Recruiting Made Easy: 3 Ways To Build Volunteer Teams

Protecting the children and youth we love is vital within any organization. The good news is that abuse is nearly always preventable! Recently we hosted a webinar that encouraged specific policies such as “The Two Person Rule”, implementing proper check-in and check-out systems, and establishing a security team. As important as these policies are, none of them are possible without enough volunteers constantly committed and present. As a pastor who worked at a church plant for 5 years, I personally saw the challenge of recruiting enough volunteers at each needed position so that our children and youth could be safe, our volunteers stay refreshed, and our church remain on mission. Simply put, the biggest challenge to establishing safe environments at your church is probably the lack of volunteers you have. For that reason, I wanted to give a few suggestions for how you can encourage more volunteer participation.

Tell A Better Story

It has been said, “If you want to change the world, tell a better story.” More than simply meeting a temporary need, each of us want our lives to matter. Be sure to tell a story when you recruit volunteers that helps paint a picture of “what could be.” Cast vision of what the ministry hopes to accomplish in the lives of many and how anyone can help be a part of it. Share how there can be a place where children and youth feel both seen and loved. Explain how God is the Hero of every person’s story and each of us gets to be the guide that walks with others to point them to Him. Have actual life change stories ready to share and invite as many people as possible to join you in helping change the world. As writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery explained, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” At the start, spend less time explaining policies and procedures and help many yearn for the vast and endless possibilities at hand when we serve others, together with God. 

Find A Friend

Friends don’t let friends serve alone. As you build a healthy volunteer culture, be sure to capitalize on the fact that people will always respond to personal invitations better than invites from the stage, email, or social media. Ask your current volunteers to pray and consider who they would enjoy serving with and empower them to reach out to extend invitations regularly. Couple this “find a friend” culture with simple safety procedures so that children are kept safe as potential volunteers shadow and have a great experience. If you do, it is very possible to double your number of volunteers! Safe Ministry is passionate about offering the most thorough and cost effective background checks and automated reference checks that get back to you quickly and completely digitally. This can allow a potential volunteer to be vetted with a background check and reliable references in under a week so you can get them shadowing with a friend quickly! 

Recruit Based On Giftedness, Not Just Need

In order to help the people we care for and lead make an even greater impact, we must help them both discover their gifts and help equip them to utilize them. When we have immediate needs within a specific ministry, the temptation can be to allow that need to drive the invitation. If we are not careful, people can feel that we want something from them instead of something for them. Alternatively, we should allow the desire to see others step into their giftedness to drive us. As we become aware of peoples gifts, passions, and stories (GPS) we can then help them step into the right ministry to serve. Having cost and time effective systems and procedures in place where potential children and youth volunteers can be vetted with background checks and automated references quickly so they can “test drive” a serving opportunity is a great way to see if their gifts line up with the chance to serve. Often gifts lie dormant until they are expressed. Offering a very short term commitment with an easy onboarding process can be a great way to encourage participation in serving and allow you to partner with your volunteers to guide them towards the area of greatest impact.

Everyone at Safe Ministry is beyond appreciative for all you do to help keep your organization safe and on mission. We want to continue to equip you to serve and love. Please reach out to us at any time so we can share more about all we can offer as we partner together.