Posts Tagged ‘enlistment’
How’s your vision? September 24th, 2009
I’m continuing a series of post on what I’ve been learning about recruiting volunteers for children’s ministry. You can check out the earlier posts below.
“Help we need more volunteers!”
“How not to recruit”
A couple of weeks ago Rick Warren posted a tweet that went something like this,
“You don’t have a giving problem, you have a vision problem. People don’t give to need they give to vision.”
I’m not sure you could say that any better and with the situation many churches are facing in the current economy, his advice is even more relevant. As I was thinking about this tweet it occurred to me, the same thing is true with volunteers.
“You don’t have a volunteer problem you have a vision problem.”
If you want people to volunteer for children’s ministry you have got to lead with vision. Vision – not a mission statement. A mission statement is a goal, and it’s good to have a goal, but it’s your goal or your ministry’s goal. It’s relevant to you and your current volunteers because it provides direction, but vision is different.
Vision is your ability to see the future. To look beyond what’s happening right now in your ministry and see what could be. Before anyone else can see this future you have to see it so clearly that you can almost touch it and taste it. This type of vision will capture people’s attention and inspire them to action.
We talk a lot in children’s ministry circles about how parents are willing to get so involved in sports or school but not in church. Why is that? Vision! Every time my daughter get’s into her little ballet outfit or dances in a recital, I can vividly see her all grown up and flying across a stage in front of hundreds of people. Every time she puts on her backpack and steps out of the car for school, I imagine her successful future. Because of this, I’m willing to give my time and talent (and money) to help her succeed in these areas.
I think the truth is, sports, schools, dance – the reason they get parents attention – is because they’re telling a better story than we are. They present a brighter more tangible, more visible future.
If you want people to volunteer in children’s ministry, or any ministry, you can’t lead with the need, you can’t lead with your goals or even the “opportunity.” If you want people to join you in ministry you’ve got to tell a compelling, tactile, visible story that presents a future that people desperately want to see become reality.
I hear children’s pastor say from time to time, “I’m trying to discover God’s vision,” or “I don’t know what the vision is.” Of course you do! It’s what inspires you to do ministry week after week. It’s God’s call to ministry in you life. Think about it, children’s ministry is hard. It’s rewarding but there are many elements of children’s ministry that just stink (like diapers) but you do it – and continue to do it – and love it, despite all the hardship that goes along with the job. Why, because God has given you a desire and a vision of the future that compels you to keep moving. What you have to do is to dig into the picture, the vision, that God has given you and find a way to tell that story to others.
When you understand this your vision and your story becomes the heart of your recruiting. Tell your story over and over again to those around you and anyone else who will listen to you or even slows down near you. Keep telling your story until you’re sick of hearing it. Over time something amazing will start to happen. The people closest to you will start to see the picture and they’ll start telling the story… and it will spread. When this happens people will begin to show up, not in droves, but little by little. The difference in these people is that they are coming because they can see the same future you see and they want to see that future become a reality. Even better, people who respond to vision will be more committed to realizing the vision than the person who is just responding to a need or a goal.
So, what keeps you in ministry week after week? What’s your story? What’s your vision and how can you begin to share that with others so they can begin to see what God has already allowed you see.
Tags: Children, Children's Ministry, enlistment, Leadership, ministry, Recruiting, team, Volunteer Minisrty, Volunteers
Posted in Volunteers | Comments (1)
How not to recruit September 21st, 2009
I’m continuing a series of post on what I’ve been learning about recruiting volunteers for children’s ministry. You can check out the first post below.
“Help we need more volunteers!”
So, what are we doing to recruit volunteers? I’m glad you asked… but let me start with what we haven’t done.
We haven’t publicized our need. We haven’t asked for help from the pulpit or in the bulletin. We haven’t held any enlistment campaigns. We haven’t sent letters of flyers home to parents (we did do this once a couple of years ago but we probably won’t again). We haven’t made “cold calls” to people not serving. We haven’t required people to serve… ok, enough of that. I think you get the picture.
Is there anything wrong with these approaches? No, they’re fine and sometimes necessary, but there are a couple of dangers that accompany these types of widespread approaches.
1. You look desperate.
“But, I am desperate” Yeah, I know… me too, but we can’t appear that way. Who wants to climb aboard a sinking ship or get involved with a ministry that appears needy? People want to be a part of a winning team and if they think you’re floundering they’ll avoid you like the plague. If you want to publicize something don’t start with the need, start with your wins. Tell people what’s going great. Then let them know that they could be a part of it… if they want to.
2. People respond out of guilt.
Most of the time the people who respond to public appeals for volunteers respond out of guilt. This might seem fine at first, but trust me, you don’t want these people. Not that they’re not good people, but if they only signed on to your ministry because they felt obligated, then they’re probably not going to be happy or satisfied in their service. People who don’t enjoy what they doing in ministry are like time bombs. They are going to blow up and walk out. The only question is when and how many people are they going to take out with them.
To make sure we have people that aren’t responding out of guilt we give people lots of “outs” in our application process. We’re constantly telling volunteers that our goal is not to fill the holes but to help them find a place in ministry that they love. If that happens to be outside of children’s ministry, all the better. A lot of times people ask us, “Where is your greatest need?” We refuse to answer that question, because our need is not the key factor. What’s important is what are they good at and what will they enjoy doing. If they don’t know what that is, we’ll help them discover it, but our goal is that every volunteer loves their ministry and is equipped to do it well. We never want anyone who is guilted into serving
These are some of the things we’ve found that don’t work. But what is working… that’s still to come.
Tags: Children, Children's Ministry, enlistment, Leadership, ministry, Recruiting, team, Volunteer Minisrty, Volunteers
Posted in Leadership, Volunteers | Comments (1)
Need more volunteers? September 15th, 2009
Now that I have a little more time on my hands, (You can see why here.) I’m going to try and finish a couple of blog topics I started earlier. First up… recruiting
Everyone who serves in children’s ministry has one thing in common. We need more volunteers. I’ve heard of the elusive “waiting list” to serve in children’s ministry, and I’m sure it exists somewhere, but I’ve never seen it. What I’ve seen more often is that as soon as we enlist more volunteers, God sends more kids. In truth, this is where I want to be, first because it means the kingdom is growing and second because it keeps us looking to God to provide for us.
Last year we recruited over 200 new volunteers in BrookwoodKiDs, Now, not all of them made it through the application process, but that’s how many new applications we received. We’re on pace to receive about that many applications again this year. Before you get too impressed, we are still way short on the volunteers we need. We combine groups every week and some of our ratios are not pretty. We have a long way to go and a lot to learn. That said, we’re making progress, and there are a couple of things we’ve done to that are helping us get there. So over my next few posts I want to share what we’re learning and I’d love to hear what’s working for you as well.
Tags: Children, Children's Ministry, enlistment, Leadership, ministry, Recruiting, team, Volunteer Minisrty, Volunteers
Posted in Blog, Volunteers | Comments (0)