Childrens Ministry Online

Volunteer Week – Developing Leaders

Posted on21. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

So, this week we’ve chatted about a number of volunteer topics:

• Assessing our volunteer culture
• Recruiting new volunteers through expos and cold calls
• Providing an orientation process for new volunteers
• Training volunteers

Now it’s time to examine the leadership structure within a ministry.

WHY HAVE LEADERS?

You cannot do this job alone. Why? Because you are limited. You have weaknesses. If you don’t believe me ask your spouse…or your teenager.

With a team of leaders you have a team of increased time to pour in the ministry. You have more hands and feet to do the work. And you have the collective strengths and talents of many people.

You will be more effective if you develop leaders.

THE PATH TO LEADERSHIP

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Rome was not built in a day.

2. God rewards those who are faithful with a little with more responsibilities.

Why are these two points important? Continue reading.

Sit down with a piece of paper or a whiteboard and map out your dream structure for your children’s ministry. What is your vision? What are your steps to accomplish that vision? What people do you need to make that vision happen? If you had an endless supply of amazing volunteers, what roles would you put in place to bring about your vision?

Draw nice little organizational charts of your dream structure. Type up job descriptions for your dream roles.

(NOTE: If you have no idea what I just said, ask around and find a project-planner type to sit down with you. Or call me! I love project plans! I get excited about them like some people get excited about candy or Christmas.)

Now…remember points 1 and 2 from above?

Your dream will not happen today. It probably won’t happen tomorrow either. So pull out your calendar and map out a time line of when you’d like to bring it about. Create steps to your big goal.

Assess your current people. Who is dependable? Who has talents that fit some of your dream roles? Watch your volunteers and pray for guidance. Then personally invite the volunteers you think you can see as leaders to step up their commitment. Give them specific new responsibilities. Over time as they are dependable in those roles, add more responsibilities.

ADMINISTRATORS VS. LEADERS?

Children’s ministry is made of two things – tasks and people.

There are Mary’s in this world. They love people. They love to sit around with people – listening, conversing and interacting.

Then there are Martha’s in this world. (As a sidenote I do think Martha is misunderstood. If Jesus was coming to my house, I’d want to make a little lunch for him. Wouldn’t you?) These people make lunch. They get jobs done, sometimes forgetting people along the way.

I think sometimes in children’s ministry we get distracted by our tasks. These tasks can be curriculum, theology, out-of-control storage closets, ratios, etc. We raise people up to accomplish the tasks.

But we forget our most important resource – people!

Training people to lead people is much harder than training people to accomplish tasks. Why? Because people have feelings.

So in your dream organizational chart, don’t forget to include both administrators of tasks and leaders of people.

WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES OF LEADERS?

I once created a leadership scale. I picked some qualities that mattered to me in my leaders and a created a scale of 1 through 5, 5 being the best.

Here are some of the qualities that mattered to me in leaders:

• Dependability
• Creativity
• Kindness Toward Others (To their face and behind their back)
• Ability to Navigate Conflicts Graciously and Honestly

As I watched my volunteers and spent time with them, I would mentally make notes of where they were in these qualities. I also would spend hours each week talking with volunteers through email, phone calls, lunches, etc. As I got to know them better I would make notes of their experiences and talents.

Then one-by-one I would start matching volunteers with leadership roles. I would meet with them and personally invite them to increase their time investment in the ministry.

INTERVIEWING LEADERS

Gateway Community Church has a next step for aspiring leaders – a leadership interview. It was one of the more grueling interviews I’ve ever had. It blew any job interview I’ve ever had out of the water. In the interview process, we chatted about my beliefs, my behaviors, how I’ve handled various tricky situations, and my current struggles that might embarrass our church. Wow!

I’d recommend this step for your leaders. The Bible says that we are like precious metals tested by fire. Turn up the heat on your volunteers a little. See what they’re made of. The quality ones will walk through the fire and your ministry will be stronger for it.

TRAINING LEADERS

A coworker at my last church gave me some advice on training leaders. I know this advice was not from his own head, but with my apologies to the original author, the source has been lost in translation.

He suggested these steps for leaders:

1. Tell them what to do

2. Show them what to do

3. Do it together

4. Watch them do it

This is a great way to transition your leaders into their new roles. If you’re a control-freak like me, it also gives you a chance to trust your ministry baby to another leader.

