Keep Reminding Your Volunteers About This


I have an air mattress I use when camping or when we have company and need an extra place for someone to sleep.

The only thing about the mattress I don't like is this - it has a slow leak and over the course of the night it loses about half its air.

I need to take some time to find the hole and fix it.

My air mattress has something in common with people who volunteer in ministry. 

Just as the mattress has a slow leak, volunteers have a slow vision leak.  
Vision cast yesterday that is not refilled today will be forgotten tomorrow. 
Peter knew this and he had a solution that still works today, if you'll follow it.

Check it out...

"I will always be ready to REMIND you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you."  
2 Peter 1:12

Peter says he will always be ready to remind the believers of the truths He has shared with them. 

Casting vision for your volunteers is not a one and done.   It's an ongoing process.  In fact, it has to be.  Why?  Because our natural tendency is to revert to the "what."   Teaching a lesson.  Greeting a family.  Leading a worship song.  Facilitating a small group.  Setting up crafts.  Checking kids and families in. 

That is "what" volunteers do.  But it must be grounded in the "why."  The why is so families can come to Christ.  The why is so kids can be discipled.  The why is being the arms of Jesus wrapping around families.

And that leaks.  If we don't remind volunteers again and again and again, the why will diminish and you'll end up with volunteers who are just going through the motions without passion and excitement.

If you want the why to be the dominant reason volunteers continue to serve, then do this.

Take people to the "why"  every time you have a volunteer meeting.  Mention it briefly in every email you send out.  Put it on a poster and put it in classrooms and hallways so people see it each week.  Share stories of how people are being reached and discipled. 

Be like the Apostle Peter and always be ready to remind people of the why.

Here's a simple test you can take to see if you're reminding your volunteers sufficiently.   Ask them what the vision statement is for the ministry.  If most of your volunteers can't tell you the answer, then you're not reminding them enough.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking, "I reminded them about the vision a few months ago.  I don't need to remind them again that soon."

I would encourage you to remind volunteers about the vision every single week in some format.  Whether it's in an email, at your pre-service huddle or part of a video, remind them, remind them, remind them. 

You can get more proven insight into building a volunteer team in my book "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams."  It's available at www.buildingchildrensministry.com.