Why Don't People Volunteer at Church? by Mike Schreiner
Mike Schreiner and Ken Willard say the key to getting a higher percentage of people involved is understanding the difference between volunteering and Christian service and between recruiting and inviting. They name five best practices for engaging people in meaningful ministry roles.
When you talk to pastors and ministry leaders you will likely hear that the 80/20 rule is alive and well in many churches when it comes to people serving. Twenty percent of the congregation are filling 80 percent of the ministry needs. How about your church? Of the people who call your church their home, what percent do you feel are currently serving? How can you get a higher percentage of your people in the game?
What is the difference between a volunteer and a servant? Volunteers can be defined as people who freely offer themselves for a service. They have a free choice to be involved or not. In many situations the expectations are low, and we hear comments such as, “I’m just a volunteer.”
A servant, on the other hand, might be thought of as one who performs duties about the master’s place. There is a higher level of commitment. Servant is the more Biblical word. While we want to offer some volunteer-type positions for people to get their toes wet, our goal should be to move everyone toward an attitude of servant-hood. We should remember that serving is a spiritual discipline, and that encouraging growth in this area will help everyone grow as a disciple.
Recruiting vs. Inviting
What is the difference between recruiting and inviting? One way to see the difference is to understand where our focus is in each situation. Have you ever heard a pastor or ministry leader beg, plead, or even threaten the congregation during a service in reaction to filling ministry positions? Not at your church of course — but at another church. Someone gets up and says something like, “We really need people to sign up today to help out in the youth ministry.” Or maybe, “If we do not get two more people to work in the nursery right away we are going to just stop offering this service!”
Who do you think typically responds to those types of announcements? You’re right: those who are already serving! The people with a servant heart and those who are already serving, or in some cases over-serving, are usually the first people to jump up and serve more. The focus in these types of recruiting is on the needs of the ministry, the positions we need to fill, our church.
With inviting, our focus should be on the individual. How has God uniquely gifted them? Where are they on the serving pathway? Recruiting focuses on finding someone to fill a job, and inviting focuses on the gifts of the individual. Most people feel great when someone truly notices how they are gifted.
Some Best Practices
Related Resources:
Read more.
We should remember that serving is a spiritual discipline, and that encouraging growth in this area will help everyone grow as a disciple.
Volunteering vs. ServingWhat is the difference between a volunteer and a servant? Volunteers can be defined as people who freely offer themselves for a service. They have a free choice to be involved or not. In many situations the expectations are low, and we hear comments such as, “I’m just a volunteer.”
A servant, on the other hand, might be thought of as one who performs duties about the master’s place. There is a higher level of commitment. Servant is the more Biblical word. While we want to offer some volunteer-type positions for people to get their toes wet, our goal should be to move everyone toward an attitude of servant-hood. We should remember that serving is a spiritual discipline, and that encouraging growth in this area will help everyone grow as a disciple.
Recruiting vs. Inviting
What is the difference between recruiting and inviting? One way to see the difference is to understand where our focus is in each situation. Have you ever heard a pastor or ministry leader beg, plead, or even threaten the congregation during a service in reaction to filling ministry positions? Not at your church of course — but at another church. Someone gets up and says something like, “We really need people to sign up today to help out in the youth ministry.” Or maybe, “If we do not get two more people to work in the nursery right away we are going to just stop offering this service!”
Who do you think typically responds to those types of announcements? You’re right: those who are already serving! The people with a servant heart and those who are already serving, or in some cases over-serving, are usually the first people to jump up and serve more. The focus in these types of recruiting is on the needs of the ministry, the positions we need to fill, our church.
With inviting, our focus should be on the individual. How has God uniquely gifted them? Where are they on the serving pathway? Recruiting focuses on finding someone to fill a job, and inviting focuses on the gifts of the individual. Most people feel great when someone truly notices how they are gifted.
Some Best Practices
- Don’t just ask another warm body to fill a need. This is not beneficial in the long run to anyone.
- Focus on the individual, not the task. When we go into a conversation with a long list of our needs, it will leak through in some form and taint our intentions.
- Share your personal passion. What excites you about serving? How have you grown as a disciple due to serving?
- Offer a specific opportunity when the time is right. “Because of the way you make people feel welcome and at ease, I think you’d be in your element serving on our hospitality team.”
- Tie the role to the big picture. Help the person see how that specific ministry serving opportunity supports the overall mission of the church.
Related Resources:
- Reach More Volunteers by Jennifer And Jim Cowart
- Increasing Active Engagement Video Tool Kit
- Ten Hints for Leading Volunteers by Jill Fox
Read more.
Deal with People by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., says rather than dealing with a problem person head-on, churches will instead try to resolve the difficulty by formulating a policy addressing the situation. But such policies rarely serve the organization well. Nor do they deal with the root of the problem. It's better instead to deal with the problem person directly.
Have you noticed how frequently one person can cause a problem in an organization? The response often is to develop a policy for everyone in order to solve the dilemma with one person. Most of us wish to avoid conflict, so people often are reluctant to deal directly with the problem person. As a result, a policy is designed instead of dealing with the real problem. Almost never do these policies serve the organization well.
