Got volunteers? Getting them is one thing . . . but what's the trick to keeping them?

Glad you asked.

Here are "Five Ways to Hang on to Your Ministry Team!" by Jonathan McKee:

TIME

No- not the magazine- the other thing that we don't have enough of. Yes, no matter how you slice it, staff take time. But think of the alternative. Either you spend 20 hours a week with students and no one else does. Or you spend 10 hours with students, and 10 hours a week developing 10 others so that they can EACH spend 5 volunteer hours a week with students. Do the math. Jesus did- that's why he spent a good amount of time developing the twelve.

I use to block out a weekly breakfast for several of my staff guys. This was a great time to ask them how they were doing, be an encouragement to them, and maybe even talk a little about ministry.

My friend Greg was a youth worker at a local church- and he had three times during the week that he would be at a local Denny's type restaurant. During this time- if staff dropped by- Greg would pick up their meal. (It's nice to have the budget for this sort of thing.)

Breakfasts, golfing, retreats, staff-laser-tag, dinners . . . regardless how you do it- if you invest in your volunteers- your investment will multiply into the lives of students.

COMMUNICATION

If you're reading this letter, then you're savvy enough with your computer to use email. E-mail is a great way to communicate with your staff team.

Produce a simple weekly-update that you send to staff-only. Fill this with encouragement, updates, praises such as kids who made commitments, etc. This is a great tool for reminding staff what to bring, what time to show up, what the small group questions of the week are, etc.

Don't stop at the email- pick up the phone every once in a while just to check in. If you've got one of those cool cell phone plans with free calls after 8:00 PM, program all your staff numbers in your phone and call them on the way home from seminary class, the grocery store or the gym.

Keep in touch with your staff- know what's going on in their lives- and provide them an avenue of communication so they can stay current with ministry.

MORE THAN JUST A STAFF MEETING

Do your volunteers groan when they attend a staff meeting? How about adding creative twists to staff meetings?

Have your staff meetings over pizza or ice cream. Meetings are always better over food!

Have your staff meetings at the house of one of your student's parents. Ask them to cook dinner for your staff- then halfway through the meeting, have them come in and share a story of encouragement how the staff have made a difference in their son/daughter's life. Maybe have the student come in and share what they like about the ministry.

Highlight a different staff person each staff meeting and have every other staff person share something they like about that staff person. If you're at a restaurant, have everyone buy that person's meal that night.

Do fun "team-building" games where the staff have to work together to solve something. For example- have everyone stand in a circle. Now tell everyone to stay where they are, but lean in, reach and grab the hands of two people in the circle other than the people next to them. Now tell them to get untangled and form a perfect circle again- without letting go! 

Don't settle for the "normal" dull staff meeting. Use it as a time for fun, encouragement and team-building for your ministry team

PERKS

You read it right- perks!  That's all the little fringe benefits that we can provide for our staff.

I can hear it now.  "But our budget is small" or "non-existent!"  I'm so tired of hearing that.  So tired in fact, that I'm writing an article on the basics of budgeting in a few weeks.  But let me assure you- it's worth budgeting your events so that your staff can always come for free.  Here's an easy example.  If  you're taking all your students to a place that costs $8 . . . charge $10 or $12 so you can cover your gas costs and pay for your staff's admission.  Most  students that can come up with 8 bucks can come up with a few more.

The key is letting your staff know how much you appreciate their time and dedication.  I've been on countless camps and retreats where I saw staff teams that were required to come up with their own money for events and trips.  For many volunteers this was a hardship.  For many this was a subconscious message that "they weren't of any value."  (Note:  Some people may think that this robs the staff of the opportunity to give.  Well, many of my staff also donated to our ministry, more than paying for their way.  But that was up to them.  I always assured them that their time was more than enough.  And it was!)

I not only paid for my staff on all our events . . . I also gave them additional perks, usually rewarding them for the stuff I wanted them doing.  For example: on my week long trips my primary goal was for staff to spend time with students one-on-one.  So each morning I gave all my staff an envelope with $5 in it.  I told them to find a time today to take a student out for a milkshake or french fries and a Coke (a pop for you in Michigan).  I had 8 staff on that trip for 6 days.  That's 48 envelopes with $5 in it, a total of $240.  Sound like a lot?  Well that $240 guaranteed that 48 students would get one-on-one attention from an adult for about a half hour.  That's more than a lot of them got at home in a week.  Best $240 I ever spent.  I just put it in the budget.  (If you don't know how- stay tuned in a few weeks when I talk about budgeting).

Other perks might be a pocket full of game tokens when we are at an arcade, tickets to the Indy-racers when at the Mini-golf complex, or Christmas gifts at a staff Christmas dinner.

Provide perks for your staff, letting them know that you value them.  The Bible says that where your treasure is your heart will be also.  Our heart better be in our volunteers . . . because they could be doing something else with their time.

STAFF RETREATS

Staff retreats really are another perk that I offer, combined with a great excuse to train them and equip them for our ministry.

Every summer I used to concentrate on recruiting staff.  And at the end of  every summer I had a mandatory staff retreat for new recruits and existing staff.  My volunteer staff all knew that one of the expectations of being on my staff was attending this weekend once a year.  The cool thing was that my staff loved it- and soon the word got out.  I would take them to my cousin's 900 acre ranch to ride horses, ride quad-runners, shoot guns . . . and just have a good ol' time.  (In California usually the only time people shoot guns is on the freeway!)

Not only was the weekend free and fun, but I made the weekend attractive to them by encouraging them to bring their spouse or significant other (for those of  my young staff who were dating or engaged) along with them.  This gave them all a chance to interact and bond with each other.

We spent a lot of time doing team building games or activities (like the one below), sharing with each other and just hanging out together.  Each person took turns sharing their testimony at some time during the weekend, usually followed by tears and lots of hugging.  Then I did some basic training in evangelism, discipleship and ministry methods.

Staff came home from this trip not only trained and equipped, but "a team."  Very often I would bring 10 to 15 individuals up to the ranch . . . and one team home.

Our volunteers are one of our most important assets.  We need to build in to them so that they can build into students.  Use these 5 methods and hold on to your ministry team.

Another article by speaker and author Jonathan McKee.  Jonathan is the president of THE SOURCE FOR YOUTH MINISTRY, equipping you with the resources you need as a youth leader.  To find out about bringing Jonathan out to train in your area, use this web link:  http://www.thesourcefym.com/trainers  

Back to Youth Ministry