What happens when a ministry struggles with church volunteers?
A ministry can be huge without being healthy.
I spent four years in a youth ministry with over 100 students. We share our head-spinning statistics that would make it sound amazing, but the numbers don’t reflect the whole story. Below the surface, the youth group was struggling. Small group leaders were inconsistent, so discussion groups were constantly being changed and combined. Leaders would stop volunteering mid-semester and their small groups would slowly disappear after them. Tear-down crews would leave early so the youth pastor and high-impact volunteers would spend several extra hours at the church cleaning up. Two youth pastors and countless church volunteers found themselves extremely burned out, which led to rapid turnover.
As a result, students were inconsistent. They couldn’t connect with their leader or small groups. They couldn’t trust us. The youth group was big, but its impact was limited by leadership.
What happens when a ministry’s church volunteers are thriving?
A new youth pastor took over who brought a fresh perspective into the ministry. He shifted more focus onto the church volunteers than ever before and it changed everything. Church volunteers began to feel appreciated, serve consistently every week, communicate more openly with the pastor, and convince others they should start serving in the youth group too.
Leaders shifted from mere workers to full-fledged brand ambassadors. The improvement in volunteers fiercely overflowed into the students’ lives. Students started coming every week, coming back every year, inviting more friends, connecting with spiritual mentors and growing in their faith. The youth group grew from 100 to 200 within the first year of focusing on volunteers. What was even more impressive than that was the way students grew in their faith from the influence of a spiritually-mature leader.
Recruiting and retaining dedicated volunteers is one of the key factors to fruitfulness and growth in any ministry. We need to start developing cultures that make people want to serve week after week & encourage their friends to start serving too!
This bundle includes resources to help you gain and retain church volunteers. You can download:
— An eBook with tips to help you build a healthy volunteer culture
— Sample church volunteer communication sequence and scripts
— Practical ideas that can be implemented in seconds
— Three thank you card templates in both JPG & PSD. (Our team will happily edit them for you for free — just reach out to us on Instagram @YouthMinistryFreebies!)