Recently I asked a group of people to consider whether they prefer to be leaders or followers. I had them demonstrate the degree of their preference for one or the other by choosing a place to stand along an imaginaryRead more…
Conversation Starters
Start a conversation about volunteering/working for the Lord. What do people really think about serving? What good and bad experiences have they had? What would they really like to do? We’re often too busy ‘doing,’ and too caught up inRead more…
How to Do Job Descriptions
Churches are finding great value in having a job description for each ministry task done by volunteers–everything from weeding the flower beds to serving on a board. Yet most churches don’t have volunteer job descriptions. It can seem like aRead more…
Train Every Volunteer
At a job interview, or on a first date, you know the first impression is important. It’s just as important if you want to retain that new volunteer you just recruited. What will their first impression be of the taskRead more…
Mary the Servant
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary responded to Gabriel’s announcement. “Let it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). With these words, Mary accepted not only an honor, but also a task – mother of the Messiah. WithRead more…
How to Improve Volunteerism
Do you agree? Virtually all church leaders want to improve volunteerism at their church. Virtually all church leaders do little or nothing to improve volunteerism at their church. Perhaps those statements are a bit strong, but they are true inRead more…
How to Assess Church Volunteerism
When you want to improve, you measure. You see where you’re at, decide where you want to be, take steps to get there, and track your results. You use the bathroom scale to see if the diet is working, theRead more…
Tending the Flame
Starting a fire is one skill. Keeping it going is another. In order to cook juicy burgers over charcoal, or toast s’mores to perfection over the campfire, or prolong the beauty and the warmth of fireplace flames, you need toRead more…
How to Delegate
Are you good at delegating? Most of us aren’t. We didn’t go into church work, or become a church volunteer, because we love to delegate. We serve in order to get things done. Delegating tasks may feel like cheating. We,Read more…
How to Fire a Church Volunteer
“You can’t fire a volunteer!” That’s the first thing many people think when reading this title. And their second thought is likely of a certain volunteer or two they’d like to fire. Just as volunteers will, rightly, leave a positionRead more…
Do You Know What You’re Doing?!
[This article first appeared in the May 21, 2004, Mission Moments newsletter from the Center for U.S. Missions. Permission is given to copy this article for distribution within your own congregation. Please credit the author and the Center for U.S.Read more…
Recruiting? or Equipping?
Volunteers seem to be in short supply in today’s church. Most discussions about volunteers focus on recruitment— we need more ushers (Sunday School teachers, board members, and so on). How can we get more volunteers? Pastors and other church staffRead more…
Also Called
In the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, most professional church workers can identify with the phrase: “struggling through the call process.” In our denominational placement system, a church or school extends a “divine call” to a ministry position to an individual pastor,Read more…
The Chip (ministry conversations)
A church ministry fair has both major benefits and side benefits. At a ministry fair, each of the church’s various ministries set up and man a table with information on their ministry. People browse the tables, seeing what the variousRead more…
A Good Good-bye (exit interviews)
How does a leader say good-bye to a volunteer? If the volunteer taught Sunday School every week for 30 years, the good-bye might well be with a congregational luncheon and an appreciative plaque. If the volunteer was a burr underRead more…