Category: Volunteer Culture

Four Types of Volunteer Huddles (and Why They Matter)

We’ve talked before about the importance of the volunteer huddle. Whether you hold yours prior to the service or once the service is underway (and that article includes an argument for the latter), a regular...

How to Lead Your “Too-Friendly” Volunteers

In a recent post I addressed how we can help our volunteers to be more proactive in watching for first-time guests. The guest’s body language, arrival times, and spoken-out-loud questions can signal opportunities for deeper...

How to Celebrate Volunteers During Life’s Milestones

Leaders have certain responsibilities towards those whom we lead: we’re responsible for training. We’re responsible for coaching. We’re responsible for correcting. But to our volunteers, one of the most felt responsibilities is how we care...

Q&A: How Do We Create a Standard Volunteer Handbook?

Q: Our team wants to create a standard “handbook” that ministries would use for their leaders, coaches, and volunteers. What have you used (or seen) that’s been helpful? [Mallory Mueller, Clovis AM Connections Coordinator The...

A Liturgy Before Hosting

My friend Beth Coble from Lifepointe Church tipped me off to this passage from Every Moment Holy, Vol. III. It’s an excellent reminder that before we simply show up, we need to invite the work...

8 Ways to Reinvigorate Your Volunteer Team This Summer

Summertime is down time. Sometimes those of us in leadership act like we don’t believe that (raises hand), but that doesn’t make it less true. While it is true that hospitality can’t take a vacation,...

Q&A: How Do I Transition a Volunteer Off of My Team?

Q: We expect that our volunteers will actually show up. So how do I transition someone off of my team after they consistently stop showing up? [from a recent One-Day Workshop] A: If there is...

Q&A: How Does Serving Mesh with Discipleship?

Q: Where should “serving” fit into a church’s overall discipleship strategy? Is it reasonable to set up serving as a goal for all members and then accept abysmal failure without acknowledging that a main tenant...

How to Turn Pew Dwellers into Engaged Volunteers

We see them every Sunday: those church folks (God love ’em) who are content to slip in late, slip out early, and serve nary a moment. They can bewilder us, they can frustrate us, they...

How to Help Your Volunteers to Grow Spiritually

Leading volunteers is like (say it with me, you know all the tropes)… If there’s one topic that comes up when leaders gather together, it is how to best lead volunteers. Our life verses toggle...