We’re starting Capital Stewardship Campaign soon. In process of starting the campaign up, I pulled together a Stewardship team. I intentionally tried to bring an eclectic group together: some with people skills, other with administrative skills, others with fundraising experience. The first meeting was fascinating. The few individuals I had invited because of their people skills (they had no fundraising background) were baffled as to why they were there. Over the course of the meeting, the three of them echoed the same sentiment, “Pastor, we trust you that you brought us here, but we’re not sure why. We don’t really have anything to offer the group.” Oh, but they did!
Let me shove forward with a final set of suggestions for leading volunteers:
1) Hand-pick your volunteers: having people respond to announcements for volunteer opportunities is a necessary evil. Because of the sheer number of volunteers you require and the fact you won’t know everyone at your church, you need to get volunteers from these blanket announcements. But you won’t get any better volunteers than the ones you hand pick. It can take an inordinate amount of time to call and email people and ask them one-on-one to volunteer. However, you will be blessed many times over by doing so. Those folks on our Stewardship Team that I hand-picked because of their people and networking skills are really the heart and soul of the team. They may not have the know-how when it comes to the nuts and bolts of decision making, but they are, undoubtedly, the engine that makes the team run. I have no doubt you will find this to be the case time and time again in your ministries.
2) Construct teams: this is related to the first piece of advice. It is important that your volunteers aren’t on an island and that you don’t have to provide personal direction for each of your volunteers. Implement a team structure where volunteers can meet, share with one another, encourage one another, and mutually strengthen each other with their different spiritual gifts.
3) Provide care: don’t treat your volunteers like employees. They need and want your pastoral care. Take time to check in with them, encourage them through phone calls, emails, and hand-written letters of thanks. Pray with them.
4) Let them make mistakes: don’t micromanage your volunteers. Spend the time training your volunteers and then let loose to minister.
One parting piece of advice for leaders: don’t ever be the reason that things don’t work. There will be ministries that run their course and will die. That is to be expected and natural in the life of any ministry. Just don’t be the reason that viable ministries die. There are innumerable reasons you can be the reason that ministries die: laziness, improper prioritization, or a lack of personal care. Don’t let that be the case.
