How to Systematically Improve Your Church’s Ministry to Volunteers
Leading volunteers is challenging. It can even seem impossible at times. And the truth is, if you’re trying to do it without a system, it will always seem impossible. The good news is that it’s possible to improve your ministry to volunteers without having to give up another night away from your family.
Here are four steps you can take to systematically improve your church’s ministry to volunteers in a way that increases engagement and multiplies the number of people willing to serve:
1. Understand Your Existing Volunteer System
There are no universal solutions; there are only universal principles. Your system will be unique to your church because your church has different needs and resources. The first step in defining the system is determining your congregation’s status in how well you’re engaging volunteers. Once you have determined some of the needs present within your congregation, brainstorm a list of people who might be able to address them.
2. Outline Your Volunteer Engagement Strategy
After you have defined your church’s existing volunteer system, you’ll need to determine a plan for implementation and execution. Whether your church is large or small, finding a systematic way for implementing a strategy to enhance volunteer engagement will ensure your volunteers are serving in their areas of giftedness, receiving all they need to be growing, involved disciples of Jesus Christ.
3. Manage Through Online Tools
Many churches seek to implement processes without electronic tools because they fear technology will strip the heart out of the ministry. On the contrary, technology manages information and details to free you up for deeper relationships. It can help you track the status and involvement of every individual in your church. You can quickly identify those who are not serving, those who are serving in multiple positions, and those who are involved in leadership training. Online tools also allow you to communicate with individual volunteers or sub-groups. This becomes more and more important as your church grows.
4. Measure for Effectiveness
Though many people hyper-focus on data analysis, data truly is helpful in determining the effectiveness of every area of ministry, especially the development of volunteers. As attendance increases, the expectation is more people will become part of the volunteer pipeline. After implementing your new volunteer system, your church will begin to reap the benefits of a healthy culture of volunteers. Once this process is set in motion, however, you will need to consider ways to keep it in motion.
It’s time to take the guessing game out of improving the way our churches recruit, engage, and disciple volunteers. If you want to dive a little deeper into creating a systematic approach for your church’s volunteer plan and learn how to keep volunteers engaged, you can download our free eBook, “The Challenge of Leading Volunteers.”
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