when serving in roles …

- consistent with their spiritual gifts & passions

- they have received appropriate training

- where they are serving in teams- where they have access to the

resources to succeed- regularly receive the affirmation

& encouragement of the paid clergy.

Managing Volunteerism :

Regardless of whether we manage in business or in Christ’s church, managers must ensure 5 things:1) Right people: having the right values

character, competence, chemistry

2) Right positions: serving according to their spiritual gifts, passions, experience

3) Right tools: Properly trained & equipped

4) Right time: to everything there is a season. “Understood the times” 1 Chr. 12:32

5) Right manner: serve with integrity, spiritual power, effective, safe

A High Level look at Volunteerism- usually women- generally over the age of 40- usually motivated to invest in something greater than themselves, make a positive contribution to the community

- realistically have 2 – 3 hours of available time, per week (usually max. out at: 5 to 8 hrs.)

- volunteerism is decreasing, due to changes in social demographics (i.e.: growth of single parenting, thus, less volunteer time available)

Additionally:- healthy, sharp seniors are a growing pool of volunteers

- flexible work times in the business world, has create new opportunities for ‘out of the box’ thinking about volunteerism

Implementation of Volunteerism

1) Insist that people serve in alignment with their gifts & abilities. Thus the need for both individual ‘spiritual gifts testing’ & an accessible/ up-to-date church data base, and job descriptions which identify which spiritual gifts are needed in order to serve well.

2) People respond best to ‘terms’ of service, such as 6 months or 1 year (vs. open-ended)

3) Volunteerism (lay-ministry) needs to be preached & championed by the lead pastor. About every 6 wks., casually highlight the expectation/ need for lay ministry in the church AND in the community.

Implementation of Volunteerism

4) Good idea to limit each volunteer to serving in ‘one major responsibility’ each year… while also permitting folk to also help in a few additional small tasks.

The mindset behind this is: don’t burn out the volunteer, & force the work load to be spread/ shared amongst many (broad base of support)

Recruiting Volunteers

A Systemand

An Eventand an

Indication

1) Volunteer recruitment as a ‘System’ rather than as an event. - What ongoing, well thought

through system / program do to you have in place that will help people to find their place of service in the Kingdom of God?

- In most churches the answer is: None!

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...a)Bi-monthly ‘Spiritual Gifts

Testing’

b) Data entry into a church data base

c)Ministry Leaders, when they need to find ‘volunteers’, 1st review the church data base.

d) Train & make available ‘coaches’ to help people find their area of service/calling

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...e)All ‘Ministry Leaders’ attend the

monthly “Welcome to Church” class for new people, to talk up their programs

f) Annual formal invitation to ask volunteers to ‘re-enlist’ in their specific area of service. Those who choose NOT to return to that area of service, are encouraged to ‘recommend’ someone else, to step into the vacancy.

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...

g) Every ministry is overseen by a ‘Ministry Team’ of 4 to 6 people, not just a one leader. This keeps the scope of service more manageable and thus easier to recruit people. Serving in teams also keeps team members encouraged, reducing drop-outs.

h) Annual sermon series on Lay Ministry & Spiritual gifts/passions/calling.

Value of Empowered Leadership Teams

“We have known for nearly a half century that self-managed teams are far more productive than any other form of organizing. There is a clear correlation between participation and productivity. In fact, productivity (and creativity) gains in truly self-managed work environments are at a minimum 35% higher than in traditionally managed organizations.”

Margaret Wheatley. A Hopeful Way Forward by Sally Morgentaller (178)

Gary McIntosh

Ask your ministry leaders ‘to find five other people who are willing to team with him or her to help build (their) ministry.’

