By Jason Noble

In our continuing discussions on team building, recruiting team members is vital to the longevity of any successful team.  Yes, I did just say the “r-word”. For most children’s leaders the word “recruiting” has gained a bad reputation and is one of the biggest challenges that we face as children’s ministers today.  It seems as if there are never enough people to fill the available slots we have in our ministries!  I want to share with you some keys I have found that I believe will help change your outlook on recruiting and also help you to become a more successful recruiter.

1. The definition “recruiting”:

• For many of us, our definition of recruiting is finding a warm body to fill an available ministry position.  I think a better way to define recruiting is this: connecting the right people to the right ministry position that will highlight their God given abilities. When this connection is made the members of your team will succeed in their ministry positions AND become effective at what they do. When we really believe this, the strategy we use in recruiting completely changes. When we start to become intentional and place the right people in the right places in our ministries we begin to see our ministries flourish. Recruiting is a foundational building block for effective children’s ministries.
  

2. Become a volunteer recruiter:

• You hold the keys to building a great volunteer team. It starts with you!
  

A. Know your source

• God knows everything (and everyone) you need
• God gives us the best strategy for recruiting volunteers. It’s found in Luke 10:2  “The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
• Tap into the source. The key to recruiting is getting on your knees and praying that God will send you who He wants to be a part of what he is calling you to do

B. Attributes of great volunteer recruiters.

• Become a dreamer
• Be excited about your program
• Have a vision for where you want your ministry to go
• Invest in your team
• Recruit intentionally with a plan and a purpose
• Lead how Jesus lead, as a servant
• Continue to learn what makes a good leader and volunteer recruiter

3. Make your ministry volunteer friendly:

• What attracts people to your ministry? How do prospective volunteers find out about opportunities in your ministry?
• Perception is key
  1. How do people perceive your ministry and their participation in it?
  2. Do people perceive your ministry as a volunteer eater?
• Ways to improve perception
  1. It starts with the leader
  • Be positive. People want to be around people who are positive
  2. Word of mouth is often the best advertisement for your ministry
  • Encourage your volunteers to spread good things about your ministry
  3. It’s all about image
  • Ensure your department has a sharp image. This includes print ads and material coming out of your ministry
  4. Care for the volunteers you already have
     • Watch their spiritual growth
     • Remember the saying “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”
     • Provide enrichment opportunities to the volunteers you already have
     • Little things go a long way
     • Buy them things
     • Send them away for a weekend
     • Spend time with them outside of church
     • Always be on the lookout for ways to bless your team
     • Reward people who go above and beyond
  5. Remain effective
  • Don’t ever get stuck in a rut
  6. Don’t ever give up
  • Remember that God has everything you need you are simply giving people an opportunity to respond to what God has already called them to do
  7. You’re not desperate
  8. Make it easy for people to get involved in your ministry
  9. Take the time to build relationships with volunteers outside of ministry
  10. Don’t rush to fill positions
      • Place people according to their gifts.
      • Discover strengths and weaknesses of individual volunteers
  11. Don’t grow insecure
      • Let your volunteers go… don’t hold them back!
      • Let them glean praise for their efforts
      • Encourage them to do greater things than you have done
      • Encourage them to dream big
  12. Have a heart for souls
  13. One of the greatest measuring tools of your ministry should be this: Finding a need, meeting a need, and eliminating it!  Don’t become tied to the method; become tied to effecting change.
  14. Become known as a department of the church that does things with excellence

4. Determine the volunteer needs your ministry requires:

• Have a plan in place to utilize volunteers that God is going to bring you
  1. Have a plan in place and be good stewards of what God gives your ministry
• With prayer, evaluate and decide who you need for volunteers
• Put together a plan
  1. Figure out your need
  2. Decide how you are going to get your message out
  3. Train your new volunteers
  4. Have your background-check systems in place
  5. Design a way to learn your volunteer’s gifts and strengths
  6. Decide how you are going to keep tabs on your volunteers
• Know where your team members are spiritually
• Pastor your volunteers
• Encourage your volunteers in their spiritual walk
• Don’t be afraid to delegate
• Approach volunteer recruiting like this: If you take care of the volunteers you already have, they will stick with you and you can close the revolving door of volunteers in your ministry

5. Utilize successful recruiting strategies:

• Approach recruitment with excitement
• Get a strategy
  1. Praying for the need
  2. Don’t overlook anyone
     • Don’t judge a book by its cover
     • Believe in people. Everyone gets a 10 on their head
     • Some of the least likely people are the ones God wants to use
     • Just because a person isn’t your choice, doesn’t mean that they are not God’s choice
  3. Never let them see you sweat
     • Never let the congregation see you desperate.
     • Don’t let people get the perception that your department is always in need
     • Show people that you trust God to supply all the needs of your ministry
     • Help people see that serving is an honor and privilege
     • Don’t let frustration get in the way
  4. Give volunteers a clear path to get involved
     • Do a quarterly “Volunteer Connect” luncheon or dessert after an evening service where you invite the whole church to be a part of the event. The whole purpose of the event is to give you an opportunity to share your vision, and to highlight all of the different areas that are in need of volunteers in children’s ministries. Have people sign-up at the event to fill your open positions. Strike while the iron is hot!
     • Ministry Fair
     • Tours of the ministry
  5. Ways to spread the word
     • Encourage word of mouth
     • Have volunteers talk to their friends about the ministry
     • Video
       • Film children in your ministry
       • Capture images of other volunteers serving
  6. Have other volunteers speak about how God has touched them as they have served in Children’s Ministries
  7. Creatively use your strengths, and the strengths of others to help spread the word
     • Share your vision for Children’s Ministry
     • Post your areas of need in a parent’s newsletter
     • Ask your Pastor to preach on the importance of serving
     • When you put ads in your bulletin or make an announcement be creative and have fun
  8. Use skits that catch people’s attention
  9. Do things that will catch the crowd’s attention
     • Look for people with character over talent

We want to know what you think in regards to volunteer recruiting. Send your ideas on this topic to jnoble@ag.org. Also, visit our new CMA Leaders Forum!  Utilize this new strategic place to share and exchange ideas with other leaders.