Someone once defined volunteers as the fuel that helps to run a church.
Without volunteers, your church is unable to perform optimally. You need volunteers that you can delegate tasks to so that you can focus on running the church.
The question that begs an answer is, “how do you recruit volunteers for your church?” Your best bet is to make use of organic volunteer recruitment processes. In other words, you shouldn’t cajole people into becoming volunteers, only reach out to people with a genuine interest. This post will show you five of the best volunteer recruitment ideas for your church.
Best Volunteer Recruitment Ideas for Your Church
Finding volunteers isn’t always an easy job, especially for churches. While doing this may be effort and time-intensive, there are a few ideas to make it easier. Check out some of them below:
Make your volunteer opportunities accessible
If you need volunteers at your church, you may as well just put the announcement out there. There is nothing shameful about acknowledging your need for volunteers so you shouldn’t hide it. Usually, people will visit your website looking for volunteering opportunities. If the information about becoming a volunteer is difficult to access, they might just change their minds.
How do you make your volunteer opportunities stand out? Here are a few ideas for you to consider:
- Dedicate a specific page on your website to volunteer opportunities.
- State the available volunteer positions along with responsibilities and requirements.
- Spotlight recruitment processes on your website homepage.
- Add the volunteer page to your website navigation menu.
Conduct an interest survey
Every volunteer should care about their contribution to the advancement of your church. As such, you should create openings that suit different interests, skills, and passions. You shouldn’t just post volunteers to different departments randomly without first finding out their interests and skills.
A good way to find out where people prefer to serve is to conduct an interest survey. Such a survey will reveal what each potential volunteer will like to do and where they prefer to serve. What kind of questions should you ask in your survey? Here are a few examples:
- How many hours per week can you volunteer?
- What days of the week will you be available?
- Which service areas suit your interests?
- How do you think the church can best encourage you to serve?
- What are your skills and how do they apply to your chosen area of service?
- State your goals for becoming a volunteer in our church.
Invite current volunteers to recruit others
Word-of-mouth has always been one of the best marketing strategies that exist. Is inviting people to become volunteers in your church marketing? Yes, it is because you are selling an idea to them to commit themselves to service in your church.
It will be easier for you to attract people if their friends on your team speak to them. As such, you should speak to your current volunteers about inviting others to become volunteers like themselves. They can begin by speaking to their family members and friends first before reaching out to other congregants.
Publicize your volunteer opportunities
We have already talked about using your website to publish volunteer opportunities at your church. Well, your website isn’t the only way to publicize your need for volunteers. There are several other ways to do and the more methods you employ, the more people you are likely to reach. Here are a few ways to tell people about your volunteer recruitment process:
- Use social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
- Announce the opportunities in your church newsletter.
- Use a church app like ChurchPad.
- Tell existing volunteers to publish photos and videos from their departments on their social media platforms.
Use as many opportunities as you can to publicize your volunteer opportunities for the best results. If you are making use of social media, you should find the platforms your congregants use the most.
Treat existing volunteers well
Another method that works like magic is treating existing volunteers well. When other people see that you treat volunteers well, they see more reasons to join your team. There are several ways to make your existing volunteers feel love and appreciation. Some of them include:
- Organizing special volunteer hangouts or dinners.
- Honoring volunteers with a special Sunday service.
- Organizing an award dinner to appreciate volunteers.
- Send gifts to your volunteers to appreciate their service.
Seeing that you appreciate your volunteers is a great incentive for other congregants to become volunteers.
Conclusion
The tips above should help you attract volunteers and improve your volunteer recruitment process. You can make use of ChurchPad to improve your volunteer communication and church administration. Meanwhile, please check out our website for other insightful articles on church communication and congregation management.