Growing Your Ministry Through…Training

Do you remember when you first started volunteering? How did you learn to do your job? Or, was it a sink-or-swim situation?

To continue to grow your ministry, you need to recruit new volunteers. But, what happens when you interview these volunteers and they are eager to get started? You will need a definition of your ministry’s purpose and documentation of procedures. Even if your ministry is simple – greet people at the front door – you cannot go forward without documenting your procedures. Why? Because defining and documenting isn’t about the level of complexity within a ministry, but rather it is about the experience of the ministry. That experience helps make your newly-recruited volunteer comfortable, which in turn helps them stay and potentially even recruit others to join.

Too often, we as ministry leaders and workers get too close to our work. We know how we do what we do, and even why we do it. The new recruit doesn’t, and if they don’t have a smooth transition into your ministry, they will leave. So, consider writing some training materials for your ministry, putting them into a binder, and handing them to each member of your team. Make sure that everyone is being trained the same, and that extra binders exist for when you have a new recruit. Things that should be inside your training binder:

1. An Introduction Letter

This should be a personal letter from you to the volunteer thanking them for serving with you. Welcome them to the ministry and make them feel comfortable for the step they have taken. It may be that they’ve stepped out of their comfort zone to serve, so make them be glad they did so. Encourage them to pray for each member of the team. For a personal touch, sign the letter (with a pen, not a digital image).

2. Your Ministry Overview

Introduce the ministry, including your mission and vision. Cover the functional structure (org chart from your senior pastor to themselves) so that they know where they belong and they know their manager. Provide a basic overview of your execution strategy (how the ministry does what it does) so that they have a big picture understanding of how it all works together. Include how other ministries integrate with your team, so they know where your team’s functions start and stop.

3. The Procedures Guide

For each job role, outline the procedures required to do their job. This may be workflow diagrams, step-by-step instructions, screenshots of software, references to other books or training manuals, and sample forms that they may be using. You have already done this based on a previous post on Growing Your Ministry Through…Procedures, right?

4. Team Contact Information and Resources

Provide a contact sheet with your ministry’s volunteers, including full name, phone number, and email. Also include any website locations where tools or documents are published. You may wish to write down their id/password for them, if you generated an account on their behalf. Bonus: include pictures of your team to help them know fellow team members that serve at alternate times or at different locations.

5. Update Often!

Ok, so this isn’t a specific thing to have in your binder, but rather it is something to do. Remember: this binder is a living representation of your ministry. As things change, update the documents and distribute pre-punched updates for your team to update their binders. Keep the binders you have near their work area up-to-date as well, in case a new recruit has questions or needs to contact a team member. Encourage your team to use the binder as recruiting tool, as they can show potential candidates how everything within the ministry works and how organized it is. They can even use the documented vision and mission to help during the recruiting process.

Take the necessary steps to train your new volunteers and you will see happier, healthier volunteers and a growing ministry!

[tags]church leadership, volunteer management, volunteer training[/tags]

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