Volunteer Careers

Happy spring! I don’t know about you but the longer days and warmer sunshine of the spring always energizes me. Let us take advantage of this extra energy and put some of it into CM.

Think about the worst job you have ever had and what made it so awful. Were you bored? Could not change jobs?  Nobody invested in you or appreciated what you did? Chances are one or all of the above were true. Now ask yourselves those same questions about your CM volunteers. When was the last time you asked them “Are you bored?”, “Would you like to try something else, another position?”, “Have I told you lately how much I appreciate everything you do?”.  Remember they will most likely not come to you and tell you because they will suffer in silence thinking this is what they are supposed to do.  We all want our volunteers to be delighted to serve. This is the attitude they will project to the children they are serving as well.

What is a Volunteer career?

A career is a progression of jobs that keeps us growing and stretching.  It gives those who have been faithful in small things the chance to be faithful in larger things. As we discussed in previous months, all Christians are called to ministry and have at least one gift to share as parts of the body of Christ. It makes perfect sense then that as we mature as Christians we are able to serve in new ways. 

How to Encourage Volunteer careers in CM

1. Bring the right Volunteers on board

Pick people who fit into your culture and are committed to your vision and mission statement. If someone is unhappy and a bad fit it will chase away others who might do a better job and nobody wins.

2. Let people do what God wired them to do

There are things we all do not do well or dislike doing. If a CM volunteer get hives at the thought of doing crafts with preschoolers do not ask that volunteer to do crafts. Let people do what they do well and let them off the hook for doing things they do not do well or dislike doing.  During your interview process (to be covered in a later article) make sure you let them tell you what they like and dislike doing. In the long run you will have happier volunteers, happier children and a happier CM leader.

3. Notice volunteers and keep on noticing them

The mistake we all too often make (I have been guilty of this) is that we heap praise on our new volunteers but as they settle in we tend to forget them. Noticing them has to be a continuous process and is not just a pat on the back and offering encouragement, it is providing training and evaluations.

4. Provide growth opportunities

Invest in your volunteers with training and coaching. Provide opportunities for those who are willing to move into new fields of ministry realizing that this may not be in CM but in addition to or in conjunction with CM. In a small church there may not be an available ‘promotion’ path in CM. Think about sharing some of your responsibilities as leader with those CM volunteers who want to grow and expand. Include them in decision making, ask for their opinions.

All that being said, it requires structure and discipline to do this. Next month we will explore these topics.

In Him,

CJ Schindler

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