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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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Caton

Steve Caton

Steve Caton is part of the Leadership Team at Church Community Builder. He leverages a unique background in technology, fundraising and church leadership to help local churches decentralize their processes and equip their people to be disciple makers. Steve is a contributing author on a number of websites, including the Vision Room, ChurchTech Today, Innovate for Jesus and the popular Church Community Builder Blog. He also co-wrote the eBook “Getting Disciple Making Right”. While technology is what Steve does on a daily basis, impacting and influencing the local church is what really matters to him……as well as enjoying deep Colorado powder with his wife and two sons!

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

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