From Tony Morgan Live
Over the last several months I’ve had the opportunity to visit churches, consult with churches, and work at a couple of churches. I’m guessing I’ve had the opportunity to see the inner-workings of more churches in the last year or so than most folks get to see in a lifetime. Here’s one conclusion that I’ve arrived at: Many churches don’t get volunteers. You’d think churches, of all institutions, would have this one figured out. But many don’t. With that, I’m going to offer a series of posts this week on volunteers in the church.
The series begins with an interview with Ritchie Miller, the senior pastor of Avalon Church in McDonough, Georgia. Of all the churches I’ve worked with in the last number of months, Avalon has the highest percentage of people serving in volunteer roles. With that in mind, I decided to ask Ritchie for the inside scoop. Read Part 1 here.
TONY: Has your strategy for encouraging people to volunteer changed at all since you planted the church?
RITCHIE: It definitely has. When we were first starting, I thought that the best way to recruit volunteers was to talk about our needs from the stage. That was a disaster. I am not sure we ever got anyone to stick as a preschool volunteer because we told people about our shortage of volunteers. We don’t ever do that now. We talk about big picture things like the importance of volunteering. We show video testimonies of the positive changes in people’s lives. We celebrate the wins. And I preach about it, but we never use the stage to try and recruit people for a particular ministry. We have also simplified the process of getting information to people on our “communication cards” and on our website.
TONY: Volunteers are obviously important for the church, but why do you consider serving to be important for the individuals who volunteer?
RITCHIE: Because of what it does for them. It changes their life. They can’t be a growing, maturing Christian without it. It connects them to friends and the church. It adds value and meaning to church membership. I think it creates fellowship at the highest level when you serve shoulder-to-shoulder with someone else to reach others and minister to them. It brings unbelievable joy.
TONY: What encouragement would you give senior pastors who are wanting to raise the value of serving in their churches?
RITCHIE: Keep it simple. Preach your announcements. Celebrate with your people and make it exciting and easy to serve. I have heard lots of pastors say that they do not think people are committed today. I disagree. I think people are willing to give their time to a worthy cause when: (1) it is clear how they can get involved, (2) it’s clear what the value is, (3) they feel like they are making a difference, and (4) you celebrate with them.
