5 Questions Every Volunteer on Your Team Should Know How to Answer
If your volunteers are bought into your vision as a ministry, they will have ownership and follow you.
Let’s walk through five questions every volunteer on your team should know how to answer.
1: Why does our team exist and why does my service matter?
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This could be your Vision Statement =
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An example here would be for a Production Team – your Vision could be that you help “Create Experiences where people meet Jesus and grow with Him”.
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An example of your Kids Ministry could be that your team “Helps Kids Know their place in God’s Big Story”.
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Don’t get too caught up in them memorizing a phrase word for word – be more concerned with them being able to paraphrase or know the essence of what your team is about.
2: How does a new volunteer join our team?
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I have found that most teams do not know the On-Ramp of how a volunteer joins your team. I’ve found that most people can point you to a person to talk to, but don’t know the actual next step a new person needs to take.
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For example, your On-Ramp could be:
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Next Steps Class
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Ministry First Look
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First Training
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I detail what an On-Ramp for New Volunteers could look like in this Blog Post here and this Podcast Episode here.
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If your veteran volunteers can at least inform New Volunteers that their first step is “Next Steps Class”, that would be a win. Now you have your current volunteers helping move people through the process so that your ministry does not fully depend on you doing everything.
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Be intentional about your current volunteers helping you move people through the process.
3: How are volunteers on our team trained?
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Your volunteers should know your training process.
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If a new volunteer wants to be trained on a position, would your current volunteers know the right next step for them to take?
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You might design your Training Process like College Courses so it can be easy to remember.
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BASICS 100 courses
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BASICS 200 courses
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BASICS 300 courses
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You can learn more about how to set up your Training in this manner by reading this blog post or listening to this podcast episode.
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However you set up your training system, make sure the process is drilled into your team.
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The more your current volunteers know how to move people along the path of training themselves with you just overseeing the process, the more ministry you can accomplish.
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4: When do I serve?
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Your volunteers should know the team or rotation they serve on. Do not wait until the week of to only send them a Planning Center invite. If you use this method, you’ll be scrambling every week.
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Try putting your volunteers on teams and then doing a rotation of those teams. With this method, you can let volunteers know weeks and months in advance when they are serving. Then you can use Planning Center as a reminder tool.
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You can learn more about how I’ve set up a process like this in this Blog Post and this Podcast Episode.
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Your volunteers should be able, on a weekly and monthly basis be able to answer when they serve and what position they are serving in. Make sure this information is readily available. Also reminder – they will NOT remember if you only tell them once, provide your serving schedule multiple times and in multiple ways.
5: How is God using me to make a difference in this ministry?
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One of the most important question your volunteers should be able to answer is how they are making a difference.
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Be sure to provide testimonies, stories, and other opportunities to show them that what they are doing (even if it seems like a minute task) is making a huge difference.
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You might try shifting your language so that they know they matter. You could encourage them with words like:
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“You may think you are pushing the spacebar to advance lyrics in ProPresenter – but what you’re doing is bigger than that – you are providing words to local believers to praise Jesus Christ in this place today. It matters what you do. You are making a difference.”
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If your volunteers can answer these 5 questions, you will be well on your way to creating an incredible dynamic volunteer culture at your church.
It is your calling to create the culture you want to see in your team. You got this.
For more tips on building a powerful Volunteer Culture at your church:
