I remember when I used to think, how in the world are we going to generate excitement for our ministry environments if all we have on our team are “older” people. I recently was batching some volunteer interviews, and I received this question multiple times, “Do you think I’ll be cool enough for the kids?”
It’s definitely something that you are going to have to decided for yourself.
We aren’t a bunch of crazy, run around and scream people. In fact, I’m low-key most of the time, with an occasional #woot every now and then. But Switch for the most part is pretty chill. Our preteen ministry isn’t about who can scream the loudest or jump the highest, but it is about having a blast and learning to love Jesus.
So your older volunteers are wondering if they will be cool enough, what do you say?
1. Cool isn’t our goal.
I don’t recruit for cool, I recruit for helpful and good.
Can you be helpful to students and to our team?
Can you be good at your job or do you have a desire to be good at your volunteer role?
I also try to remind them that fun is a goal and ask if they like to have fun.
2. Who decides what is cool?
Some of these kids still talk about their pets more than anything else, and some are still Tim Tebow fans. Cool is different depending on who you talk to.
3. Here are my volunteer numbers…
Lastly I share with them that only 3 of my volunteers are under 30. One of them is married to me. The rest of my volunteers are older than 30 and most are over 40. This helps ease their concerns. Now these numbers are beginning to increase as kids that completed Switch are beginning to funnel back into our system when they get into high school, but still a low number.
I’m ecstatic that most of my volunteers are “older”, that usually means more dependable, more experience, and more wisdom. But ultimately I’m looking for great volunteers regardless of age. That’s my goal.
But in your world you have to ease the pain on some volunteers of not being cool.
What about you? Do you have a ton of “older” volunteers or “younger” volunteers? How is it a great thing and how is it something that you notice might be a bad thing?