ONGOING DIALOG WITH LEADERS

Again, with my apologies to the original source (if it’s you, please credit yourself here!), Kenny once heard that people will not just do what we expect, they will do what we inspect. So once you have leaders in place, set up a review process. Be a part of their ministry from time to time. Have debriefing sessions to chat about their course. Give them a forum to seek your advice and guidance.

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Volunteer Week – Training Volunteers

Posted on20. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

A couple years ago, Kenny and I and our colleagues experimented with training volunteers. We did a big expo and recruited nearly 100 new workers in January. At the end of February, we held a seminar-style training on Saturday morning.

Why did we choose seminar-style training? We wanted to give our volunteers the chance to dive a little deeper into topics that really interested or concerned them. Also, we were a multi-site church and we wanted our volunteers to see and feel the energy of the entire team assembled at once. We hoped this might encourage those who felt isolated in their work.

SCHEDULE

Our schedule looked something like this:

8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. – Continental Breakfast and Roundtable Discussions

9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – Large Group Assembly

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. – Workshop 1

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Workshop 2

11:45 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. – Closing Assembly

THE DETAILS

For the ROUNDTABLE BREAKFAST we posted signs on the tables based on ministry areas, encouraging volunteers to meet others who worked in their areas. We set index cards on each table with icebreaker discussion questions specific to each area – “How long have you served?”, “What’s the funniest story yet from your experiences?” and “How do you deal with <fill in the blank> scenarios?”

We wanted to accomplish these activities in our LARGE GROUP ASSEMBLY time – teambuilding, encouraging and training. We started with an icebreaker game to encourage the volunteers to interact with each other. Then our worship band led a short worship set and our senior pastor spoke a short encouraging thank you message to our volunteers. We ended with a funny skit demonstrating some of the key training issues we wanted to address.

Our WORKSHOPS were the meat of our seminar. We invited a few guest speakers and asked staff and key leaders to teach various topical sessions. A few of our workshops included the following topics:

• Orientation for New Volunteers
• How to Deal with Angry Parents
• Puppeteer like Jim Henson
• First Impressions – Make Our Ministry a Welcoming Place
• All You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Classroom Control
• Database Training for Check In Volunteers
• Child Development – What Can Kids Do at Every Age? How Does It Apply to Children’s Ministry?
• How to Lead a Child to Christ (This was our most popular session! You’d be surprised how many people are scared to do this!)
• Improve Your Public Speaking Skills to Kids

SUMMARY

I have mixed feelings about this approach. Three to four hours on a Saturday morning was pretty demanding, and only about one-third of our volunteers attended. Also, the schedule was pretty tight. We asked for feedback from attendees, and most people said they felt the workshops needed to be longer. However, most who attended also said the training was very useful and was well worth their time.

We considered doing the seminar a second year, but expanding to invite other churches in our area. I liked that idea, because the time and resources spent on the training would have a wider audience. Churches that might not be able to afford the big national conferences could also have access to local quality training.

What do you think? Would you like to see trainings like this available in your area? Would your teams participate? How would you hurdle the time barrier?

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Volunteer Week – Welcoming New Volunteers

Posted on19. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

One day I called to check on a volunteer. He’d agreed to volunteer, but according to the ministry director, he’d never showed up. Our call went something like this:

Me: “Hi. Can I speak to Mr. Jones?”

Him: “No Mr. Jones lives here. Only a Mr. Johnson lives here.”

Me: “I’m sorry. Is this <insert phone number here>?”

Him: “Yep.”

Me: “Well, perhaps I have the wrong name. Do you attend <insert church name here>?”

Him: “Yep.”

Me: “Hmm…have you volunteered in our kid’s ministry?”

Him: “Yep. I signed up a couple months ago and worked every week for about a month. But no one ever spoke to me, and I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be doing, so I stopped working about 2 weeks ago.”

WHAT???!!!!!

We actually had a volunteer sign up and show up for duty for a whole month AND NO ONE EVER SPOKE TO HIM?! AND WE HAD HIS WRONG NAME ON FILE?! Are you kidding me?!

Needless to say that particular ministry director did not last long. (No. It wasn’t Kenny.)

So ladies and gentlemen, let me ask you: “What is your volunteers’ experience?”

Remember how our mamas used to tell us to mind our manners? (At least mine did, but I grew up in Alabama and that’s what mamas teach there.)

Manners go a LONG way to transforming a ministry. Here are a few ways manners and simple kindness could make the difference for your ministry:

HOW DO YOU WELCOME VOLUNTEERS?

Unless you’re lucky enough to recruit a children’s ministry veteran, there is a really good chance your new volunteers are…well…NEW!