Surely there is some redeeming merit in each of these policies. Yet such policies are often not appropriate. Policies should serve the best interests of the total organization, quite apart from a few individuals. Total group policies should not serve as an excuse to avoid facing squarely the real problem. It is simply not fair to impose unnecessary policies on everyone because of the actions of one or a few people.
Related Resources
Read more.
The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
When a staff or volunteer position comes open, often its purpose and responsibilities have changed since it was last filled. In most cases it is good to ask questions such as:
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., says rather than dealing with a problem person head-on, churches will instead try to resolve the difficulty by formulating a policy addressing the situation. But such policies rarely serve the organization well. Nor do they deal with the root of the problem. It's better instead to deal with the problem person directly.
Have you noticed how frequently one person can cause a problem in an organization? The response often is to develop a policy for everyone in order to solve the dilemma with one person. Most of us wish to avoid conflict, so people often are reluctant to deal directly with the problem person. As a result, a policy is designed instead of dealing with the real problem. Almost never do these policies serve the organization well.
Policies should serve the best interests of the total organization, quite apart from a few individuals. Total group policies should not serve as an excuse to avoid facing squarely the real problem.
Here are some examples from church life: A denominational body set tenure limits on all staff as a method of dismissing one ineffective staff person. A school tied faculty paychecks to receipt of student grades because one teacher never turned grades in on time. A small membership church established a mandatory rotation system for officers to change some entrenched leaders. A large membership church developed a cumbersome written reporting system for all staff because a few staff did not do their work.Surely there is some redeeming merit in each of these policies. Yet such policies are often not appropriate. Policies should serve the best interests of the total organization, quite apart from a few individuals. Total group policies should not serve as an excuse to avoid facing squarely the real problem. It is simply not fair to impose unnecessary policies on everyone because of the actions of one or a few people.
Related Resources
- Expecting the Best of People Can Bring Out Their Best by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
- Difficult Conversations by Olu Brown
- When Volunteers Aren’t Working Out by Lory Beth Huffman
Read more.
The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
When a staff or volunteer position comes open, often its purpose and responsibilities have changed since it was last filled. In most cases it is good to ask questions such as:
- What are the implications for this position on the church's other, possibly competing, needs?
- Should we leave this position open for a few months to see if it is still needed or needed in the same configuration?
Learn to Increase Active Engagement in Your Church
What can you do when 20 percent of your congregation does 80 percent of the serving, learning, and leading? The Increasing Active Engagement Tool Kit includes videos, narrated presentations, outlines of key points, and supplementary materials to help you get and keep people involved and engaged.
Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
What can you do when 20 percent of your congregation does 80 percent of the serving, learning, and leading? The Increasing Active Engagement Tool Kit includes videos, narrated presentations, outlines of key points, and supplementary materials to help you get and keep people involved and engaged.
Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
Free Video: Why Worship Attendance Matters and Clues for Improving It
To help you reach new disciples, this free Lewis Center video by Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of why worship attendance is important and ways you can improve it.
Watch now.
Quotable Leadership
As human beings we almost always suffer from the disconnect between the self we think we are and the self that the rest of the world sees in us. (Marshall Goldsmith)
To help you reach new disciples, this free Lewis Center video by Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of why worship attendance is important and ways you can improve it.
Watch now.
Quotable Leadership
As human beings we almost always suffer from the disconnect between the self we think we are and the self that the rest of the world sees in us. (Marshall Goldsmith)
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Churches with vital, growing ministries learn to leverage leadership potential within their congregations. At More Church Leaders | Stronger Church Leaders you will learn strategies to identify and support new leaders and build and maintain effective ministry teams. Clergy and lay leaders, in churches both large and small, will discover a more synergistic and fruitful way of being in ministry together.engagement.
Learn more and register now.
Saturday, November 4, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Eastern
Churches with vital, growing ministries learn to leverage leadership potential within their congregations. At More Church Leaders | Stronger Church Leaders you will learn strategies to identify and support new leaders and build and maintain effective ministry teams. Clergy and lay leaders, in churches both large and small, will discover a more synergistic and fruitful way of being in ministry together.engagement.
Learn more and register now.
Apply Today for Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership at Wesley
Wesley Theological Seminary and the Lewis Center together offer a Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence. With this track, clergy will receive the enhanced knowledge, skills, and motivation to increase congregational and denominational service, vitality, and growth. The next cohort begins in May 2018 in Washington, DC.
Learn more and apply today.
Wesley Theological Seminary and the Lewis Center together offer a Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence. With this track, clergy will receive the enhanced knowledge, skills, and motivation to increase congregational and denominational service, vitality, and growth. The next cohort begins in May 2018 in Washington, DC.
Learn more and apply today.
Editor: Dr. Ann A. Michel
Copyright © 2004-2017 Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
churchleadership.com/leadingideas
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue North West
Washington, D.C. 20016, United States
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Copyright © 2004-2017 Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
churchleadership.com/leadingideas
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue North West
Washington, D.C. 20016, United States
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