How You Can Celebrate Volunteer Leaders Victories

Remember that time in ministry when you’ve been praying for “Johnny” to go to camp and then he signs up? Or that time when you’ve spent tons of time with “Julie” helping her process life and then she decides to give her life over to God? Those are life altering changes in those students lives but also celebratory moments in your own ministry. It is those moments that you want to celebrate because you know how much time you spent investing in that person but also because you believe God has something amazing for them in life.

Those are great moments in your ministry life and get you really pumped up to keep seeing God work.  When those times happen, we celebrate them with our volunteers and team. We email them or share them in at a leaders meeting and share just how great things are going. God is moving! Praise Him! These are wonderful things to celebrate. But if all we do is share stuff that God is doing in our ministry to leaders then we miss an opportunity to really celebrate what his happening with the rest of the team in their ministry to students. Not that there you shouldn’t share all the great things are God is doing, but God is working throughout your entire team, not just you.

That is why it is so important to celebrate what God is doing in your volunteer leaders ministries as well. God is working in what they are doing as well. They are spending countless hours with students. They are praying for them to go to camp or for God to make a life change in them. So how can you do this? How can you celebrate your volunteer leaders victories?

• Keep asking them how God is working and for stories to share. When something great happens in your ministry you want to share it! In the same way so do your volunteers. Give them permission to share stories by asking them.
• When something great happens, share it with the group. A lot of times you will meet indiivaully with your leaders and stories will come out there (and not to the whole group). When you hear a great story, ask permission to share it but then share it to the rest of the team. Then text it out or email it to the group as a praise God moment. Hopefully, it will also encourage the other volunteers to share their stories.
• Have a Group Celebration at Team Meetings. When you have team meetings with your entire group take time to share stories but also celebrate the amazing stories God is doing in your volunteers ministries.
• Celebrate personal victories. When we are with our leaders it is easy to focus on ministry aspects and training. Take time to encourage your volunteers in their personal lives as well. Ask them what God is doing in their lives and how He is moving. That shows your leaders you care more about them then just what they do in ministry. And remember, the more God is working in them, the stronger their ministries to students will be.

Everyone wants to celebrate something that God is doing. In addition, everyone loves to be recognized for being apart of something great. If all you do is celebrate what God is doing in “your” ministry to students, then all leaders are going to think that God is working in your ministry and not theirs. God is working in everyone’s ministry and in their personal lives. Take time to celebrate those moments as a way to encourage them and get them excited about having a story to celebrate the next time you all are together. The more you can celebrate what God is doing with everyone, the more excitement you can build in your leadership team that can lead to a huge momentum shift that could help draw even more students to Christ. How awesome would that be!?! Celebrations lead to even more celebrations. So what are you waiting for, let the celebrations begin!

What do you think? How do you celebrate what God is doing in your volunteer leaders personal and ministry lives? Share your experiences below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.

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