Parents make great volunteers. Most scouting groups and kids’ sports teams are run entirely by parents. Parents are willing to invest time and energy to give their children enriching experiences. So encourage parents to volunteer in your children’s ministries, althoughRead more…
How to Discourage your Church’s Volunteers
(From the Lutheran Witness, March 1998. Reprinted with permission. Print version. Imagine your church with no volunteers for one week. The organist may play the organ, but there are no choir members or other instrumentalists. Everyone eventually finds a worshipRead more…
So, What do YOU do?
The next time you see a group of church volunteers, ask them each to tell you what they do at church. They’ll likely answer with comments like these: “I usher . . .,” “I teach Sunday School . . .,”Read more…
The Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership
Can the right hand learn from the left hand how to use one of its greatest resources? God’s right-hand kingdom, Martin Luther said, is the kingdom of grace and the Gospel, in which we are given his undeserved love andRead 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…
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…