Day 2: Recruiting and retaining volunteers

Today we got to choose 3 breakout sessions we wanted to attend and so for the first one I chose something that I hope will be sort of pre-empting for my future ministry. It's what I've heard children's pastor's struggle the most with: recruiting and retaining volunteers. There were 3 speakers from different churches; Chapel, Mars Hill and one of the Willow sites. It was cool getting the 3 different perspectives.

Here are some of their helpful hints: Recruiting is about helping people find their position on God's team not about filling a spot on our team.

We need to have a magnet mindset. Ministry values should bleed from your recruiters
Always use the best recruiters for up front announcements
God is the one who prompts his people to serve
No where to fish and when to fish for volunteers
Exact needs should be made crystal clear
Train your teams on what to look for in future volunteers

To retain volunteers you need to start by looking at your ministry. Is it a great place, great people, great program, prayer, partnerships?

What's the joy level like? Do kids want to be there? Is it inspiring?

You need build into your leaders, appreciate your volunteers, remove obstacles when you can. To do this just ask them what would make their job easier and do what you can to make it happen. And smooth the way where you can...if volunteers are always late ask them if there's something you can do to help them out.

Also it's important to connect every task to the vision. At Mars Hill they use the statement Change a diaper, change the world. You need to remind volunteers of that and tell them stories that connect their service to the vision.

We must see ourselves as cultural architects. We need to build a culture of affirmation, recreation (people are more willing to serve where they're having fun), celebration (be the ministry known for partying), and connection (with God, to the vision and with each other).

I learned a lot in this session about recruitment and retention, but it was great being able to talk with the woman from Mars Hill after the session was done. I asked if she had any advice for me as I'll be starting out in ministry soon. She said the most important thing to do is to connect in a church who values its children.

I also talked to her about myself and told her that recruiting was a big fear of mine since I am so introverted and task oriented. Her advice was very beneficial to me in this. She said I should lead out of my strengths. That I should look for the best encourager and to train them as a recruiter. I would then be able to pour myself into them and encourage them, without being drained all the time. She told me not to feel guilty about the way God designed me.

Well that was the end of session 1 onward to number 2.