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23 Apr 2024

Encourage Your Volunteers!

By |2024-04-23T10:36:35-07:00April 23rd, 2024|Leadership, Volunteers|0 Comments

Springtime might be tough for a Youth Pastor, but it can also be difficult for a Youth Ministry volunteer! These are the people we rely on to help make ministry happen. We can’t do this thing by ourselves! So, how can you show volunteers appreciation and ensure they feel valued as a part of your team? I’ve got three quick ideas!

  1. Send them a text

Sending a quick text message to a volunteer is a great way to show them you appreciate them! Normally, we text volunteers when we need supplies for a game or for them to put out a fire in the youth room. But if you spent the next 10 minutes texting your volunteer team, you could show them that you were thinking about them, appreciate their support, and give them a small encouragement that might carry them through the week! Something like:

“Hey Susan! Thanks so much for being on the team. I saw you having a great conversation with Samantha last night. I’m glad you’re doing Youth Ministry!”

“Hey Scott! It’s always great to see you throwing football and chatting it up with the dudes. Glad you’re on the Youth Ministry team!”

  1. Grab Them a Snack

Ask your volunteers what their favorite snack is. And then next time you meet, have it ready for them. We do this with students all the time. Why shouldn’t we do this for our volunteers? It’s a great way to show them that we know them, we love them, and we were thinking about them. It doesn’t even have to be in the Youth Ministry budget for you to show this type of appreciation! Once you know their favorite snack, you can get it for them again! Think right before the retreat happens or at the end of the school year. You can show your volunteers appreciation just by running to the store real quick.

  1. Sing Their Praises

Maybe not literally singing, but think of it this way: every time you get a microphone, it’s a chance for you to talk about how great your volunteers are. Maybe it’s when you’re making an announcement at church in service or before you break up for small groups. Make sure you tell your volunteers you appreciate them in front of people! It’s definitely not the only way to show people that you appreciate them, but it’s a great way to remind them that you are on their team and you are thankful for them! The next time somebody hands you a microphone, take 30 seconds to talk about how great your Youth Ministry volunteers are!

Did I miss anything? Is there anything you would add to the list? I’d love to hear about it!

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18 Jul 2022

Recruiting Youth Ministry Volunteers

By |2022-07-18T13:26:16-07:00July 18th, 2022|Volunteers, Youth Ministry Hacks, Youth Ministry Ideas|3 Comments

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I can’t get any volunteers. I put it in the bulletin. I put it in the newsletter. We’ve asked from the pulpit. No one cares about working with our youth.”

The truth is that many people just don’t feel equipped to work with youth. I’ve always found this perplexing since I’ve always loved working with teenagers, but the average churchgoer feels either intimidated or not cool enough or young enough to work with middle or high school students.

The good news is I feel that some simple but effective tactics can yield really amazing volunteers for your ministry. Here are some simple but proven effective tips for volunteer recruitment:

 Ask your current volunteers to recruit.

I’ve even gone so far as to ask everyone at a volunteer meeting to come back the next month with at least one person they are willing to personally recruit for youth ministry. A personal ask is always better than a broad plea, and people love to serve with their friends.  Plus, your current volunteers will love to have some influence on who they’ll be working with!

Ask your senior pastor or minister to adults for names.

It is my humble opinion that the pastors who are ministering to adults should be the best people to identify adults in your congregation who may be willing to serve in your ministry.  This can also help to coordinate with other ministries and make sure that you’re not asking the same 10% of adults to do 100% of the volunteer work in your church.

Ask parents.

Not everyone agrees that parents should be volunteers, but honestly, research tells us that students who see their parents practice their faith are more likely to become faithful adults. My guess is your ministry has loads of jobs you could use help with, from administrative to logistics to more student-facing roles.  The parents of your ministry have incredible gifts and you should be using them.

Ask early.

In my experience, people are more likely to say yes in the winter and spring for the following school year. The summer is almost impossible to communicate with folks, and fall is too late!  This also allows you to snag commitments before another ministry poaches all your prospects.  Mostly, it gives the potential volunteer time to pray and discern whether youth ministry is the right fit!

Offer training!

The National Day of Volunteer Training is Sept 24, 2022 and is a super affordable way to train all your volunteers in one day. Your church can host or sign up to attend at another church.  Your local denomination probably offers something annually or can offer you a list of local experts who will come to your church to offer training. Sometimes local seminaries will offer a training series.  Create your own training program with some of your veteran volunteers.  Your volunteers will feel empowered and will be more excited to serve with you when they feel confident and prepared. 

Ansley has served in youth ministry for two decades and holds a certificate of Youth and Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. She loves the relational aspect of youth ministry as well as helping equip adults and students to lead. Ansley lives on her family’s beef cattle farm in Virginia with her husband and two young sons (and, sadly, no llamas).

See more from this DYM author here.

 

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6 Jun 2017

3 Challenges For Your Team This Summer

By |2017-06-05T19:22:45-07:00June 6th, 2017|Volunteers|0 Comments

In between all the camps and vacations, most of us take the summer to evaluate, change and improve the ministries we lead. While looking at content and reconfiguring your systems are key, it’s also important to take things up a notch with your volunteers.

That’s right, summer is a great time to challenge your team to step up to a new level. It’s an opportunity to expand your capacity as a leader and hit new goals. So, how do you challenge your team? Here are three you can give to your team this summer: (more…)

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7 Mar 2017

Gray Hair, Yellow Shirts

By |2017-03-07T09:09:52-08:00March 7th, 2017|Volunteers|0 Comments

I was at a DNOW retreat this weekend in Georgia – and was BLOWN AWAY by something I experienced.

