How to Make Sure Your Leaders are in the Know

Want your volunteer leaders to be effective in ministry? Sure! We all do. The good news is that there are a variety of things you can do as a ministry lead to set up volunteer leaders to be successful. One thing that often times can get overlooked is an element of communication. Not just how much you communicate with them, but what you communicate with them.

If you want to be successful in ministry, you need to make sure your volunteer leaders are in the know. Ministry can’t be done alone. We need volunteer leaders as they are essential for reaching more and more people for Christ. That is why the more they know about what is going on in the ministry, how to be preparing and praying for it and what the goals are for the ministry, the more impactful they can be and the more people you can reach.

How do you make sure they are in the “Know”? There are three ways that I do this on a regular basis.

• Have regular leaders meetings. If you want leaders to know what’s going on in ministry and how to be more effective in reaching people, you need to hold regular leaders meeting for your team of volunteers. There you can get everyone on the same page as to where you all are headed and how to best get there together. It is also a great opportunity to train and appreciate them together as a whole group. As valuable as these times are, it is very hard to do these meetings weekly. That is why doing them every month to month and a half would be ideal. The more you communicate when these meetings will happen well in advance and make them purposeful, the better the turnout and engagement will be for these meetings.
• Send weekly emails. While having regular leaders meetings are important and necessary, communicating weekly to the volunteers is really important. You won’t be able to meet together as a group each week, but you can send them regular updates through email. This is your chance to communicate  necessary information about what is going on, challenges and goals for the week and how to be praying for the ministry. It’s a great touching base opportunity for you with the volunteers.
• Do weekly check-ins. Group meetings and emails are great, but you also need that individual touch as well. By you simply reaching out to individual leaders throughout the week, checking in with them and seeing how they are doing, you are able to give them a direct link to you and your attention. You can do this in a variety of ways. You can email them, text them, call them, write notes to them or meet with them in person. These provide you opportunities to connect with leaders individually, checking in on their lives and also giving you another opportunity to share vision and mission with them individually. This is really important time for you with them.

Conclusion

Three things you can do that will help your leaders be in the know. Communicate, then communicate some more and then finally communicated even more. The more you communicate with your leaders in a variety of ways, the more they will be in the know. And, the more they know, the more effective they can be in ministry.

What do you think? How do you make sure your leaders “in the know”?  Share them below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.

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