I’ve written on burnout and church volunteer issues before, but the key to avoiding those issues is right-fitting volunteers and placing safe boundaries around their workload. In my experience, there are three parts (Recruit, Train, Retain) to this process, so I’ve included my seven steps to church volunteer training, along with of recruiting and retaining church volunteers.
7 Steps to Church Volunteer Training
1. Invite someone to learn with you.
There’s something powerful about being invited and asked to participate in something bigger than ourselves. Most of the best volunteers I’ve met at hundreds of churches came because someone asked them if they’d like a chance to see what it was like to do what we do!
When it comes to church volunteer training, your pool of current church volunteers are the best possible recruiters. Why? Because, chances are, they are friends with people similar to themselves. That means techies know more techies. It also means that your non-techie volunteers (more on that below) know people like them, too. Leveraging the spheres of influence that your church volunteers have is the best way to invite new people to your ministry.
Another important recruiting tip is to find college interns, stay-at-home moms and retirees who have the time to give on a Monday thru Friday basis. Unlike your other volunteers with full-time jobs, these folks have more flexible schedules and can help you with a host of necessary areas including volunteer scheduling, administrative support, copywriting, organizing, documenting and encouraging other volunteers with handwritten notes.
I have had men and women help me out during the week so that I was freed up to do the work that only I could do instead of work that anyone could do. One of my best volunteers was a brilliant administrator; she just kept me organized and helped me with the myriad of daily tasks that I didn’t like or have the time to do.
RELATED: How to Use Interns
When you use interns, keep a log of what they do and give them the chance to apply their time and effort towards their high school or college credits. It may mean you need to go and visit with their high school counselor or college professor, but those real world on-the-job training hours can result in applicable hours towards their degree.
2. Guide someone through the process.
In church volunteer training, initiate them slowly through the ropes and give them a lot of freedom to watch and observe. There’s a great deal of safety in knowing that an invitation to come into the tech booth has no expectation for them to perform. If possible, have a trained techie with the observer to point out what’s happening and to answer their questions. De-mystifying the tech is a big part of alleviating their fears.
3. Encourage those who have a giftedness at certain tasks or in certain areas.
We all love hearing when we’ve “got it” and like to know we’re doing something well (or have the potential to do so). Your best volunteers will “own” their role, taking your ministry to new heights because of their joy, passion and talent! Plus, really happy church volunteers are also highly motivated volunteers who show up early and stay late.
