How to Help Your Volunteers to Grow Spiritually
Leading volunteers is like (say it with me, you know all the tropes)…
- …herding cats
- …nailing Jell-O to the wall
- …being pecked to death by chickens
If there’s one topic that comes up when leaders gather together, it is how to best lead volunteers. Our life verses toggle between Philippians 1:7 (“I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace.”) and Numbers 11:14-15 (“I can’t carry these people…go ahead and kill me.”)
On top of scheduling existing volunteers, onboarding new volunteers, shoulder-tapping potential volunteers, and putting out fires for all volunteers, the best leaders pay attention to the spiritual growth of their volunteers.
But how do we do that?
I think there are at least four things to keep in mind:
1. Know the goals between roles and souls.
Besides being annoyingly-rhyming, this is an important thing to keep in mind both for you as a leader and for your volunteers. In a healthy church, there should be echoes of discipleship in every aspect of congregational life. But I think we’d agree that the best place for focused, ongoing discipleship (let me define that here as prayer, Bible study, iron sharpening iron, etc.) is in a small group of believers gathered for that purpose, not necessarily a Sunday morning serving team.
Now, that doesn’t mean that discipleship can’t happen while someone is in a serving role. A team leader can certainly shepherd and disciple and pray for and hold accountable those whom they lead. But just as a small group member should primarily be in a posture of discipleship, a parking team member, usher, or kids’ check-in host should primarily be in a posture of serving.
(Don’t send me angry emails just yet…I’ll close the loop on this in point #4.)
2. Beware your span of care.
This second somewhat-rhyming point should go without saying, so obviously I’m going to say it: you can’t faithfully disciple every member of your team. Neither can you faithfully lead them, care for them in crisis, keep tabs on them, or touch base with them in a meaningful way.
That’s why I’m a huge proponent of a streamlined system of leadership levels, where you have a few people you pour into, they have people they pour into, and so on. If someone holds the title of “leader” on your team, they should bear the burden of shepherd. In other words, if Amanda runs the 9 a.m. First-Time Guest Tent team, she shouldn’t come to you every time one of her team members has a theological question or a family crisis. You should be aware and provide support for Amanda, but in most cases, she should run point.
3. Make frequent deposits.
I’m still haunted by a situation I observed during my very first ministry role decades ago: one of that church’s high-capacity volunteers had cared for her mom during a long illness and subsequent death. This volunteer was also responsible for an upcoming event.
The pastor asked her about the status on the project one Sunday morning, and she replied, “Yes, I’m about to refocus on that. I’ve been really overwhelmed with all the stuff with Mom.”
And the pastor said, “Yeah, I heard about that. So…uh…keep me posted when you know more.”
…and walked away.
No. No. A million times, no.
At least in this situation, the pastor in question was all withdrawals, no deposits. We dare not make the same mistake.
We make frequent deposits by being aware of what’s going on with our team (even if we’re not running point…see point #3), by making a point to check in with that volunteer when something is going on, by praying with and for our collective team often, by utilizing VHQ as a time to share stories, pray, and get to know one another on a “backstage” level, and by leading our volunteers to be rather than worried about what they do.
4. Conduct regular audits.
Volunteers who are active can serve as a smokescreen for volunteers who are unhealthy. In other words, if a volunteer consistently shows up and doesn’t cause any problems, it can be easy to assume that there are no problems. To close the loop on point #1, we can assume that serving=disciple, and that ain’t necessarily so.
That’s why I love the idea of auditing your team at least annually. Each year, each team leader should ask a few questions of the people within their span of care:
- Is this person an actual follower of Jesus, or are they just going through the church-attendance motions?
- Is this person attending worship service regularly, or just serving and bailing?
- Is this person actively involved in a small group?
- Is this person a covenant member of our church?
- How is this person’s home or personal life going?
Now notice, not all of these questions involve an actual question from the leader to the volunteer (though some do). The point is that the leader carves out a time each year to determine whether they know the answers to these questions, and can take action or nudge conversations where needed.
I’ll say it again: in a healthy church, there should be echoes of discipleship in every aspect of congregational life. We don’t do our volunteers any favors when we’re so busy thinking about what we can get from them, that we fail to see what God wants for them.
Related posts:
- Q&A: How Can I Create a Culture of Care with My Volunteers?
- Let Your Leaders Be Shepherds
- The Reason Our Volunteers Disengage
