RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

When you lose one of your key volunteers, it has ramifications.  Worst case scenario, you have other volunteers who decide it's time for them to quit as well. 

It takes wisdom to navigate this situation. Your team dynamic can be affected if you don't lead well through it.

Team members are likely to feel an emotional loss associated with the resignation.  Often teams see a domino effect with others resigning in response to the first resignation.

Watch for overloading workloads as team members may have to step up and temporarily cover the responsibilities of the person who left.

So, how do you keep the rest of the team emotionally healthy and passionate about the mission?  Let's look at a few key steps to take.

Acknowledge the person is quitting.  Be open and honest with the team.  Share the news with them quickly (The people who know the person probably already know anyways). Let your team know that you are sorry the person is leaving.  This will help you connect with the rest of the team emotionally and let them know you are feeling the same thing they are feeling.

Be honest about why the volunteer quit.  Other team members will have questions about why the person quit.  Be honest and share as much information as is appropriate and okay with the volunteer who quit.

Find a replacement.  If the volunteer had filled a role that requires certain leadership skills or talents, make it a priority to find the replacement.  It might be someone who is already on the team that you could move into the vacant role.  Or it may mean finding a new volunteer for that role.

Here's an example.  Let's say your tech person steps down.  Hopefully you have some volunteers that worked with the person.  Meet with them and decide who will step into the lead role that is now vacant.  Or find a new volunteer to fill the role. 

Be honest about why the volunteer quit.  Other team members will have questions about why the person quit.  Be honest and share as much information as is appropriate and okay with the volunteer who quit. 

Invest in the team.  Sit down with the people he or she served with and ask how they are doing, how the team dynamic is going, any concerns or changes they want to talk about, etc.  Spend extra time with them and invest in them.
  
Keep the team focused on the WHY instead of the what.  Remind team members why you are doing what you are doing.  Point them to the big mission God has called them to. 

Realize it happens.  You are going to have some volunteer turn over.  People move.  People change jobs.  People have sicknesses.  But when a key volunteer leader steps away for none of these reasions, it can cause a huge ripple effect if you don't lead well.

It's important to know what to say and how you should verbalize it.  The goal is to keep the team excited, pumped and ready to continue serving. 

Had a great time last week at CPC sharing a session about "Attracting Millennial Volunteers."

If you'd like the notes from the session, they are available as a free download at my site. You can access it at this link.

You don't want to lose your volunteers.  Without them, the ministry will quickly crash.

We know all volunteers are not going to stick around and go the distance.  Life happens.  Some move away.  Some have major life changes.  Some get sick.  You can't control those factors.

But what you don't want to happen is for volunteers to leave because of poor leadership on your part. 

Let's talk about 3 big things that can cause you to lose even your best volunteers.

You can lose your volunteers if you're not CHALLENGING them.  We are all wired to grow and learn.  When volunteers are in a role that no longer challenges them to learn and grow, they can become bored.  And that boredom can cause them to start looking for somewhere else to serve.

If you want to keep volunteers, then you need to invest time in helping them grow. 

If you are not investing in volunteers, they will not be invested in the ministry.

Challenge them by...

• giving them opportunities to step into roles with more responsibility as they grow

• offering them feedback 

• helping them identify and overcome their blind spots

• providing them with a personal ministry growth plan

• giving them books, articles, podcasts, etc. that will help them grow personally and in their role 

You can lose your volunteers if you are not CHERISHING them.   

The word cherish is a verb.  It happens through your actions and attitude toward your volunteers.

The word cherish means - to protect and care for.   When volunteers sense you don't have their best interests in mind, you will lose them.  And when they feel like you don't care about them, you will lose them.

Cherish your volunteers by...

• protecting their time - don't ask them to stay over and serve extra services

• caring for them when they have a need 

• showing them you care more about them as a person than about what they do for the ministry

• using the ministry to build volunteers rather than using volunteers to build the ministry

• praying for them on a regular basis

The word cherish also means - to esteem, admire, dote on.  When volunteers don't feel valued, they begin to feel used and this can lead to losing them.

Cherish your volunteers by...