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...

i) As part of the job description, insist that all ministry leaders recruit all their own volunteer staff (instead of putting the responsibility to fill empty areas of service, onto the pastor). There is a better ‘return’ when someone says ‘will you join me in making a difference’ instead of saying ‘‘will you do that job’ .

j) Part of the job description for every ministry leader, is to prepare someone to eventually fill the leader’s role (find & mentor a future leader)

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...

k) A formal system of in-house mentoring, especially in a ‘small group context,’ helps to identify future leaders & reveal hidden abilities & gifts (mentor has quarterly updates with pastor, to advise who they see as a potential ‘up-and-comer’).

l)Every May or early June, offer a ‘Ministry Fair’ in the church lobby (perhaps over 2 Sundays). All ministries set-up displays about ‘what they do’ & recruit future ‘attendees workers’. Develop a system for getting names & phone numbers of those who ‘visit’ the tables.

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...

m) In July and August, have a definite system of following up leads from the ‘ Ministry Fair ’ & provide for their formal training . . . Preparing them to begin serving in September.

n)At least twice a year, have a public ‘volunteer appreciation’ weekend/event. Make heroes out of volunteers, so that volunteerism is understood by the entire church family as a major “Core Value” and something fully expected of everyone. Regularly show genuine appreciation to your volunteers, privately/publicly.

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...o) At least quarterly or

bi-annually, provide a high quality volunteer training experience … intentionally and regularly add value and skills to your volunteers. Make these training events, open to the public (some new volunteers will likely show up, especially if the training is in an area that interests them, such as: ‘conflict management’, public speaking skills, planning skills, financial management training, parenting, time management, discipling techniques, evangelism methods, etc.)

Systems Thinking:Offer/provide for ...p)Every ministry needs to have a pre-

planned ‘First Serve’ place of service, so that a willing, but unsure volunteer can ‘try out’ a ministry for 1 or 2 weeks, in a meaningful way, without feeling any pressure to continue in that ministry if it is not a fit. Ministry leaders need to have pre-thought through what they will do with a ‘first time volunteer’, so that the volunteer has a meaningful & satisfying opportunity to ‘try-out’ a ministry).

Original Concept comes from “Willowcreek Community Church”

Recruiting Volunteers

A Systemand

An Eventand an

Indication

2) Volunteer recruitment as an “Event”

- No matter how good the system you have in place, there will be times when you and your ministry leaders will need to do some recruiting of volunteers (i.e. a former volunteer unexpectedly moves away, quits, needs to be ‘fired’ OR the ministry is growing and thus understaffed, etc.)

Volunteer recruitment as an ‘EVENT’

A. In this day and age, a job description is needed for EVERY ministry in the church, no matter how small. Let the

present overseer of the ministry write the first draft of the job description. Then the office staff refines it to bring it in line with the leaders objectives & to format the job description so that it follows a predictable model/format.

Job Description Format:- title of the position (positions need a descriptive title)

- list 2 - 3 primary things the role needs to achieve - outline the number of hours/wk. the responsibility will normally take to accomplish, and be specific that this is a volunteer role, not a paid position.

- list the personal qualifications & skills needed to accomplish the task (specifically the spiritual gifts).

- identify who the person will be primarily responsible to.

- list the ‘training’ that is required in order to serve in the position (initial + ongoing training; possibly a police check)

- page for the volunteer to sign outlining expected moral behaviour, doctrinal agreement, accountability, attendance, etc. (Covenant agreement with the church)

- state the ‘value’ added by this ministry to those who need this act of service (how does this role help ‘people’)

Personal Recruiting

Prayerfully consider who has the 5 C’s.

Do they have the right:

C haracter

C ompetence

C hemistry

C ultural Fit

C reative Initiative

Personal Recruiting

• Ask your office, pastoral staff and Ministry Leaders (including small group leaders) who they might recommend.

• Holding a church phone directory, ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to someone He may be wanting to engage in ministry.

• Make an appointment to talk privately with the person about ‘something important’ (no casual conversations in the church lobby) Set up a coffee mtg. in a neutral setting. You pay!

Personal Recruiting

• Start by talking about the 5C’s you see in the person … then paint a picture of how their abilities/ passions align with a service opportunity. END with painting a picture of what this ministry could look like (cast a vision). Be sure to talk about how the role fulfills the church’s objectives/vision.

• Ask the person to prayerfully consider accepting the invitation to help out for 3 months. Leave them a copy of the job description. Tell them you will be back in contact in 2 days.

• After 2 days, re-contact them & ask if they have been giving prayerful consideration to this role. Accept their decision.

If the ‘system’ in the church recruiting a volunteer has come up empty… then advertise:

-bulletin

-posters

-table in lobby

-drama /video during announcements

-ask congregation for suggestions on how/who to meet this need (reply card)

-pass around a ‘sign up’ sheet during worship

We Need YOU !

Recruiting Volunteers

A Systemand

An Eventand an

Indication

One Last Thought

3) Volunteer recruitment as an ‘Indication’

If the ‘System’ and ‘Event’ of volunteer recruitment still comes up empty … this may be an indication of one or two or three things.

Volunteer recruitment as an ‘Indication’

The task is too big/complex for a volunteer, thus the task needs to either …

a) Be broken down into smaller segments

b) Shared / split between people

c) It is time to hire someone to do the task

Volunteer recruitment as an ‘Indication’

That particular ministry has lost momentum & needs to be either permanently or temporarily shut down.

Note: most ministries have a “shelf life” expectancy of 3 to 5 yrs before needing a major overhaul.

Volunteer recruitment as an ‘Indication’

Difficulty in finding a volunteer for a particular ministry may be indicating the WAY you as the leader are managing that particular role or person, may need to be overhauled.

Consider: Perhaps you developed a history or reputation of micromanaging or undermining or ignoring the position/person?

A Word of Encouragement and

InsightIt is totally normal for 20% of volunteers to need to be replaced annually (death, moving away, illness, changes in home life & time availability, loss of momentum/interest, etc.). Don’t let anyone be discouraged if 1/5 of your volunteers turn over, each year … this is typically NOT an indication that anything is wrong in how the church is being managed or led.

A Final Word about Encouraging and Equipping Volunteers,

especially your Ministry Leaders

Ministering to Ministry Leaders

• Take them to Conferences (annual)

• Give them books/tapes/video/articles/web/magazine

• Go on an annual overnight retreat (big deal)

• Get special speakers/training (interesting topics)

• Specific Appreciation & Fun Nites

Ministering to Ministry Leaders

• Public Praise (pulpit, bulletin, caught doing something right)

• Private Attention (regular call, visit, pray & Sun. a.m.)

• Access to ‘inside info’ (I’ve been thinking about …)

• Thoughtful appreciations (Tim Horton’s coupons)

• Critical Issue: provide excellent PASTORAL CARE

But the most important thing you can do on an ongoing basis, is offer…

a monthly Ministry Leaders Mtg.

Ministering to Ministry Leaders

Time & Preparation

Takes Time to: - Solicit relevant information - Prepare the room - Arrange for food & soft drinks/coffee - Type up the agenda - Prepare a devotional thought - Prepare a ‘leadership training time’ - Sometime incl. a ‘fun activity’ - Send out reminder notices - Prepare info & discussion hand-outs

Takes Time to: - Solicit relevant information - Prepare the room - Arrange for food & soft drinks/coffee - Type up the agenda - Prepare a devotional thought - Prepare a ‘leadership training time’ - Sometime incl. a ‘fun activity’ - Send out reminder notices - Prepare info & discussion hand-outs

Praise… share victories, stories, wins

Publicize… inform, talk about upcoming events

Plan… proactively solicit input, advice, counsel

Play… something fun (incl. food, video)

Prepare… some type of investment in hearts, minds and/or leadership skills

Pray… no one leaves without being prayed for

Praise… share victories, stories, wins

Publicize… inform, talk about upcoming events

Plan… proactively solicit input, advice, counsel

Play… something fun (incl. food, video)

Prepare… some type of investment in hearts, minds and/or leadership skills

Pray… no one leaves without being prayed for

6 Components of a Successful

Ministry Leader’s Meeting