Moses: A Lesson in Encouraging Your Volunteers

Leadership is all about being a good steward of your influence. When you steward your influence well, you will elevate your leaders and volunteers to help them achieve their greatest potential.

In the eyes of ancient Israel, Moses was the ultimate expression of a leader. After leading many incredible advances for God’s people, Moses accomplished something that many leaders struggle with. He pulled off a seamless and successful succession of power. He helped His people follow his protege, Joshua, into the Promised Land. How did he do it? With encouragement.

Let’s study Deuteronomy 31 to unpack two practical approaches for empowering and encouraging leaders.

READ: Deuteronomy 31:1-8

When Moses had finished giving these instructions to all the people of Israel, he said, “I am now 120 years old, and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan River.’ But the Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy the nations living there, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua will lead you across the river, just as the Lord promised. “The Lord will destroy the nations living in the land, just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites.

The Lord will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must deal with them as I have commanded you. So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord, your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them.

Moses: An Encouraging Leader

This passage takes place during a tipping point in ancient Israel. God told Moses that his reign had come to an end, so he needed to appoint a new leader. Moses was about to step down and Joshua was about to step up. Moses had to convince his people to rally behind a young soldier named Joshua. How does he do it? With encouragement. 

Encouragement can act like a spark that ignites someone’s full potential. How can we see this? Joshua ended up being an extremely successful leader for Israel. Moses used the power of encouragement to speak that into reality. 

This is why it’s so pivotal to encourage our volunteers and teams. While you are probably not succeeding as a leader of a nomadic nation, you still need to adopt a culture of encouragement in your ministry.

Here are two practical ways to encourage your leaders as seen in the life of Moses:

Encouraging Your Leaders Publically  

Take a look at all that Moses did for Joshua in his speech.
1. He convinced the people that this was for the best (1, 2).
2. Moses reminded them of God’s commitment to fulfilling His promise (3).
3. He endorsed the new leader and passed on his authority to Joshua (3–5).
4. Moses forecasted victory under Joshua and cited his track record (3–6).
5. He empowered Joshua for the most significant milestone in Jewish history — leading the people into the land (7, 8).

I have no idea why we can stray away from publicly encouraging someone. It is one of the most powerful and practical ways you can elevate your ministry to its greatest potential — because it’ll elevate your leaders to their greatest potential. 

Encouraging your volunteers doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are a few ideas for putting this principle into practice:

• Tag and Brag. He would publicly post volunteers and their stories on their social media account and just celebrate all the amazing things they did. It’s so much bigger than encouraging the person. Their family sees it, their friends see it, and the people they lead see it. That spirit of appreciation can be a catalyst for transformation in a church. 
• Pre-service Shoutouts. Even adults want a gold star now and then. In a church, when you gather as a group before a service always take intentional time to specifically celebrate something amazing that someone did. When you are specific in your appreciation, it shows your intentionality. It proves that you notice all the hard work everyone is doing. 
• Share major responsibilities. This is where the rubber meets the road. One of the greatest ways to encourage someone is to truly show them you see their potential. That takes a bit of a risk. Give your volunteers major responsibilities beyond just cleaning, babysitting, and stacking chairs. Ask them to handle the big stuff and let it be known that they’re crushing it. One of the best ways to encourage someone is to expect greatness from them. 

You never know the impact public encouragement can have on someone’s life and ministry, so be sure to encourage your people in public. However, don’t just limit it to public shoutouts and social media posts. 

Encouraging Your Volunteers Privately  

Moses had been mentoring Joshua for years in preparation for this day. Knowing that he would not be able to enter the Promised Land himself, he realized he had to equip the next leader to finish what he had started. We don’t get to read too much about it, but there is no question that Moses intentionally encouraged Joshua in their relationship of mentorship. 

Private encouragement is far from passive. It requires you to be very intentional about little details that help a person feel a deeper sense of devotion. Here are some practical ideas for encouraging your volunteers.  

• Take a page from Moses’s leadership handbook. Before a big ministry day, remind people about how God has moved through them in the past. Be specific and point it back to God. 
• Send out thank you cards. In a world of texts and emails, a letter in a mailbox shows so much intentionality. Reserve time every week to write thank you cards to your volunteers. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it shows how much they’re worth. 
• Show them that you know something about them. One of the best ways to do this is to prove you pay attention. An easy way to do that is by discovering someone’s favorite candy or Starbucks order and giving it to them on a Sunday. Intentionality is central to private encouragement that truly empowers. 

Encouragement can unleash someone’s greatest potential. 

In the eyes of ancient Israel, Moses was the ultimate expression of a leader. These were big sandals for Joshua to fill, but look at what happened to him! God gave Joshua the same promise He delivered to Moses. The first miracle Joshua sees is God helping him move through a body of water, which directly mirrored Moses. And ultimately Joshua walked His people into the Promised Land. Joshua completed the task his leader set out to do. 

Leadership is all about being a good steward of your influence. Don’t use your influence to build your brand, use it to build others up. When you steward your influence well, you will elevate your leaders to achieve their greatest potential. This will radically transform your ministry. This is so much bigger than a thank you card or a bag of candy — it’s your calling as a leader. 

Encouraging your volunteers is one of the best investments you can make into your ministry, Intentionally encourage someone every single day — both publicly and privately. This will help others feel empowered, encouraged, and energized. Simply put, good leaders brag on others and keep quiet about themselves. 

Watch the full message here:

We created an “Encouraging Your Volunteers eBook” full of practical tips to help you build gratitude and encouragement into your ministry strategy. You can download the complete eBook using the link below.

Let’s Talk about it!

The pastors on our team would love to learn more about you and your ministry to help you apply these leadership lessons in your church. Send us an email at Pastor@ForMinistryResources.com or click the button below to schedule a call with a pastor. We hope to hear from you soon!

This blog contains leadership material from The Pastor Circle. What is THE PASTOR CIRCLE?

We recently asked ourselves, “how can we serve pastors more personally?” The Pastor Circle is the answer.

It’s a virtual small group community of pastors who understand what you’re going through and want to offer you godly support and guidance. We meet on Zoom once a month to listen to a short devotional and topic introduction, followed by a small group discussion. We hope to see you there next month! Click here to learn more.