4. Personal invites
It’s really easy to mass-invite volunteers to a training event, and we should do that. But we also need to include personal invites somewhere in the process if we want everyone to show up.
We’ve found the best way to motivate people to attend church volunteer training is through a personal invite. Many of you reading this have hundreds of volunteers and can’t imagine personally inviting them all to a training event. That’s okay, because you shouldn’t. Every volunteer’s point leader should personally invite them because they have an existing relationship and influence.
5. Follow-up accountability
Post-training follow-up is essential for attendees as well as for those who missed the event. If people don’t think they’re missed, they’ll continue to miss out on future church volunteer training events you plan.
6. Easy to attend
Training events need to be as easy to attend as possible. You can’t appease everyone, but you can do a number of things to take away people’s excuses for not attending. Ideally, you should provide child care and food. Also choose a convenient date, which requires some strategy: Make sure it’s far enough out for people to plan around and doesn’t conflict with anything else on the church, school or sports calendar.
7. Can’t-miss culture
The best way to have strong participation in church volunteer training is to give the events a “can’t-miss” feel. What can you do to make attendees glad they came? What will make them want to return for the next event? Suggestions include playing fun games, sharing encouraging stories of ministry impact, and fostering connections and relationships.
What other tips do you recommend for church volunteer training? Please share your suggestions in the comments below.
This article originally appeared here.