• telling them you appreciate them

• bragging on them in front of others

• giving them a small gift

• writing them a personal note of encouragement

• treating them with honor and respect

You can lose our volunteers if you are not showing CONFIDENCE in their ability.  Volunteers who are not empowered and released to lead, will grow discouraged.  Volunteers who are micromanaged and not trusted with responsibility will check out.

If you want to keep volunteers, you must show you have confidence in them.

Show confidence in your volunteers by...

• getting out of their way

• giving them the big picture and allowing them to decide the path they want to take to get there

• asking their opinion

• handing off things to them

• giving them room to make mistakes and helping them learn from it

Some of your volunteers may be on the verge of walking out the door and you don't even realize it.  Be committed to challenging them, cherishing them and showing confidence in them.  You don't have to lose your volunteers if you'll do these three things.  They want to go the distance with you...if you'll give them a valid reason to do so.

My book "The Formula for Building Volunteer Teams" is a must read if want volunteers to go the distance with you.  You can get it now in ebook or paperback at this link. 

Churches that want to attract Millennial parents and their children should pour a significant percentage of their time, resources and efforts into creating an excellent children's ministry.  

You may not have the budget that Disney has, but you do have the ability to keep your facilities as clean as Disney does. 

I believe the best way to reach Millennial parents is by ministering to their children with excellence.

Recently at the KidMin conference in Chicago,  I taught a workshop about building volunteer teams.

As part of the workshop, I asked the attendees to create sample posters to invite people to serve in children's ministry.  The posters would reflect some of the principles we were sharing regarding building volunteer teams.

They did a great job.  Below are the posters they created.  Maybe it will spark some ideas you can use to help build the volunteer team in your church.

You can get lots of more ideas about building a volunteer team in my book "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams."  It's available in hard copy and ebook formats at this link.

This past week, I taught a workshop entitled "Leading Millennial Volunteers" at the KidMin Conference in Chicago.  Millennials are the young adults and parents in your church and community.  They are ages 15 to 35-years-old.

The workshop focused on the following.

Characteristics of Millennials

Constructing a Team with Millennials

Connecting with Millennials

Communicating with Millennials

Coaching Millennials

Caring for Millennials

Celebrating Millennials

If you want to see Millennials join your volunteer team and then know how to lead them well, the notes from this workshop will be very helpful.  If you'd like a copy of the notes, feel free to email me at dale@buildingchildrensministry.com and I'll be glad to send them to you.

Lead well!

Children's ministry is made possible by volunteers.   The success of your children's ministry rises and falls on the strength of your volunteer team.

I am often asked how many volunteers should a ministry have?  To operate at the optimal level, here's how many volunteers you should have in the rooms or environments.  This does not include greeters, check-in team, etc.

Infants - 1 volunteer for every 2 children (minimum - ideally 1 volunteer for every 1 child

Crawlers - 1 volunteer for every 3 children

Toddlers - 1 volunteer for every 4 children

2-year-olds - 1 volunteer for every 4 children

3-year-olds - 1 volunteer for every 8 children

4-year-olds - 1 volunteer for every 8 children

5-year-olds thru 5th grade - 1 volunteer for every 10 children (minimum - ideally 1 volunteer for every 8 children)

Monitor your numbers carefully and strive to reach these ratios.  The younger the children are, the more critical it is to meet these ratios for safety reasons.  This should be a top priority.  Parents who walk into a nursery that is not meeting these ratios are far less likely to return. Some churches even hire people to work in their nurseries to ensure ratios are met.  I have never done this, but if you choose to do so, it is definitely money well invested.

The primary reason you want to have these ratios for older children is because of the relationship factor.  These ratios help ensure that kids are personally known by a caring volunteer.  When you get above these ratios it can turn into crowd control rather than discipleship happening.

If you aren't currently at these ratios, don't be discouraged.  Keep building your team.  You will always needs more volunteers, especially if you are growing and reaching new families.  You can also get key insight about building a dynamic volunteer team in my book - "The Formula for Building a Great Volunteer Team."  In this book, I share the steps I took to build a volunteer of over 2,600 in a local church.  You can get the book in paperback or ebook formats at this link.

