5 Steps To Ease In New Volunteers

Getting involved in youth ministry can be intimidating.  And if potential and new ministers walk in feeling uncomfortable they won’t want to return.

Courtesy of Dermott O’Halloran/Creative Commons License

The solution is creating steps to help them ease into your program.  The more comfortable they feel the more confident they will become.  To help your new ministers build that confidence you need to:

CREATE A FIRST SERVE OPPORTUNITY

First serve is when an individual interested in serving in our ministry comes to observe.  They are not serving, or committing to anything.  They are simply a fly on the wall.

After the first serve we ask them about their experience and then ask them back.  If they have enjoyed themselves they’ll be back, if not nothing lost.  A first serve takes away the fear of the unknown.

GIVE THEM SOMEONE TO SHADOW

The tendency is to throw someone in as soon as they give you their consent to serve.  The problem is that you aren’t providing them clarity on what needs to be done.

When you give a new minister someone to shadow it provides accountability and someone to lean on when they have questions or need clarity.  In the end it will also build confidence and communicates community.

PROVIDE A VARIETY OF INTERACTION

There are a lot of people who care about the next generation they just aren’t sure they want to interact with the next generation.  A healthy ministry will have different levels of interaction and investment (Read the last post on creating different roles HERE).

Make sure these opportunities are clear.  When you talk to a potential minister listen to their story and ask God, “How can this person best serve what we’re trying to accomplish?”  When you have the right people in the right paces your ministry will sore.

GIVE THEM TERMS OF SERVICE

So often we ask people to get involved without an expectation of when that might end.  Granted you might want someone serving indefinitely; however, with no end in mind brings a muddiness of expectations.

There will be a time when someone outgrows the ministry.  Give them a terms of service (i.e. maybe a year) with the option of renewing.  This will allow you the opportunity to check in and give them permission to approach you if ministry gets tough.

COMMUNICATE IT’S ACCESSIBILITY 

You might have a pretty simple structure for plugging in ministers; however, no one knows about it.  Make your recruiting and boarding process clear.  The more people know about it, the more likely they’ll want to try it out.

When you make youth ministry accessible people will be more likely to give it a try.  The more people that give it a try will see the fruit that serving the next generation can bring.  Take away the fears by showing it is possible.