Bill looked around the church parking lot at all his friends as they busily loaded donated wares into their vehicles for their morning’s delivery. They were on their way to drop the many items off at the home of a young single mother who had fallen on hard times. Bill and his friends made runs like this one most Friday mornings, right after their scripture study. It was Bill’s favorite moment of the week, sharing good works with his friends who were all members of his church and all volunteers, just as Bill was a volunteer. Bill smiled to himself, thinking how they organized and executed this charitable work of the church all without any direct participation by any paid staff member.
Organization
Churches survive and thrive on the contributions of their volunteers. Churches typically have a core of paid staff members as infrastructure to support all church functions, programs, and operations. Depending on the church’s size, that core of paid staff members may include a full-time pastor or two plus a part-time operations director, office manager, bookkeeper, and custodian, and a handful of ministry leaders over children’s, youth, adults, care, outreach, and worship programs. But while the paid staff members hold things together, the volunteers of a church tend to provide the great bulk of the labor necessary to sustain the rich life of the church. Volunteers may form most of the worship team, run the coffee shop, carry out the care ministry, do the outreach, take the mission trips, care for the children, mentor the youth, make the hospital and shut-in visits, prepare and serve communion, greet and seat worship guests, prepare the meal for the memorial service, run the sight and sound booth, seasonally decorate the sanctuary, and do dozens of other small and large things to contribute to the church’s mission. Volunteers are the life of a church.
Distinction
A church is probably already on the decline if its volunteers aren’t manning and even leading the church’s programs. Pastors tend to rely heavily on paid staff members more than on volunteers. To properly focus on sermon preparation, pastoral care, board relations and leadership issues, and member relationships, pastors need to be able to delegate critical operations functions like finances, facility maintenance, and communications to reliable individuals. Paid staff members are reliable. They have regular hours and duties the church pays them to perform. And so, having a paid staff is all well and good. But a church can’t generally afford to pay staff members to do all the labor that a vital church community requires. Indeed, paid work is not the point of a church. Voluntary participation is instead the point. So, while paid staff members can keep the church facility open and running, they do so for the honor of the Lord and benefit of the membership, through the happy labors of volunteers. The willing participation of volunteers is proof of the church’s attraction and vitality. When volunteers dwindle, the church has not only an operational problem but a mission problem. Volunteers are the canary in the coal mine for the life of a church.
Recruiting
Churches thus often need to recruit volunteers. Indeed, churches generally need to continually invite members to join the volunteer ranks, to keep the church’s ministries running. Whether it’s the children’s ministry, youth ministry, care ministry, greeting team, outreach team, communion team, coffee ministry, or another ministry, ministries can always use another set of helping hands. Frequently, ministries reach the point of overworked and short-staffed volunteers. Continual recruitment can be key to maintaining healthy ministries, where volunteers equitably share the happy burden of the good works. Help your church develop a culture of shared service. Regularly communicate from the pulpit and in announcements and notices that the whole membership benefits from the volunteer work of a few and that all members should contribute what they can, when they can. Regularly identify ministry leaders, while inviting members to reach out to them to share the member’s talents, skills, and interest in serving. Empower and encourage ministry leaders to make recruiting an integral and routine part of their work. Evaluate paid staff members in part on their ability and willingness to recruit supportive and skilled volunteers. For church-wide volunteer recruitment, including in new members’ classes, consider using a volunteer-interest form like the one in this guide’s appendix.
Agreement
A church may have several reasons to ask volunteers to sign a volunteer agreement. One reason may be to clarify and confirm in writing that the individual serves as a volunteer rather than as a compensated employee or independent contractor. Don’t make the embarrassing and expensive mistake of letting a volunteer think that they’re getting paid. A second reason for a signed volunteer agreement may be that the church’s insurer requires signed liability waivers to insure the church for certain activities or offers a reduced insurance premium for waivers. Check with your church’s insurer, and it will very likely agree that waivers are appropriate, whether it reduces the church’s insurance premium or not. Another reason for a signed volunteer agreement may be that the church desires to use photographs or video of volunteers on its website, in social media, or in its other communications. Consider carefully whether these or other reasons warrant asking volunteers to sign agreements. Volunteer agreements, while potentially wise, add a layer of administration and may discourage volunteer candidates.
Orienting
New volunteers can need substantial orientation to the ministries that they join. Whether the new volunteers are long-time or new church members, they may have little clear idea of how the ministry operates, including its goals and procedures. Especially for ministries serving vulnerable populations, like the children’s and youth ministries, and care and shut-in ministries, encourage your church’s ministry leaders to develop and disseminate orientation outlines and handbooks. Every new and veteran volunteer should understand the ministry’s scope, goals, operation, protocols, rules, and security procedures. See the model handbooks for children’s ministry and youth and adult ministries in the book Church Policies & Procedures: Common-Sense Guides for Administering Churches in a Complex World. Periodically remind volunteers of the ministry’s rules, requirements, and procedures. As much as volunteer service should be fun and focused on the activity and relationships rather than administration, ministries should also be safe, secure, and orderly. Orientation and review can keep a ministry healthy.
