One of the best ways to maintain a healthy volunteer base is, not just to continually recruit, but also to retain volunteers for the long run.
Of course, it is not an either/or strategy but a both/and strategy.
This post is about one simple way you can regularly encourage volunteers, an important ingredient in retaining them.
Volunteers who know they are cared for and feel supported tend to stick around for the long run and not burn out.
Here’s how to encourage volunteers (the first part is something you probably already do, but it is the second part that really makes this meaningful): Gather prayer requests from your volunteers AND follow-up later in the week.
Step 1: Gather Prayer Requests
You probably already pray with your volunteers before services, but are you writing down all the prayer requests?
If you are, then keep it up; you’ll need this information for the second step.
If you aren’t, create a word doc that says prayer requests a the top and has lines below for you to write requests on.
Throw that piece of paper on a clipboard and get the requests written down.
Also, make sure someone is responsible to do this, so that volunteers who are late are still tracked down and have a chance to share their prayer requests.
Step 2: Follow-up Later in the Week
Once you have a system for recording the prayer requests of your volunteers, here’s the part that makes it really meaningful.
Most of your volunteers expect to share prayer requests and pray, but what they don’t expect is for you to follow-up outside of Sunday.
This is as easy as taking 30 minutes to an hour on Thursday or Friday to let your volunteers know you’re praying and/or ask a question about their requests.
For example, if someone’s request was for a child who is sick, you could text them, Praying for Jimmy this week. Is he feeling better?
And that’s it (I told you this was super simple, although depending on how many volunteers serve at your church, you may need to layer this or pick and choose 10-12 volunteers/week).
How do you keep volunteers encouraged at your church?
This article originally appeared here.