You remember how you felt your first day of high school at a new school? Or your first day on the job in your first real adult grown up job? Or how you felt the first time you went to dinner to meet your girlfriend’s parents? AWKWARD!

That is how your new volunteer feels. They feel new and awkward.

Have a heart! Help them out!

Here are a few simple ways to do this:

1. Call them before their first day of service. Introduce yourself. Ask them some questions. Find out their interests. Try to match them up with jobs that fit their interests. Find out who they already know. Try to pair them up with people they know.

2. I’m probably stating the obvious here – for safety reasons, have a process for new volunteers. Include applications, background checks and reference calls. Make sure these people are safe to be with your kids.

3. Take away the fear factor. Children’s ministry doesn’t have to feel like a fraternity hazing process! Have an orientation training. In today’s world, this could be a video and a bulleted list you email to them. Have some frequently asked questions and answers. Let them know what to expect, when to show up, what to wear, etc.

4. On their first day of volunteering, have someone show them around, or if you have the time, personally do it. Introduce them to other volunteers in their classroom.

5. Follow up on them. Call to see how their first day went. Check in a month later to see how it’s going.

First impressions are vital to your ministry’s success. What first impression does your ministry give new volunteers? A simple “Hello and how do you do?” friendly welcome to new volunteers may go a long way towards retaining your volunteers for the long term.

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Volunteer Week – Cold Calling New Recruits

Posted on18. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

Cold calls.

Do those two words make the blood run cold in your veins?

Don’t be scared! After all, you wrangle large classrooms of energetic children week after week. If you can do that, you can take on the challenge of a few cold calls.

I found in my volunteer recruiting experience that a friendly phone call to parents worked wonders for my volunteer rosters. Here are a few things to consider:

WHO TO CALL?

How does your church record children’s ministry attendance? If you’re lucky enough to work at a church with a robust database, chances are you have pretty good records of what families are regularly attending.

Each quarter, I would run reports of all my kids who’d attended regularly over the past quarter. (You need to define for your church what “regularly” means.)

I’d remove any families from the list if I knew the parents were already volunteering in some capacity in the church. Hopefully you can do this in an automated manner if your church keeps records of these things.

The remaining parents were my call list and over the course of a couple weeks, I would have a calling campaign. It was a numbers game. The more people I called, the more I would recruit, because a few would say no and a few would not be home and a few would have bad phone numbers. The rest would say “yes”!

PREPPING THE FAMILY FOR THE PHONE CALL

A few days before I would have a cold call campaign, I would email the parents I planned to call. I’d share vision of upcoming things in children’s minsitry and some of the key volunteer roles I hoped to fill. I’d give parents a friendly heads-up that I would be calling. They could begin to consider if they’d like to help in children’s ministry.

A few people would actually just reply to the email, and I would have new volunteers without the phone call.

PREPPING MYSELF FOR THE PHONE CALL

Before making a phone call to the family, I’d review their record in the database. How recently had they attended? Were they members of the church? Did they have a baby younger than six months? All of these things factored into whether I called them.

How many kids did they have? What ages? What events did their kids attend? This information familiarized me with the family before the call.

THE ACTUAL CALL

My calls would go something like this:

Me: “Hi! I’m Sara Conley calling from the kids ministry at our church. How’s it going?”

Them: “Pretty good.”

Me: “Well listen, I’m calling you today, because we are expanding our volunteer team in the kid’s ministry and I wanted to personally invite you to be a part of it. Would you be interested in that?”

Are you ready for a shocker? Often, with the friendly personal invitation I just described, the family would say yes to me. In this scenario, I’d go on to arrange applications, background checks, training, and scheduling in the phone call.

Here are a few common reasons why they might say no:

1. TOO BUSY

Them:  “You know, we really can’t make a commitment like that right now. We are too busy.”

Me: “Oh yes, I understand. Listen, sometimes we need parents to fill in as subs. It’s not a regular commitment. It’s more of a last minute call if one of our regular workers cancels. Would you be interested in helping in that way?”

Again, another shocker. A great majority of people who couldn’t commit were willing to help as subs. And as I treated them right as subs – friendly, not calling every weekend, but respecting their time and calling occasionally – oftentimes, as their schedule lightened, they would join the regular schedule.

2. NOT A GOOD TIME DUE TO PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Sometimes, families would not agree to help because they were in difficult personal times. I’m not really sure why, but complete strangers would pour their hearts out to me in these cold calls. I think they felt they could trust me since I was calling from church. And truly, I was willing to listen as empathetically as I could.