Vehicles
Operating motor vehicles is the most dangerous activity in which individuals and organizations engage. Church volunteers certainly don’t want to injure anyone or suffer injury in a motor-vehicle accident. Churches should show due concern for safe ministry and may have vicarious liability for loss that a volunteer causes by driving carelessly, especially if owning the operated vehicle. Help your church address motor-vehicle safety concerns. Discourage your church from owning motor vehicles. Restrict vehicle operation in the course of a church ministry to licensed drivers with sound driving records. Limit the driving that ministries require. Ensure that volunteers who drive their own vehicles in the course of their volunteer service have a current driver’s license and sound driving record. Require that volunteers assure the ministry of the current registration and reasonable maintenance and condition of their vehicles. Ensure that volunteers who drive in the course of their volunteer service have current motor-vehicle insurance with adequate insurance limits. And check with your church’s insurance agent to see if your church’s insurer requires anything further to provide adequate coverage for the church in case of a motor-vehicle accident occurring in the course of a church ministry. See the volunteer driver agreement in this guide’s appendix.
Supervision
As the bulk labor, willing troops, and rich lifeblood of a church, volunteers keep a church open and actively pursuing its gospel mission. You probably see pairs and teams of volunteers constantly and quietly at work all over your church, so consistently that you hardly realize that they’re there. Veteran volunteers know what to do and how to do it. But volunteers still need and deserve supervision. Even skilled and experienced volunteers may need positive direction in the ministry’s objective. The church’s paid staff members, especially ministry leaders, should supervise volunteers. Supervision of volunteers should model the leadership and teamwork skills that the church wants its volunteers to acquire and exercise. Supervision should also inspire volunteers in the relevance and value of the work, while providing clear guidance and constructive feedback. Staff supervisors may also need to promptly address volunteer conflicts and confusion, and other issues before they fester.
Support
A church owes its volunteers the support necessary for the volunteer to carry out the ministry to which the church recruited them. Help your church be considerate of the volunteer’s needs in carrying out a ministry’s good work. If, for instance, the outreach ministry has asked a volunteer to drive a rented van full of church youth to a distant city for a weekend round of urban ministry, then ensure that the volunteer has a church credit card or cash to pay for gas. If, for another example, the meals ministry sends a volunteer to the grocery store to pick up supplies, don’t make the volunteer pay for the supplies unless the volunteer has offered to do so in advance. If a volunteer needs a piece of equipment, some supplies, or a special tool to do a task that the church or its ministry has assigned the volunteer, then be sure that the volunteer has what the volunteer needs and doesn’t have to go get it or pay for it, unless arranged and agreed in advance. Don’t hang volunteers out to dry, leaving them chafing at the offense, or they’ll not volunteer again, and the offense may interfere with their devotion to the church.
Recognition
Churches should always respect and generally recognize volunteers. Volunteering is its own reward. Churches need not lavish praise on volunteers who might rather go quietly about their good works. A reward in heaven is greater than recognition on earth. But at a minimum, churches should generally identify volunteers with name badges, signs, slides, or displays. For the beneficiaries of volunteer service, to put a name to a volunteer’s face can be an important sign of appreciation, recognition, and respect. When a greeter or care ministry volunteer has a name badge, the person receiving their greeting or help can at least thank them with a mention of their name. A church can also recognize volunteers who devote countless hours on a pastor-search team or building task force, or on the governing board, when their service ends. Appropriate acknowledgment is not only due but can also aid the church and ministry in recruiting the next round of volunteers.
Interns
Interns can contribute to a church’s volunteer or paid labor support, while gaining work experience and improving skills. But a church should take care to treat interns properly, according to the labor laws. The goal of a church internship is to help the intern confirm whether to commit to ministry as a vocation, not to replace labor for which the church would otherwise need to pay. Do not let your church take undue advantage of an intern’s eagerness to serve. Properly classify the position so as not to run afoul of tax and fair-wage laws. Fair-wage laws, both state and federal, enforce minimum-wage and overtime-pay rules. Interns serve as part of a school’s educational program. If the intern is not enrolled in any educational program, then the church may owe the intern wages for the work, even if the intern would be willing to work without pay. If the church compensates the intern, then the church may need to withhold and match income taxes. Coordinate internships closely with the sponsoring school, confirmed in advance in writing, ensuring that internships have dominant educational components. Do not use internships as probation before hiring or to cover for paid staff on leave. Instead, treat probationary and coverage positions as compensated staff.
Reflection
Does your church have a healthy culture of substantial volunteer involvement? Do your church’s ministries continually recruit new volunteers to ensure equitable sharing of the work? Do your church’s ministries adequately communicate volunteer status to avoid confusion over roles? Do your church’s ministries adequately orient new volunteers to ministry rules and procedures? Are your church’s ministries ensuring that volunteers who drive motor vehicles are safe and insured drivers? Are your ministry leaders adequately supervising volunteers? Do your church’s ministries adequately support volunteers with the resources volunteers need to complete their assigned tasks? Does your church identify volunteers with name badges or signage? Does your church regularly recognize its volunteers, especially at the conclusion of their service?
Key Points
Paid staff members provide a core around which volunteers work.
Strong volunteer participation shows the health of a church.
Ministries should continually recruit volunteers for shared service.
Consider a volunteer agreement clarifying status, rights, and roles.
Be sure to thoroughly orient volunteers to ministry procedures.
Limit volunteer motor-vehicle operation to competent, insured drivers.
Provide adequate volunteer supervision to ensure safety and order.
Provide volunteers with the support they need to do assigned work.
Ensure that interns are either paid or part of an academic program.
Regularly recognize volunteers for their devoted work and service.