3. Define what you’re asking of youth ministry volunteers.
How are you defining what you want people to be part of? It can be a little intimidating if we ask people to teach Bible study for 10th graders on Sunday mornings…period. It can be overwhelming for people to commit to something quite so open-ended.
Instead, ask for a commitment for the school year, or your ministry calendar year. Of course, the goal is to have people sign up again next year and the year after that. LOL! But by defining the term of your ask, you’re probably more likely to hear a “yes.”
4. Remember that youth ministry volunteers are (kind of) an exclusive club.
Okay, you don’t want volunteers to actually be an exclusive club. You don’t ever want cliques in your church. That doesn’t help anyone. Yet you can’t just take the first person whose breath fogs up a mirror and make them a volunteer. We don’t just want warm bodies. But we also don’t want to so narrowly define who we want to serve that we end up with one “type” of volunteer.
You’re not just trying to fill spots. You’re looking for somebody who brings the table exactly what your students need. And that may be a 65-year-old retiree. Remain open to bringing in the best people for the job, no matter their life stage. Ignore whether they fit stereotypical youth ministry molds. Carefully and prayerfully bringing people aboard your team is the way to make sure the right people fill your roster.
Bonus tip!
Don’t wait to start! Otherwise, all the best practices go out the window as you frantically try to fill spots. Allow yourself time to be prayerful and reflective in how you recruit youth ministry volunteers. That requires more intentionality and discipline, but it’s worth it.
Learn more by watching this video from Youth Ministry 360.
This article about youth ministry volunteers originally appeared here.
