We are getting ready for another volunteer push. In this new year we have challenged our leaders to each recruit one person themselves to join our student team to either serve alongside them during service or to help them co-lead their small group. But we also know with an influx of leaders, the volunteer process needs to be solid. The last thing we need are just warm bodies to say we have “enough” volunteers but great adults who have been trained well to know what they are doing. As the leader, we are responsible for the success of our leaders. If they walk into a service not knowing what exactly they should be doing, we have failed them. The on-boarding process should be the place where they are trained on how your ministry runs and operates, what their “wins” should be and they know actually KNOW what wins they should go for, and feel confident as a leader knowing what leadership wants for them.
A solid volunteer process results in solid volunteers.
We have worked really hard at creating a great on-boarding system for our leaders and I thought we would share with you our process. I hope that it is helpful. This is taken out of our volunteer application:
HOW TO JOIN THE TEAM:
STEP 1: FILL OUT THE STUDENT MINISTRY LEADER APPLICATION PACKET
This is the packet you are reading right now. It gives an overview of our ministry and highlights the expectations we have of leaders. This application was developed to gain information from you in order to enhance our ability to set you up for success in serving. It is lengthy, but we take seriously our responsibility to put together an effective team. Be sure to turn in a signed application, Student Ministry Code of Conduct and Standards of Behavior form, as well as a signed Background Check Authorization form (We will need a new one if you have already signed one from a previous serving opportunity at CCV in the past). Please turn this all in to any of our Student Ministry staff members.
STEP 2: CONTACT BY STUDENTS STAFF
Once we have your application turned in we will set up a time to meet with you. This is an opportunity for us to meet with you in order to connect and hear your story and desire to be involved in Student Ministries. It is also a time for you to ask questions about this packet, about the ministry, and anything you want to know about CCV Students. We will also give you a more detailed overview of the ministry and help you choose a time to visit and observe one of our services.
STEP 3: SIGN IN AND BEGIN GOING THROUGH AND COMPLETING COURSE 101 OF DYM UNIVERSITY
We are all about relational ministry. In order for you to understand the best possible way we can practically do this on Wednesday nights, we want to make sure all of our leaders are operating off of the same standard. This is why we love DYMU and the training they provide. Course 101 is everything you need to know to be a great leader on Wednesday nights. You are required to finish all of course 101 by the time we have our second sit down.
STEP 4: PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER YOUR COMMITMENT
We want you to take time to pray and think through this commitment. We also encourage you to seek the counsel of family and friends regarding your serving commitment.
STEP 5: OBSERVE SERVICES
This is a good opportunity to get a better feel for the ministry. You will shadow one of our core volunteers for 3 weeks. This will give you the chance to meet students and other leaders, see our services, as well as formulate questions for future meetings. Our goal is to make sure you know exactly what you need to do when your “shadowing time” is done.
STEP 6: SECOND SIT DOWN
After you complete your shadowing, we will sit down and chat through what you experienced over the 3 weeks. We are excited to hear what God has shown you through this process. We will determine where exactly you want to serve. We have a few areas to choose from:
- Small group leader
- Service leader for high school
- Service leader for junior high
- Or be both a small group leader AND service leader (this is our #1 hope!)
STEP 7: GET YOUR SM SHIRTS AND NAME TAG & BECOME AN OFFICIAL LEADER
WOO! You did it! You are now official. We wear t-shirts because we are on the same team! When you go to any sporting events, you wear the things of that team, in the same way we do this with our leaders. We are all on the same team and support each other, pray together, have fun and point students to Jesus together.
Thanks Justin! It’s helpful to see your process. Would love to see job descriptions for your small group leaders and your service leaders… 🙂
Hey Justin! Great thought in this article. I love the intentionality of this process. In my own experience, I feel like we use student ministry as a “Great place to get started serving!” or “an easy and fun way to give back!”, which I feel like misses the importance of student ministry.
Two things that stood out to me about this process are the three mandatory weeks of observation and multiple times of encouraged/mandatory reflection. We are so often in a rush to, as you put it, “fill the room with warm bodies”. I love that this process takes the necessary time to encourage an individual to consider what they are volunteering for, and to see it in action first. Thanks for sharing!