Ministry Connections: Children
by David Staal

Volume 14 Issue 2, 2007

The Volunteer Question: Ready or Not?

In a recent advertising campaign Microsoft asked the question “are you people-ready?” Even though Microsoft’s message focused on computers, software, and such, the heart of the message was universal: People are an organization’s greatest asset.

In children’s ministry, the “people-ready” question comes in two parts:

1. Do you believe that no matter how exciting your classrooms, strong your curriculum, or creative your programs, your ministry will still fall short of its potential unless you also have the right volunteers leading, shepherding, and caring for children?
2. Is your ministry fully — not partially — equipped and prepared to welcome and deploy willing volunteers to do the work of God?

Now that you’ve completed this pop quiz, let’s examine the three C’s of a people-ready ministry.

CULTURE This is the underlying nature of an organization; what is perceived about your ministry, and automatically communicated to every parent, volunteer, and church attendee who walks through your halls. Most of us are blissfully unaware of the culture our ministry emits. Not good. Determine the culture of your ministry by having a few unbiased people use their eyes, ears, and hearts to answer these questions:

1. Eyes: What do you see in our halls and classrooms that creates an impression about our ministry’s values and priorities?
2. Ears: What do you hear about our children’s ministry from people in the church?

You can determine the reputation of your ministry from what people say about it. And you can be equally sure the typical church visitor will place a higher value in your ministry’s reputation from the “word on the street” than by what you say in the printed materials and Web site information you produce.

3. Hearts: What does the behavior of our current volunteers say about our ministry’s culture? Do they arrive early, so as to be best prepared to greet families? Do their faces reflect that they love what they do, or is their non-verbal communication showing their service is a chore?

CLARITY A positive culture atmosphere is not complete without clarity; knowing what you want your ministry to say and then saying it well. Think through your printed materials, your Web site, letters you send out in mailings, mass emails, and every other possible piece of communication coming from your ministry. Now consider how well you do in these four components of strong communication:

• A common voice, design, and purpose for every piece of material.
• Families and volunteers look forward to hearing from your ministry.
• When arriving for the first time, new families know what to expect from your ministry.
• When a potential volunteer comes through your doors, there is clarity in the process of signing them up for duty.

CULTIVATE In anticipation of any good harvest, a ministry too needs first to be cultivated in order to bear much fruit. So many times, a program is organized well at the beginning, only to slowly fall apart over time through lack of care and intentionality. Volunteers will step away from ministry every year for various reasons; don’t let your lack of cultivation be one of them.

Community time, training, encouragement, and heartfelt thanks serve as important elements of volunteer life. One of the best things you can do to be a people-ready ministry is to provide abundant care for the people you already have; the secret recipe for retention. This will also yield an excellent return in the form of new workers — current well cared-for volunteers are your best recruiters.

Sometimes it takes something as simple as a television commercial to remind us how important people are. Thanks, Microsoft.

David Staal is the director of Promiseland, Willow Creek’s Children’s Ministry

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