Recruit Me! Train Me! Keep Me! (2)

In my last blog,  I mentioned I took an unofficial poll of committed children’s ministry volunteers from various cities and churches and asked them three questions:  1) What made you want to volunteer?  2) What kind of training do you need and would you come to?  3)  How can I serve you so that you will want to remain on the CM team?

I compiled their responses into what I hope is a helpful list for you, the Children’s Minister as you work to staff your ministry for the fall season. 

In my last blog,  I mentioned I took an unofficial poll of committed children’s ministry volunteers from various cities and churches and asked them three questions:  1) What made you want to volunteer?  2) What kind of training do you need and would you come to?  3)  How can I serve you so that you will want to remain on the CM team?

I compiled their responses into what I hope is a helpful list for you, the Children’s Minister as you work to staff your ministry for the fall season. 

I began with some recruitment suggestions and will conclude the list in this blog before moving on to training in my next.   When it comes to recruitment, first recruit with a personal invitation then share your vision with me (for more on these two, see my previous blog).

3.  Discover my interests and desires then make the job fit me.

If you spend some time getting to know me you might discover, for example, that I am incredibly obsessive about keeping things in order.  You might find out that organization is not a chore for me rather it’s something that brings me joy and satisfaction.  You may  also have a resource room that is in dire need of someone with my natural organizational skills.  I know you are busy, so am I, but a little time invested in one another now may result in a lifetime of service simply because the ‘job’ fit me so well. 

4.  Assess my previous commitments.

Please ask me about the commitments I have already made before you ask me to serve with you.  I may be one of those individuals who simply cannot say no.  I know, I am an adult and I should be able to manage my time well, but if I am searching for something (not knowing what that something is), I may say yes to everything and spread myself to thin.   I may want to be the best volunteer you have ever had, but realistically speaking, probably cannot be the volunteer you need when I’ve got so many other demands on my time and attention. 

5.  Finally, remind me why I NEED to do this.

Remind me of all benefits of serving in Children’s Ministry and the benefits of serving God. 

C. S. Lewis wrote: “He [God] seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures.  He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye… Perhaps we do not fully realize the problem, so to call it, of enabling finite free wills to coexist with Omnipotence.  It seems to involve at every moment almost a sort of divine abdication.” (The World’s Last Night, New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1952, p. 9)  

Remind me God does not NEED me to do anything, He allows me to participate with Him as He changes the lives of children.  Remind me that serving God in Children’s Ministry is a blessing that will change my life as well.