Relationship Building With Your Team
One of the key ways you will minimize turnover with your volunteers is by building relationships with them. There are many ways you can go about doing this, and depending on the size of your church your ways may be different than another church’s.
Here are a couple of basic things to implement that should work no matter the size of your ministry/volunteer team:
- Implement monthly meetings – this allows you to communicate with the team on a regular basis as well as allows fellowship, relationship building and connection.
- Recognize birthdays every month – Make sure everyone gets a birthday card at minimum. If you are able to give small gifts as well, this will go far. If your church has a bookstore or sells message CD’s/DVD’s, an idea for a gift could be to give them a coupon for a free CD/DVD in the church bookstore.
- Recognize a Teacher of the Month – Announce the Teacher of the Month to the entire congregation so that they can thank them for their service as they see them in Children’s Ministry or around the church. Make sure they do get a small “thank you gift” of some sort that thanks them for their faithful service in Children’s Ministry.
- Thank you notes - Give small notes to your team members randomly to let them know they are doing a good job and that you are so thankful for them.
- Good-bye Cards – This is an often overlooked area of relationship building. Giving a volunteer a card that says good-bye or thank you for serving really helps not only Children’s Ministry build relationships, but the church as a whole. You want their departure from Children’s Ministry to be one that makes them still feel loved and appreciated. Don’t send a message that says you are mad that they left or that now that they are gone, they are not needed or appreciated. Instead, let them know that they were a blessing while they were there and that you hope they are able to plug in somewhere else and be just as big of a blessing!
