How do you raise the value of volunteering? – by Tony Morgan
How do you raise the value of volunteering?
Over the last several months I’ve had the opportunity to visit churches, consult with churches, and work at a couple of churches. I’m guessing I’ve had the opportunity to see the inner-workings of more churches in the last year or so than most folks get to see in a lifetime. Here’s one conclusion that I’ve arrived at: Many churches don’t get volunteers. You’d think churches, of all institutions, would have this one figured out. But many don’t. With that, I’m going to offer a series of posts this week on volunteers in the church.
The series begins with an interview with Ritchie Miller, the senior pastor of Avalon Church in McDonough, Georgia. Of all the churches I’ve worked with in the last number of months, Avalon has the highest percentage of people serving in volunteer roles. With that in mind, I decided to ask Ritchie for the inside scoop. Here’s what he had to offer:
TONY: First of all, tell us a little bit about Avalon Church.
RITCHIE: My wife, Kim, and I started Avalon Church eight years ago with nine couples. From what I have learned about church planting, we did lots of things wrong. We met with our core group for only five weeks, and then we launched the church. In the first two years, we met in four different locations. After I started getting some coaching, we began to grow. We still meet in a rented facility.
I am not too fond of trying to describe our church in terms like “contemporary,” or “emergent,” or “missional,” or “attractional.” We are trying our best to be a church that is committed to living out the Gospel in word and deed while creating a safe place for people to experience God’s grace and to live in rhythm with God through a lifestyle of repentance. Hopefully that does not sound too corny or like we are trying to fit into a particular church subculture.
TONY: How do you explain that high commitment to serving at Avalon?
RITCHIE: That is a great question. Our weekly attendance average for 2009 is 1,419 and we have 602 active adult volunteers. That does not include the middle and high school volunteers. That’s about 42% of our average attendance. I think there are a few things that help us get as many involved as we do:
* It’s a part of our discipleship strategy. People always ask what we do for discipleship. We believe that being a disciple is more than just sitting and learning facts about the Bible. So we simply expect people to serve as a volunteer in a ministry. It is a value we hold high.
* We talk about it a lot. We work on a communication plan that emphasizes certain things on a regular basis; giving, baptism, small groups, volunteering, etc. I talk about it in my sermons, and we have an organized plan to communicate these ideas throughout an entire service on a regular basis.
* We keep it simple. We decided a long time ago that we would not have 500 ministries but that we will have only a few that we do well.
* We try to keep easy entry points into ministries. We have beginning levels for volunteering in every ministry, and we try to keep it simple. We try to make a clear job description for every position that is short and easy to understand.
* We emphasize the recruitment process. Every staff member and every ministry leader knows that recruiting volunteers is one of their main jobs.
* We try to keep it fun. I think that serving God is fun, and we try to celebrate and have fun doing it.TONY: Has your strategy for encouraging people to volunteer changed at all since you planted the church?
RITCHIE: It definitely has. When we were first starting, I thought that the best way to recruit volunteers was to talk about our needs from the stage. That was a disaster. I am not sure we ever got anyone to stick as a preschool volunteer because we told people about our shortage of volunteers. We don’t ever do that now. We talk about big picture things like the importance of volunteering. We show video testimonies of the positive changes in people’s lives. We celebrate the wins. And I preach about it, but we never use the stage to try and recruit people for a particular ministry. We have also simplified the process of getting information to people on our “communication cards” and on our website.
TONY: Volunteers are obviously important for the church, but why do you consider serving to be important for the individuals who volunteer?
RITCHIE: Because of what it does for them. It changes their life. They can’t be a growing, maturing Christian without it. It connects them to friends and the church. It adds value and meaning to church membership. I think it creates fellowship at the highest level when you serve shoulder-to-shoulder with someone else to reach others and minister to them. It brings unbelievable joy.
TONY: What encouragement would you give senior pastors who are wanting to raise the value of serving in their churches?
RITCHIE: Keep it simple. Preach your announcements. Celebrate with your people and make it exciting and easy to serve. I have heard lots of pastors say that they do not think people are committed today. I disagree. I think people are willing to give their time to a worthy cause when: (1) it is clear how they can get involved, (2) it’s clear what the value is, (3) they feel like they are making a difference, and (4) you celebrate with them.