Volunteers is one of, if not the most important, aspects of your ministry.  Focus on it and you'll see your ministry flourish.

How would you like to double your number of volunteers in one year?  It can happen, but you probably won't be able to do it by yourself.  No matter how good you are personally at enlisting new volunteers, you can only connect with so many people in one year.  Let's say you personally enlist one new volunteer a month.  After a year, you'll have 12 new volunteers.  That's good, but what if you enlisted some current volunteers to help you build the team?  It could look like this after a year.

3 people x 12 new volunteers each = 36 new volunteers in one year.
5 people x 12 new volunteers each = 60 new volunteers in one year.
10 people x 12 new volunteers each = 120 new volunteers in one year.

So how do you get your current volunteers to help you bring new volunteers on the team?

• Make it part of your volunteer culture - set the expectation for volunteers to invite other people to serve with them - write this into your volunteer job descriptions and go over this with each new volunteer (if you don't have job descriptions for your volunteers, you can get them here)

• Talk about it - when you meet with your volunteers, talk with them about inviting other people to serve - what you emphasize to your volunteers is what becomes important to them

• Promote it - have contests between different areas of your ministry and see who can enlist the most volunteers in one month / if you are multi-site, have a contest between campuses

• Honor it - when a volunteer enlists a new volunteer for the team, honor him or her - what you celebrate also becomes important

The cool thing is many times volunteers are more effective at enlisting people to serve than staff are.  I remember a few years ago, we decided to have a push to enlist new volunteers.  We set up a table in one of the main hallways with the strategy of spending all weekend asking people if they would be interested in volunteering.  Instead of placing a staff member at the table, I decided to ask Lisa to be at the table.  Lisa was one of our key volunteers.  She loved serving and had a bubbly, contagious spirit.  She gladly agreed to be at the invite table all weekend.  My prayer was she would be able to enlist at least 5 or 6 new volunteers that weekend.  After the last service, I went to the table and asked Lisa if she had been able to enlist any new volunteers?  Her response blew me away!  She said, "Yes, I was able to sign up 85 new volunteers."  Yes, you read that correctly.  She signed up 85 new volunteers in one weekend.  

Think about it.  Who are the Lisa's in your ministry that you could ask to help enlist new volunteers?  What are some steps you can take to create a culture of volunteers inviting others to serve?  How can you honor volunteers who bring other people on the team?

You can get more great tips about building a volunteer team in my new book - "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teas."  You can get your copy today at this link.

A survey was done among people who volunteer.  The question was "Why did you start volunteering?"  Here are the top 10 reasons from lowest to highest percentage.

10.  External Forces (saw an ad in a bulletin, heard an annnoucement, etc.).

9.  Boredom (looking for something to fill their time).

8.  Guilt (example - were told "if you don't serve, the kids won't have a class" or "if you don't help, the homeless won't get a meal today).

7.  Need experience (example - going to be a teacher so want to get experience working with kids).

6.  Social Need (they want to be part of something that connects them to a social group).

5.  Spiritual Reasons (they believe volunteering will bring them closer to God).

4.  Gratitude (they want to show thankfulness to the church or to God).

3.  Personal Connection (example - someone volunteers in a cancer fundraiser because they or someone they know has had cancer).

2.  Compelling Need (a big issue they see as important or a cause they want to see succeed).

1.  Personal Invitation (someone personally asked them to volunteer).

Notice the number one reason people volunteer - a personal invitation.  87-93% of people who volunteer do so because someone asked them to.  It is by far the most effective way to build a volunteer team.

This is how Jesus built His volunteer team.  Look what it says in Matthew 9:9.

Look under the hood of successful children's ministries and you'll find they have 10 things in common. 

#1 - Strong leadership.  Just like in everything else, everything rises and falls on leadership.  Successful ministries are built by solid, committed leaders.  God anoints and blesses people, not programs. 

#2 - Compelling vision.  The ministry has a clear, concise vision that keeps the vision on track and moving forward.  Everyone on the team knows why they are serving and what they are working toward.

