How Ministry Leaders Can Inspire Volunteers
Volunteer leaders are essential to ministry and I have particularly felt more passionate about it lately as my job is focusing more and more on equipping and mobilizing volunteer leaders. There are some great ways I have been learning about how to honor volunteers are highlighted in a recent podcast episode.
In today’s video for #SMVWeek17 I talk about 3 specific things I have discovered over the years that Ministry Leaders can do to inspire volunteers.
Just like coaches for sports or other teams, Ministry Leader are coaches and they can either inspire or discourage people. Here are 3 specific things Ministry Leaders can do to inspire their volunteer leaders:
- Learn their Strengthens and Weaknesses. When you learn these about your volunteers you can know how you can help them get better at what they are doing. The strengths will be easier to pick up then weaknesses but everyone has a weakness. Discover what that is so you can help them be better at what they are doing.
- Learn their love languages. No, you are not learning this to know how to date your volunteers. You are learning these so that you know how to best encourage your leaders in ways that they will know and affirm them to get better.
- Get to know them. One of the best ways I have learned to encourage and inspire my leaders in the past has been to get to know them. Why get to know them? Because people want to feel that they are apart of something bigger than themselves and be apart of a community. When you function as friends and family rather than boss and employees, everyone steps up because you are working for each other and with each other.
These are 3 ways I have seen coaches inspire their players and Ministry Leaders inspire volunteer leaders. But there are other ways as well.
Share your thoughts below or on social media using #SMVWeek17 as you post on how do you inspire volunteers and what have you seen to be effective?
And keep following these bloggers all week long as we all vlog about different ministry topics.
