Some thoughts from our leadership team at Mosaic on serving:
*Find 2 or 3 people closest to where you want everyone to go and invest in them.
*Invest in those willing to invest in others. This leads to a volunteer culture. Some people will serve just to be with you.
*It is hard to recruit someone to do something you don’t like to do because you don’t believe they would want to do it!
*We make time and give our energy towards those things which we are passionate about. We are busy, and yet we make time for television or sports with friends. We should free people to serve in areas where they have a passion and strengths.
*People need to serve more than we need their help. Avoid saying “no” for someone who may be eager to get involved.
*We need to make work fun!
*People are more important than the tasks they can accomplish. We should invest in people’s character and growth in the midst of the time we serve alongside each other.
*Events and programs are an excuse and a means for building relationships.
*When we fail to recruit others thinking it is just “easier to do it ourselves” or believing “no one can do it as good as I can,” we rob others of the opportunity to lose their lives serving others which is how we find our lives (Mt. 10:39).
For more thoughts on recruiting and developing leaders, check out: “Raising Up Leaders (and Avoiding Burnout)“ and “Moving People from Brokenness to Wholeness“.
Join the conversation at the next Teleseminar with the Mosaic Campus Pastors on Tuesday, March 3rd at 1pm PST.
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[…] “Too Busy To Serve” (thoughts for leaders on recruiting volunteers) […]
I really appreciate this post. So often the fun is outweighed by the dull but we carry on.
When ever I am signed up to serve somewhere I reach out to those in my small group or even people I work with and let them know what I am doing and invite them to serve with me. I have found that many people want to serve they either don’t take the initiative to sign up or they don’t want to volunteer by themselves. With inviting them to serve with me and sharing how much fun I have while serving encourages them to participate as well.
Thanks for this post Eric- I’m currently dwelling how to most effectively pull off one of the points: that people need to serve more than we need them to. It’s an interesting dynamic, and one that I think, if deployed in the right way, can serve to create a progressive volunteer culture. I think it could come down to the difference between:
– “Please, please help us by volunteering on the parking team. I know it’s a drag, but someone’s gotta do it. And, you know, you’re a good Christian person so…you should.
and
– “You don’t have to serve, you get to! You need this more than we need you to do it, so if you’re not bringing your best to the table, then please step aside so we can get leaders in there.”
I think it will be hard to implement the second tactic, as the leader can come off too domineering or totalitarian (coming off this way may even be an indicator that your leadership is successful!). In short, I’ll need to work on more effectively communicating that second notion: people find their hearts in service to God and in relationship to others, not in being pandered to.