Leading Volunteers Leading volunteers is one of the most critical things you can learn to do as a minister. This will determine the effectiveness of your ministry. And it is important that you learn how to do this effectively. This is the primary role of the pastor… to lead volunteers. Let me describe what Leading Volunteers is and isn't. Photograph is public domain. License info: All photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash. CREATIVE COMMONS ZERO: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Leading volunteers is… how the church works, how a pastor leads, the most difficult part of your job. Leading volunteers is how the church works. … it is the bread and butter of effective ministry. …. It is not about your church staff, it is about the people in your church. … many pastors fall short because they treat their staff like volunteers (assessing, hiring, firing, etc.) … when a church is doing great things it is because the people in that church have risen up to make Jesus know. Leading volunteers is how a pastor leads. . This is his or her primary function. … when you think of effective leadership, think of leading volunteers. Leading volunteer is the most difficult part of your job. … nothing will bring you greater joy or anxiety … getting people to do things comes natural to some of us… unnatural to others of us. … you owe it to yourself, your church, and your calling to get good at doing this.

Leading volunteers is not… a management strategy, manipulative, exploitative, or near-sighted, for everyone. Leading Volunteers is not a management strategy… … management is about limited resources, about control, about limitations …. Leadership is about going somewhere new, uncovering the unknown, and discovering what God would have you do Leading volunteers is not manipulative, exploitative, or near sighted… … many churches get a bad reputation for “using people up” … many pastors get a bad reputation for taking advantage of people … and many people have been hurt by the church because of this. ... We are not about using people up, we are about empowering them to fulfill God’s call on their life Leading volunteers is NOT for everyone… … leadership is not for everyone .l.. Leading volunteers is epically difficult and should not be taken on lightly … don’t just ask anyone to lead your volunteers… it requires a particular skill set and tact

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13 (read the verse and explain what it means) Your job is to equip the saints for the work of ministry… not just do do this ministry! Some of you feel guilty asking other people to do ministry… … you feel like it is what you get paid to do… … but this is not true… … Eph 4 is your job description…

The Model Lets take a look at the model It is simple but I hope that it will provide some unique insight to your current ministry perspective

Leading Volunteers Recruit Train Motivate motivation recruitment training Leading Volunteers Leading volunteers consists of recruitment, training, and motivation. Recruitment answers the question “why” and focuses on your mission. Training answers the question “what” and focuses on your vision. Motivating answers the question “how” and focuses on your culture. Recruit Train Motivate Recruitment answers the question why and focuses on your mission. Training answers the question what and focuses on your vision. Motivation answers the question how and focuses on your culture.

Recruit Just read the points… feel free to tweak or change. Recruitment is the acquisition of new volunteers to serve on your team. Recruitment answers the question why because you are speaking to purpose. Recruitment is based on the mission of your ministry and must be clear. It often requires a personal touch. Volunteers are the best recruiters for other volunteers. Be sure to invite the right people to the right ministry. Just because someone is willing doesn't mean that they are fit. This is not a task based step. People serve because of your mission, they are not drawn to roles or tasks. You must make your mission the number one draw for your volunteers. This requires you to have a clear mission, or purpose statement, for every event or ministry of the church. Don’t assume that your church’s mission is adequate to move new volunteers into new ministry positions. Just read the points… feel free to tweak or change. Block two emphasizes the “Why” connection. Block three emphasis the “mission” connection.

Train Just read it, change what you want. Block two addresses “what” Training is the development of new skills and techniques required to serve. Training answers the question what and deals with practical steps. Training facilitates the vision of your ministry and helps you accomplish goals. Training is the most concrete and practical step in the process. This is the second thing people think of when they think of volunteers. This phase of volunteer leadership establishes credibility for your team. Training is a what question that requires concrete answers. This cannot be an abstract part of volunteer leadership. Good training is practical, measureable, and easy to evaluate. Your training environments may be the best places to cast vision for your ministry teams. This is where you help people picture themselves contributing towards a greater goal. Make this an exciting part of your leadership training. Just read it, change what you want. Block two addresses “what” Block three addresses “vision”

Motivate Same thing, just read it, tweak what you want. Motivating volunteers encourages them to continue serving. Motivating answers the question how and addresses both values and systems. Motivation address the culture of your church which is a big deal. Motivating is not manipulating. Remember to show your appreciation in a variety of ways. We often stop at appreciating people in the way way we like to be shown appreciation. This is more than just an event. This is a question of how you treat volunteers year around. Your motivation plan must be value based and lived out… not just practiced. You have to create systems to reinforce your values. This defines your culture. Motivation is something you do out of church culture. This must be an expression of who you are as a church and not just something you do. This is the most magnetic part of leading volunteers and makes the other two steps easy. Same thing, just read it, tweak what you want. Block two emphasizes “how” … this is a bit unique. … we want them to see that how describes the abstract (value/belief) and concrete (systems/strategies) part of their church ministry. …. This connection between abstract and concrete makes us who we are … we need to know what our values are and make sure that we are incorporating factors that will encourage, honor, aknowlege volunteers and their work in the ministry. Block three emphasizes “culture” … this is where we close the loop and say that you motivate through who you are and not just through a once-a-year event … challenge them to personally embody their own church culture in this … they must become who they want the church to be.

Leading Volunteers Recruit Train Motivate motivation recruitment training Leading Volunteers Just review the model here. Read the boxes, keep it simple. Recruit Train Motivate Recruitment answers the question why and focuses on your mission. Training answers the question what and focuses on your vision. Motivation answers the question how and focuses on your culture.

How much time do you spend recruiting, training, and motivating volunteers each week? What percentage of your time should be spent leading volunteers in this way?

What are your next steps? When are you going to do them?

System Development Do it. 01 04 Repeat it. Evaluate it. 02 Improve it. 03 (Basic system development here) After you devise some sort of strategy you must DO IT. After you do it you must EVALUATE IT. After evaluate it you must IMPROVE IT. Then... Do it all over again. Don’t wait until your programs, or strategies, are perfect. Jump in now and let your thing grow. Let yourself, and your team, fail a little bit. They will make more proigess faster if you let the rubber hit the road.

Leading Volunteers Take a bow. Photograph is public domain. License info: All photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash. CREATIVE COMMONS ZERO: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/