Podcast Episode #371
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Volunteers are important for churches. And it’s even more important to keep them. Today, we discuss six ways churches often lose volunteers.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- If you continue to get a volunteer’s name wrong, it gives the perception that you don’t care about them.
- Poor grammar distracts from your message and hurts your credibility.
- Everyone, regardless of how busy you are, can respond to calls and emails.
- Want to keep volunteers? Make them the heroes and heroines.
The six common ways churches lose volunteers are:
- Calling a volunteer the wrong name.
- Using poor grammar and spelling.
- Making it difficult on the volunteer.
- Waiting until the last minute.
- Not returning calls or emails.
- Delegating important communication to your assistant.
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Feedback
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I am a volunteer, and items 4 and 5 are the most irritating to me. Item 5 is toxic.
I would add 1 more to the list and it would be, church members being to critical of others rather than thanking God for the servive provided.
You are exactly right, that should have been the first thing on the list.
Good add, Greg.
The biggest way that a lot of churches commit #3 is when they are unsuccessful in recruiting new volunteers and then they just heap more responsibilities on current volunteers.
That is absolutely true, Todd.
I whole heartedly agree. Our church has started to just pile more and more on all the while encouraging us to spend more time developing relationships with non-believers and our neighbors. When exactly would I do this as they expect me to be at church all the time.
This has cause me to just back out of almost everything. I am not just saying no the the new request but even stopping doing the things I used to do that I thought I had time to do because I just have such a frustration that I feel I am done and they just need to come up with a different model.
I would add making your yes yes and no no! When you say you’ll do something, follow through. Confidence is lost in you as the leader of you don’t.
Good point, Jayson.
If you’re going to set up a volunteer opportunity, be sure to follow through. Though it’s been years ago, one church set up a babysitting service for Valentine’s Day for church members. My teen volunteered, and was planning to get credit for service hours for Christian school. The church cancelled plans without notice, and the pastor didn’t return our calls. This meant our teen had to find another opportunity near the service hour deadline. I don’t think pastors realize the inconvenience sometimes, inconvenience they aren’t aware of.
And be sure that the church coordinates fully with those who are receiving the benefits of the work. Our family took a meal to another family, and, after struggling to find the house because it was remote — and the recipients didn’t answer the phone when we tried to ask them for directions — we were greeted at the door not by the recipient but someone else who was in a sullen mood. She said that the recipient was at “church” — not our church. Huh? I realize a church cannot be responsible for the reaction of others, but the recipients need to do their part. In this case, they could have asked that the recipient herself be present to receive the meal. The church could send a thank-you card to volunteers, perhaps. But unfortunately, this experience further soured our teen’s view of volunteering despite my husband’s and my efforts to keep a cheerful attitude.
I’ve had many positive experiences with volunteering, and I have been a volunteer leader. It’s work! But very rewarding when the volunteers are a good fit with the mission.
If you have highly skilled volunteers, don’t put someone from church leadership in charge of that group who has no experience or who micromanages.
I still say Micromanaging is the best way to drive away volunteers. Making changes without telling, wanting to approve the slightest change, not empowering people to just go do their task without always having to check back for approval of every minute detail.
Pastor playing favorites and suddenly discovering his favorites didn’t follow through. He burned bridges with old volunteers who either left the church or have stopped volunteering because of broken spirit.
This was very informative Eiffel short on a couple of these but it was a good reminder of things I should do to maintain good volunteers thanks