You’ve heard the old adage, 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
If that’s true, why can it sometimes feel as if just 10% of the people are doing 100% of the work? You desperately need volunteers in order to grow your ministry, but you can’t seem to get anyone to step up, help out, or see the need. You find yourself frustrated with people’s lack of generosity, apparent blindness to the need, and lack of engagement around the mission.
What would it take for you to make a change, see people in your church step into new roles, engage wholeheartedly, and serve alongside you? Here are three things you might be missing.
1 – You’re just looking for warm bodies.
No one wants to simply be a cog in the wheel. People want to be valued, known, and know that they are filling a vital need, towards a mission that’s greater than them. They want to know that the work they are doing and the time they will invest is worth it. They want to know they aren’t just filling a role that anyone could do just by breathing.
Get to know your potential volunteers. Take someone to coffee or lunch. Ask to make a quick visit to their home for a conversation. Find out what they are good at, passionate about, and gifted in, and help them see exactly where their skills line up with the need.
And then, when they show up, make sure that they feel seen, needed, and appreciated.
2 – Your expectations are unclear.
Every organization has rules, policies, guidelines, and expectations. It’s an expected and understood part of life. From the post office to your child’s school to even social media platforms, you interact with policies and expectations on a daily basis. It helps to know the rules.
If your expectations for your volunteers are unclear, or if you are unsure about what you are asking them to do, it will be hard for them to say yes.
Said another way, if it’s murky to you, imagine how unclear it will feel to them.
Decide what you are going to ask of your volunteers. What is their job description, how often will they be asked to serve, how much training is needed, and how long are they being asked to commit?
Getting clear on this will help you make your “ask” and help your volunteers give their “yes”.
3 – You haven’t communicated the “why” behind the ask.
Your desperation for volunteers is not a compelling reason to join you.
People want to feel as though the work they are doing matters. They need to know something will be worthy of their time. They want to work towards something that will last. There should be a reason they are giving up their valuable time.
If you can’t articulate the “why” behind your ministry, it’s unlikely your volunteers will be able to do it.
Put some time and effort into creating your one sentence “why”.
Why should your volunteers care? Why should they continue showing up? Why should they say yes to you and no to other things? What is God doing in your midst? How can what they are doing make a tangible impact? What is the one thing you hope happens because they showed up to serve?
None of these things is a silver bullet or will be the one thing that will change everything. However, if you begin to see your volunteers as more than simply filling in the slots, creating clarity around expectations, and communicating the “why” behind each role, you will be that much closer to creating an engaged volunteer culture. One that’s compelling and worth calling your volunteers to be part of something greater than themselves.
Katie Evans 