Want more volunteers in your church? Consider creating new volunteer roles. Just because people aren’t signing up for publicized volunteer needs doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to give their time and talent to opportunities that match their skills, interests and schedule.

But of course the challenge then is: who creates those new opportunities and how do they go about it? Jane Craven, an internationally-recognized consultant on volunteerism and other aspects of non-profit work, gives us a wealth of resources in “Creating Roles and Tasks for Volunteers.” She is specifically addressing volunteer managers, and few, if any, of you reading this post are in that role. But that doesn’t matter. If you care about volunteerism in your faith-based community, you will clearly see the application to our churches and find much to think about.

Her main point is that it’s the people running a specific department, or leading a certain activity, or responsible for a specific task who can (and should) be creating volunteer opportunities. She’s also emphatic and specific about the support that those individuals need in order to create those opportunities.

If your first thought is, “That makes sense and sounds good. But I can’t do any of that. I’m just a [fill in the blank]. Nobody would listen to me. And I don’t have time. My plate is already full.” I hear you and I get it. But the truth is, taking steps to grow and strengthen volunteer involvement pays massive dividends in achieving mission in any organization. The church mission of our churches is too important to ignore this truth.

. . . take one small step . .

If your reading this, you care about church volunteerism. Don’t aim to fix everything at once. But do resolve to take one small step to create a new volunteer role, or to contribute to the health of volunteerism in your church community. In addition to Jane’s article, here are some other sources of ideas what you — yes, you — can do:

• Read Jane’s article. Share it (or any such resource) with someone else and have a conversation about it
• Lots of next-step suggestions in: What Can I Do? I’m Just a Volunteer
• Note the questions for ‘all’ in: The State of Church Volunteerism
• What anyone can do: You Can Be/Grow a Volunteer Champion
• I’m building a network of people interested in improving church volunteerism health. Express interest.
• First and always, pray for your church and its leaders, that all might work together in mission.

If it seems overwhelming, remember you’re simply doing your part and leaving results to our Head: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16