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Support and Encourage Volunteers
It's important to value and treasure the people who have been chosen to share their lives with children.

Topics:	Children, Communication, Encouragement, Leadership, Recruiting, Volunteer care, Volunteer recruitment, Volunteers
Filters:	Children's ministry, Children's pastor, Christian education, Family ministry, Nursery, Sunday school, Volunteer
References:	None
Date Added:	March 08, 2005

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How could we continue to reach kids for Christ without the ongoing help of volunteers? They are the ones who are on the front lines of our ministry. They invest time, talents, gifts, and their hearts into the lives of children. That's why it's important to value and treasure the people who have been chosen to share their lives with children. The purposeful support and encouragement of your volunteers builds solid teams and genuine trust. Be generous with the care you give them. Here are some suggestions for ways to support and encourage your volunteers:

Provide an avenue of feedback, so volunteers have a way of communicating with decision-makers. You can do that by gathering volunteers together before or after the program to give feedback, share highlights and challenges, and pray for the kids and each other.
Thank, praise, and celebrate! Everyone needs to feel appreciated, loved, cherished, and needed. Verbal "thank you's," thank you notes, small gifts or candy, photos of remembrance, banners of recognition, and bulletin or newsletter appreciation messages are all ways of making these very important volunteers feel special.
Be willing to release people from the ministry if they do not love what they are doing. Choose to love your volunteers beyond the ministry's needs and desire God's best for them. If a volunteer is having a hard time in his or her serving capacity, meet with that volunteer and discuss whether or not he or she still feels called to that area of service. If not, help that volunteer find a new place to serve, rather than battling a problem that may turn a child away or push the volunteer to quit.
Help volunteers feel welcome. Provide everyone with a nametag to wear at all times. Let volunteers know they are being prayed for and cared for. Remember to give every volunteer the name of someone to contact if they have any questions, concerns, or problems that need to be addressed.
Familiarize volunteers with the goals, values, and vision for the ministry. Volunteers will feel more comfortable knowing how their portion of service fits into the big picture of the program. It will help volunteers feel their jobs are important, and it will bring everyone on board with what the ministry is trying to do.
Be sure you inform leaders about how the program works, why it works, and the reason you chose the curriculum your ministry uses.
Provide specialty training to volunteers in each area of service. Time is valuable, so don't waste it by making every volunteer sit through a long training session that covers everything from how registration works to building your Large Group Programming area to how to relate to kids! Group your volunteers into major divisions, and provide a special training session designed just for them. These groups of volunteers could possibly form Small Groups and continue to develop relationships throughout the year.