Every church has at least one team of volunteers, and we’ve written before about how to build and recruit a strong volunteer base for that purpose. But there’s a difference between a volunteer system that runs smoothly and a ministry of service that permeates everything your church does. This difference is so important that at Mission Hills Church, volunteers are called “Serve Team Members” to further emphasize their role in service in the larger life of the church.
Some volunteers will naturally show up with a mindset of service, but others may view their volunteer roles as “have-tos” that put a damper on their typical Sunday morning rhythms.
There is no quick and easy way to change the mindset of volunteers within your church, but there are ways to develop a true culture of service in your church that will impact your entire congregation for the better.
Today we’re talking less about the nitty gritty of how to coordinate volunteer efforts, and focusing on this ever-elusive topic of developing a culture of service in your church.
This culture of service can be encouraged in a few key ways:
Hire service-minded staff
Building a culture of service from the inside out is the most foundational element of leading volunteers well. If your staff isn’t service-minded but your volunteers are expected to be, that’s a standard that will lead to a dead-end.
Hiring and training staff that understand their jobs are inherently service-oriented, and that volunteers are an extension of that, is crucial to leading volunteers well. A mindset of “I’m just here to do my job and everyone else can handle service” is one that needs to be shifted to “me and the serve team are all working toward the same mission in our own unique ways – and it’s a joy to serve alongside them.” ALL of it is servant leadership, and we get to model that in our paid ministry work.
Don’t Put Service on a Pedestal
You want to attract volunteers whose hearts have truly been primed to serve humbly and quietly – making a huge deal about volunteers through prizes or other incentives isn’t the way to a lasting culture of service. Mission Hills uses a method of “shoulder tapping” to ask church members to join our service teams. Rather than asking the first people on a sign-up sheet to volunteer (although we appreciate the willingness!).
We ask other church members to pay attention to who may be a good fit for a given role, and then recommend them to church leadership. This takes away some of the potential for a volunteer to feel obligated to serve because someone on stage told them they should, and it creates space for the most equipped – but maybe most unassuming – volunteers to have a chance to serve.
Invest in thorough training and discipleship
As much as your volunteers are there to serve, your church leadership also has the opportunity to invest in these volunteers by pouring back into them.
Whether you have dedicated staff focused on volunteers or not, consider ways you can invest in volunteers by holding annual or biannual trainings, dinners at staff-members homes, or creating opportunities for Bible or book studies.
Create a culture of ownership
Your volunteers aren’t coming in to follow someone else’s plan or agenda – they’re coming to uniquely contribute to the work of the church AND to their own personal calling. Volunteering isn’t only about meeting a need when asked – it’s about discerning the areas you’re being personally called on to serve in your own life and extending that to the work of the church. Serve team members are so empowered to take ownership of their calling as volunteers when they begin to see their own place in the larger story of the church, and therefore the Gospel.
Point them back to their why
The point of all church volunteering and service can be summed up in Mark 10:45 which says “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Service void of an understanding of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial love will eventually lead to burn out. But service that is infused with the hope and joy of the Gospel is powerful and transformative.
This is our prayer for the way that every church will approach service, so that churches and their volunteers can serve with attitudes and tactics that are sustainable and life-giving, for the good of the Gospel.
This article was written in collaboration with Cari Allen, the Mission Hills Guest Services Director. If you want to continue the conversation, you can contact her directly at callen@missionhills.org.
Interested in learning more about Mission Hills Association and gaining access to our members-only resources? Contact us today!