Now this was a big event, huge really. 24 churches combined, who have been doing it for like 24 years – this event had momentum and critical mass to spare. Just about every seat was filled in the massive hosting megachurch. But what impressed me from the minute I got there was a throng of yellow shirts and gray hair.

They were everywhere! I bet there was more than 50 older volunteers, most of them 60+ yrs old – all serving and loving students. It was incredible.

  • Parking lot hosts with little yellow lightsabers
  • Warm smiles greeting me at the door
  • Lots of laughter and fun with students in the foyer
  • Eager help at the info booth
  • Hugging students
  • Helping man each merch table
  • Backstage refilling drinks and snacks
  • The warmest security I’ve ever seen (they could have been easily outrun by any junior higher I might add)
  • Handing out food at lunch
  • Handling injuries
  • Talking to students
  • Helping lost students
  • Asking great questions to students
  • Sitting in the pews with students

It was a GREAT weekend – but the biggest thing I walked away with was a church that empowered the gray hair to serve students. Man, it was awesome! They got youth ministry! Incredible.

Gray hair, yellow shirts, HUGE hearts. Jesus would be proud.

JG

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28 Nov 2016

GUEST SURVEY: Youth Ministry Staffing & Volunteer Ratios

By |2016-11-28T19:41:11-08:00November 28th, 2016|Volunteers|0 Comments

Do you have enough staff support for your youth ministry? Do you have enough volunteers to serve students well? Our friend Nick Blevins is doing a survey with a BIG prize we wanted you to know about:
There are exceptions, but I usually feel like we never have enough staff or volunteers in our ministry. I know I’m not alone, because it’s a topic that usually comes up when I talk with other ministry leaders. I enjoy talking with other ministry leaders about this topic so I can get a sense for their experience and compare it with my own. There aren’t a lot of guides and benchmarks out there when it comes to healthy staff and volunteer ratios, but the book Sustainable Youth Ministry is one of them.
To go along with that, I’m hosting a survey where ministry leaders can share their staffing and volunteer ratios. Would you mind sharing yours? When the survey is wrapped up you’ll be able to see the full results and use it as a guide for your ministry. In addition, we’re giving away a number of prizes as a way of saying thank you for your input. One of the prizes is a one-year Gold Membership to DYM!
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14 Nov 2016

GUEST POST: The Rewards of The Summer of Crazy

By |2016-11-14T19:55:46-08:00November 14th, 2016|Volunteers|0 Comments

coverGUEST POST: Dennis Beckner, Youth Ministry Volunteer 20+ years and DYM Author!

Knowing my small group boys would be graduating this year, I chose to do The Summer of Crazy last year. This summer, I’m reaping the youth ministry rewards of putting in the extra effort. Next school year will be much better because of it.

Here’s the story: For the longest time, I wish I could have known my small group students when they were younger. It would help me know first hand what was in their pasts, which would help me understand their present. Last summer I decided to do something about it.

I double-dipped into both our High School Ministry (my primary area of service) and our Junior High Ministry (a place I swore I’d never serve – which I turned out to love). I did two weeks of high school camp, a week of junior high camp, junior high guy’s trip, and a bunch of other events, etc. That’s why I call it The Summer of Crazy. I even got a nice trophy of a bruise from the Junior High Ice Skating Night. So fun.

It was a struggle to not make my current students feel neglected or like I had moved on. That was especially tough because I’m a social-media junkie; everything I do that’s fun gets posted online. With so much going on, I don’t blame them for feeling that way.

However, I also used that tension with my current students to cast vision. I told them why I was working with my upcoming students. By doing this, I was able to help them see the importance of taking a long view of life, rather than just letting it happen.

Here’s where the benefits came in this year: Out of all of the students I met last summer, a few of them have begun to seek me out to ask if they can be in my camp cabin as Freshmen this summer, and in my small group next year. We’re way ahead of the game from where we would have been.

I’ve even been able to do some counseling with them and some fun activities. If I waited for them to come up to 9th grade before I met them, getting started would have taken much longer and I wouldn’t know as much about them first hand. The Summer of Crazy turned out to be a great success.

Something I’ve learned over time is that I need to have a strategic long view of youth ministry. To do that well, I need to be strategic about how and where I serve. This was the best, and most physically draining, decision I’ve probably ever made in youth ministry.

This, and many other youth ministry strategic ideas, are in my brand new book Volunteer Youth Ministry, A Roadmap For Strategic Leadership. I hope you’ll check it out. It was very fun to write and I know all youth workers (paid and volunteer) will enjoy it.

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3 Nov 2016

College Ministry Volunteer Training

By |2017-12-20T15:25:56-08:00November 3rd, 2016|Leadership, Uncategorized|0 Comments

lg-blog-2

There aren’t a ton of college ministry resources out there right now. The great part about that means is that there is so much room to explore and innovate! The bad part is that is can be tough to start from scratch! That was the crossroads we came to when we re-wrote our entire Life Group leader training. Luckily, we had the chance to borrow some ideas from some brilliant authors and my wise friend, Jessica Sanchez!

I thought I’d save you guys some of our same trouble and post a digital copy of our training we did this year.

If you have a college ministry volunteer training handbook that you are proud of, share it!

You can download the digital volunteer handbook here.

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