Training Volunteers, it’s something we deal with in almost every ministry of the church. And I’m going to argue that it’s quite possibly the single most important thing we get to do as creative and technical leaders in the church. By training volunteers well, we step into the call by God to disciple people in his name.
For many volunteers that serve in technical ministries, they often aren’t involved in small group or community outside of running lights, video or audio on a weekend service. Often, this is due to the fact that it takes such a regular commitment to volunteer for tech or creative ministries.
So here of my 5 tips for training volunteers, and a way you can take it up a notch this year in ministry:
Training Volunteers TIP #1
Try once a month to do a meal with one of your volunteers. This could be as much as trying to get your two families together for dinner, or just a simple breakfast before work, but it puts an emphasis on getting to know then and listening.
Training Volunteers TIP #2
Text one of your volunteers on a random basis if there’s anything you can do to be praying for them? And then spend a few minutes that day praying. The more you’re heart connects with theirs, through the heart of the Father, the greater the relationship you will build.
Training Volunteers TIP #3
Host a once a quarter (or more often) hang night where everyone brings a food, and you play games, watch a movie, etc. Make sure people feel like they belong to a community.
Training Volunteers TIP #4
Once a year, do a fun training day where you teach various topics that everyone could benefit from. This could be something simple like how to run audio, how to change the backgrounds in your presentation software, or how to program lights… but cross training will always help your team see perspective for their role.
Training Volunteers TIP#5
Create change every once in a while. Change requires people to adapt to new processes, and when that happens, you break off the chance of entitlement and too much ownership.
As you can see, training volunteers takes intentional work. But as you build those relationships and use resources like SALT University to grow their technical and creative skills at the same time, you exponentially increase their potential. As your individual skill increases, so does your collective skill. And thus, the importance of training volunteers effectively.
I originally wrote these tips in a guide we produced for SALT Community. If you want to download the full 10-page guide, feel free to check out the full free resource here.