Listen with your heart in these cold calls. Even if these families are saying no to volunteering, they may be opening their lives to you. This may be your window into what is going on in the homes of kids in your ministries. Pray for these parents on the phone. Follow up on them. Find help for them.

If you genuinely care for these parents, they will remember. As they find light and hope in their lives again, they may seek you out and become a loyal member of your team. I’ve seen it happen.

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Volunteer Week – Examine Your Volunteer Culture

Posted on17. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

What kind of culture does your ministry have? Did you create that culture on purpose? Did you get there by accident? Did you get there by poor decisions?

The Bible talks often of the church being a body. Have you ever considered the human body? The pieces and parts work together. One is not more important than another. All have purpose and meaning. Is this how your ministry functions? If not, how do you turn the tide?

Examine your culture. Here are a few questions to consider:

Does your ministry have a stated purpose? Do volunteers know where the ministry is going? If you stop and ask any volunteer, do they know what the common goal is?

Does your ministry have a clear structure? Do volunteers know where to go to ask questions? Are leaders adequately trained to behave with wisdom and discernment? Do leaders have your back when you are and are not present?

Do volunteers have clearly defined roles? Do they know what is expected of them? Simple things like written job descriptions can create healthy boundaries.

Is your ministry friendly? Do new volunteers immediately feel welcomed? Or do they have to fight to prove themselves before they are accepted? Do you create opportunities for volunteers to interact outside of serving?

Are volunteers held accountable for their actions? Do you check in with volunteers who no-show or show up late? Or do you “let it slide”? Are volunteers equipped to trade with each other if they’ll be out?

Does your ministry challenge the spiritual growth of volunteers? Do you provide opportunities for them to sharpen one another?

So many questions. I’d like to hear your thoughts and answers. A healthy ministry culture will attract and retain volunteers. What’s worked for you?

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Volunteer Week – Attitude Check

Posted on16. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

In the summer of 1998, I’d been dating Kenny for nearly a year. He convinced me to work at a kid’s day camp with him in Germantown, Maryland all summer. We had a little drill there that has served me well as a life lesson.

When we’d see our kids’ energy dragging, the camp director would yell: “ATTITUDE CHECK!”

The kids would snap to and shout back, “PRAISE THE LORD!”

Cheesy?

Yes.

But it worked! Immediately the energy of the camp was once again buoyant and happy.

Sometimes, I think we in children’s ministry need an attitude check, particularly regarding our volunteers. Misery likes company.  Here are a few common sob stories I hear children’s ministers griping about:

1. “I can’t get enough volunteers.”

2. “I can’t keep the volunteers I get.”

3. “I don’t understand why my volunteers aren’t as invested as I am.”

4. “Why do my volunteers cancel last minute? Or no-show?”

Okay friends, it’s time a for a little “ATTITUDE CHECK!”

I’m going to say something you may not like. Your volunteers play a little game called “Follow the Leader”. They will go where you lead them. If you think they suck, maybe it’s because you suck at leading them.

Ouch.

Here’s the good news. Attitudes can improve. Leaders can be trained. Ways can be changed.

Check back this week. We’ll examine some simple changes that can transform the volunteer culture in your ministry.

PRAISE THE LORD!

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Volunteer Expo (Part Two)

Posted on11. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

Here is “part two” of the blog post from yesterday.

5. BE ORGANIZED.
Think through the details of your event and plan accordingly.

We recruited for three ministries at our recent expo. Each ministry was assigned a color. Banners, balloons and booth paperwork in these colors quickly visually distinguished the ministries from each other.

Each booth was equipped with sign up cards, trifolds listing job descriptions for volunteer positions, pens and clipboards. The children’s ministry booth also had applications and background checks available for every recruit to fill out on the spot.

6. PLAN FOLLOW UP.
As a recruiter, I hate to see people fall through the cracks. By Sunday night following the Expo all the data entry of our prospective volunteers was complete. The staff could start follow up first thing Monday morning.

I personally find that this method for follow up is very effective:
1. A follow up phone call within a couple days following the Expo to confirm the volunteer’s interest and scheduling preferences.
2. A formal or on-the-job training within a few weeks of the Expo to equip the new volunteer.
3. A personal welcome the first day of service. Introduce your new volunteer to their coworkers. Help them get settled that first day.
4. Occasional phone calls to check in on the new volunteer over the first few months of service. Give them a venue to ask questions, express concerns and know their input is valued.

7. PRAY.
Sound pretty basic? Perhaps it is. Invite God to show off. He loves your kids more than you do. He knows who he’s calling to ministry. He knows what adults are crying out to him for connection with others. Pray that he will speak to the hearts of your future volunteers through your Expo efforts.

SUMMARY
Okay friends. Those are my ideas. Some of you are old pros at this recruiting thing and others of you bring young new fresh energy and creativity to the table. Please, share your ideas and experiences in the comments. We’ll learn from each other.

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Volunteer Expo (Part One)

Posted on10. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

Hi Friends!

My sweet hubby Kenny invited me to chat with you about a subject I love dearly – volunteer recruiting.
My, oh my. Children’s ministry is a hungry beast when it comes to volunteer recruiting huh? Ever feel like you’re nonstop asking for volunteers? I’ve been there.

Today, we’ll specifically chat about Volunteer Expos.

Recently at Gateway Community Church I was hired as a contract employee to plan a volunteer expo. Our goal was 150 total new volunteers for three ministries in the church. Guess how many people signed up? 350! Can you believe it?! We had more sign up than we hoped for! Wow!

This was not my first Expo. I’ll share with you a few things I’ve learned.
Here are my tips to a successful volunteer expo:

1. COORDINATE WITH “BIG CHURCH”.
Sometimes in children’s ministry we become little islands. THIS IS NOT HEALTHY PEOPLE! We are the body of Christ. Your arm would do you no good if it was not attached to your body.
Don’t willy-nilly plan an expo. Talk to your pastor or the creative team who plans sermons. Plan your expo around a sermon or series of sermons about volunteering and serving. Let the pastor pump vision into people through his words from the stage.
Incorporate the expo message into the sermon for the day. Plan a fun skit to share your ministry’s heart. Design a slide to use in the announcements. Film a creative video. Make people laugh. Tug at their heartstrings. Photos of wide-eyed kids are great for this.

2. MAKE IT FUN!

I like expos that feel like parties. I’ve been to my share of dull navy-blue-colored-pipe-and-drape business expos. YAWN! That’s no fun!

Give your Expo a theme. Use bold colors! Design fun graphics! Play music. Blow up balloons. Give away food and candy.

Details, details, details! Don’t forget to incorporate details that represent you, your ministry, your church or your community.

We’re proud of our live music in Austin, Texas. You bet we invited live bands to play in the courtyard by our expo booths. The energy the music added was immediate and it reflected our culture as a church and as a city.

3. PUT TOGETHER A TEAM.
What are your strengths? Put together an Expo planning team with members who are strong in your weaknesses. Here are a few roles I like to have on every event team I put together:
• The project planner. This is my favorite role. This is the person who can give legs to dreams. They can map out goals and milestones and deadlines with the same ease it takes most people to eat or breathe. They can communicate and check in with people to make sure the event will happen on time.
• The decorator. We all know someone like this. Their house looks like a magazine. They are cute and polished. Invite this person on your team. Let them own making the theme come to life in booth décor.
• The administrator. This person likes details. Let them handle the printing of sign up cards, the data entry of people who sign up, etc.
• The party planner. This person can throw a party! They bring fun to every situation. Let them own the giveaways and food and music. Let them work with the decorator to make the Expo full of life.
• The communicator. Let this person own the marketing pieces for the Expo. (As a personal note let me plead with you all: PLEASE! NO CLIP ART OR RIDICULOUS FONTS! If you do not personally know how to make your printed materials look like a million bucks, invite a graphic designer to join your team! )

4. CREATE MOMENTUM. DON’T LET PEOPLE GET AWAY.
We experimented with our recent Expo at Gateway. We tried our best to post our message at every turn and get people talking. How’d we do this?
• Days before the expo we started sharing volunteer stories on our church website blogs.
• The night before our first expo weekend, we invited our Facebook Gateway Church group to the expo.
• We printed cheap posters announcing our Expo at www.sircooper.com and hung them in every bathroom stall on the church campus.
• We printed cheap stickers in house with our Expo theme “I’m In”. The weekends of the Expo, every volunteer on campus was given a sticker to wear. Every person who signed up at the booths was also given a sticker to wear. If the “I Voted” stickers create momentum on Election Day, I was sure stickers could work for us.
• We ran our expo for two weekends, since our attendees are not regular every week.
• We printed our sign up cards and stuffed one in every program. Families don’t have time to visit the Expo booths? Not a problem. They could sign up and drop their cards in the offering bucket.
• We positioned our Expo booths in the courtyard, the heart of our campus. All traffic on campus flows through this area. The booths were impossible to miss.

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