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How can staff leaders set volunteers up for success? by Tony Morgan
How can staff leaders set volunteers up for success?
In this second installment in my series on volunteers in the church, I decided to do a little undercover investigation. I found an individual giving considerable amounts of time to a church in a volunteer leadership role. To get this top secret interview, I promised not to divulge his/her identity or the name of the church.
TONY: Why do you volunteer at your church?
UNNAMED VOLUNTEER: My volunteering begins with my basic belief in Christ. If what I believe is true, it changes everything. My purpose is to seek to understand the gifts I’ve been given and how to best apply that to my day-to-day living to help people take steps toward Christ. By volunteering, I have the opportunity to do this. Whether it be in media productions, leading a small group, or leading a team of people to push a new initiative, my drive to volunteer is a sense of fulfilling the purpose God has for me. Without the foundation of faith, volunteering would probably be more selfish in nature.
TONY: How did you land in your current volunteer role?
UNNAMED VOLUNTEER: My latest volunteer role really stemmed from pursuing my strengths over time and working to be a reliable volunteer. As a volunteer director, I was specifically asked and recommended for the role because of my work experience, my years of previous volunteering, and working hard to respect and be in alignment with our leaders at our church.
TONY: You have a full-time job. You’re a spouse and parent. How many hours a week do you serve and how do you make time for that?
UNNAMED VOLUNTEER: Depending on the week, volunteering can encompass 5-20 hours per week, typically averaging 12-15 currently. Whenever possible, I look to find ways to include my family in what I volunteer for and create overlaps. There was a point in time I asked a question to myself, “What are the least productive five hours in my week? Could I exchange those for something of greater purpose and value?” My [spouse] and I talk about our commitments first. We work together to find balance and manage the give and take of volunteering.
TONY: What are some things staff leaders can do to set volunteers up for success?
UNNAMED VOLUNTEER:
* Value their time. Don’t create opportunities to serve that are mismanaged with people standing around with nothing to do, or simply giving people busy work. Have a clear plan with real initiatives and tasks to get done.
* Communicate the vision. Over time, volunteers can become numb to what they do and miss the impact of what they’re doing. Remind them, “Because of what you’re doing, more people are going to be able to _______.”
* Give them guardrails they can operate within. Are there budget limitations? Places we can’t go? Things we shouldn’t say? When people are volunteering their time, allowing them to screw something up because they weren’t given some guardrails can deflate them and render them powerless.
* Really be a study of your volunteers. Work hard to make sure they are serving in an area of passion and giftedness. Many of us are blind to some of the things we naturally do well. If you can help us find those things and redirect us to other areas where we can serve, it will create huge divendends. The opposite is true too. Pushing people into positions because you’re more worried about getting the task done instead of whether or not it’s a good fit can suck the life out of your volunteers.TONY: And, more specifically, what can staff leaders do to better empower volunteer leaders?
UNNAMED VOLUNTEER:
* Leaders can lead when they know they have your support and room to experiment. They need room to fail versus being micro-managed and having to be overly cautious. Our nature is to want to have control over everything, especially in ministry. What are ways you can give freedom to great leaders who may do things differently but could surprise you with greater results than you imagined?
* Pick a few big, hairy, audacious goals and appoint a volunteer leader to climb the mountain. Allow a volunteer to have that opportunity rather than hiring a staff person. Creating a culture to first choose volunteers instead of adding staff empowers people to have a direct hand in the ministry being accomplished. The greater your ability to effectively give away ministry to volunteers, the greater the engagement of the people in your church.
* Tell them the non-negotiables, the guardrails, up front. Cast the vision of where you want to go, and then get out of the way.
* Be available as needed to give input, assess and brainstorm with your volunteer leader. There are times when I simply need to review a bulleted list of questions and thoughts with a staff member so I can confidently keep leading and pushing the vision.Are there any unpaid servants in the crowd? If so, what’s your reaction to this interview? Where do Unnamed Volunteer’s thoughts resonate with you? Do you take exception to anything that was shared?