#3 - Unity.  Vision falls flat without unity behind the vision.  The team is committed to unity and tenaciously protects it.  Out of this unity flows power, anointing and blessings.

#4 - Solid volunteer team.  Last year, I hosted a gathering of the 20 largest children's ministries in the nation.  Without exception, every one of them has a strong team of volunteers that make the ministry happen.  I've said it over and over again...because it is true...the success of a children's ministry rises and falls on the strength of the volunteer team.  In fact, in most of these churches, it's hard to tell staff and volunteers apart. 

#5 - Commitment to excellence.  Successful children's ministries are built on doing the small things with excellence.  Details matter to them.  Their bathrooms are clean.  Their check-in areas are neat and free of clutter.  They promptly follow up with families who contact them.  It's hard to find typos on their take home papers.  No, they aren't perfect.  No one is.  If you look hard enough, you'll find some weak spots.  But they know what the weak spots are and you can be sure they are working on fixing and improving them.

#6 - Focus.  Successful children's ministries don't equate busyness with success.  They equate being productive with success.  They don't necessarily have a full calendar, but they do have a focused calendar.  There is a big difference.  They funnel their time, energy and resources into doing a few things extremely well. 

#7 - Change.  They constantly evaluate everything they do and change what is not working or is outdated.  They grasp the Message very tightly, but everything else is held with open hands.  They are thankful for the past,  but they are not married to it.  They spend most of their time looking forward and occasionally glance back at the past for reference.

#8 - Relevant ministry.  They keep up with kid culture.  They know how to connect with today's kids.  When parents ask their kids the famous end of service question - "Did you have fun today?" - the answer is "Yes!"  But don't be quick to judge the term "fun."  Fun at church for a kid means you made the Bible come alive for him or her.  It means you let them be a kid.  It means you used teaching methods that they connect with.  Fun may appear to be a shallow word, but it's actually a deep word when you look at it like this.

#9 - Passion for reaching the unchurched.  Simply put, they reach kids and families for Christ.  Unchurched families walk in the doors on a regular basis.  Kids' lives are changed.  Parents' lives are changed.  The baptistry waters are constantly stirred.  They have a driving passion for the lost that won't let them stop until every single child and family in their community knows Jesus.

#10 - Humility.  Though numbers 1-9 are true about successful children's ministries, if you were to interview them and ask why they are successful, they would shrug their shoulders and say, "To be honest, it's not because of us.  We're not this good.  Only God could do this.  We are in way over our heads."  This humility keeps them on their faces before God.  They know they don't have all the answers.  And that's a good place to be. 

These 10 points lead to some great discussion questions you can have with your team.  Sit down and ask yourselves...

1.  Are we leading well?  How can we improve as leaders? 
2.  Do we have a clear, compelling vision that people want to follow?
3.  Is our ministry unified?  Do we work hard to protect our unity?
4.  How strong is our volunteer team?  How can we strengthen it?
5.  Are we committed to excellence?  Do we strive to do the small things well?
6.  Are we focused?  Does our calendar reflect busyness or productivity?
7.  Are we open to change?  Are we evaluating everything we do on a regular basis?
8.  Are we connecting with the kids?  Are kids having fun at our church?
9.  Are we passionate about reaching the unchurched? 
10.  Is pride getting in our way?  Are we willing to humble ourselves before God and seek His face?

I'm often asked, "What's the most important thing to focus on in children's ministry?" 

Surprisingly, it is not communicating with kids...it's not putting together great lessons...it's not creating cool environments...it's not leading great events.

All of those things are important, but I believe the one thing you must focus on to succeed in children's ministry is building a volunteer team.

The success of your ministry hinges on the strength of the volunteer team you build.  Read everything you can about building and leading volunteer teams.  Connect with leaders who have built great volunteer teams and glean from them.  Spend the biggest percentage of your time building a volunteer team. 

Here's the bottom line.  Your success in children's ministry will not based on what you do, but on what you empower others to do. 

Need some tips on building a volunteer team?  If you haven't read it, here's 10 Simple Secrets to Building a Great Volunteer Team.