How to Win at Recruiting Church Volunteers This Summer

Summer is the season of recruitment. When September hits, all your different ministries need volunteers to run smoothly—small group leaders, room parents, greeters, ushers, worship leaders and most importantly, coffee servers! 

In my experience, there are recruiting methods that work and recruiting methods that don’t. Here are three strategies that will help you win at recruiting this summer 

Vision

If you want to win at volunteer recruiting, start with vision. Give them the “why.” And if your reason is “we need people,” that’s not very motivating. 

Churches that win at volunteering understand the connection between serving and discipleship. 

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. -John 13:14-17

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Jesus served his disciples and asked them to follow his example. Serving is a foundational part of following Jesus. And, it leads to blessings. 

Spend some time with your church this summer sharing the vision behind serving. We serve because Jesus served. 

The most compelling motivation for volunteering is not need, it’s vision. 

Stories

I believe that we were built to connect with stories. We love books, movies and shows. We are just hardwired to resonate with stories. In fact, God revealed himself to us through the story of Scripture. Stories move us. 

If you want to capture the hearts of your people and encourage them to volunteer in your church, share stories. Invite people who have had positive experiences serving in your church to tell their story.  You can do this through interviews, video, or through announcements during the weekend service. 

All I’m saying is that “Hey, we need some of you to serve as small group leaders” pales in comparison to “Here’s a story of how serving as a small group leader grew my faith.” 

If you want to win at recruiting this summer, tell stories. 

Ask Personally

When I first joined the staff of my current church, I worked alongside a pastor who was a brilliant volunteer recruiter. He had a saying, 

“When you ask everyone, you ask no one.” 

In other words, when you stand up in front of your entire church and ask for volunteers, or when you send a mass email, you haven’t really asked. The more effective strategy is to personally ask someone. Sometimes we call this the “shoulder tap.” Hey, we need you to serve. 

Recently, we gathered the volunteering gurus from every one of our ministry teams and asked them for best practices when it comes to volunteering and while there were some differences in the nuances of volunteer recruitment, all the gurus agreed on one point:  It’s all about asking people personally. 

A single text is far more effective than a mass email. A phone call is way better than a stage announcement. And, here’s the next level of asking personally:  Invite your key volunteers to personally ask people in their world. 

Wrap Up

We need to win at recruiting volunteers this summer. We all have big aspirations for ministry this fall. How will you get there? Vision, stories, and asking personally are a great step in the right direction. I hope this has been helpful!