Dear Leaders,

Thank you for diligently assimilating our wonderful, new volunteers into your ministry. Your participation, ministry tables, hearts throughout the weekend, along with Pastor Wayne’s message on “Doing Church as a Team” weekend, drew people from sitting in the stands to getting in the game!

Speaking of playing in the game, here are some reminders and tips to get people in the game:

~ Call people right away. Many of you have already done this. Great! If you got a hold of them to schedule their first shadowing or training, awesome. If you left a message, please be sure to make repeated efforts to get a hold of them or meet them at church…to get them in the game!

** If they want information about another ministry, PLEASE lead them to that ministry. Help them get in the game on another one of our teams! Be a team player…capital “C” and help them get connected in our church.

~ Connect people into your ‘ohana. Your ministry is an ‘ohana. The new people should experience the joy of belonging. Not only to serve the Lord, but to grow in connection with Him through relationships - through discipleship.

The connection involves orientation, shadowing and training. Develop an effective system with lots of heart added to your organization.

~ Care for the new volunteers. Follow up is a great thing - following up on calls, connecting them to serve. But follow through by showing that you care about them. Isn’t it in one of our Core Values…genuine love and caring relationships are the key to EVERY endeavor. That would include the endeavor of building healthy ministries by building healthy relationships.

~ Calibrate…
…your approach: There may be different, new, creative ways to call, connect and care for your new volunteers. Don’t give up if you’ve left 3 messages or if they haven’t replied to your email. Approach your follow up differently. Leave more specific information about when and where to meet you, etc
…your attitude: Calling, Connecting and Caring for others is not always easy - but it is rewarding! Be careful not to allow any negative attitudes overshadow the grace, kindness and love of God living in you.

~ Calendar your crew. Be specific about times, shifts, services to serve at. Make sure they know how often they are needed, when and where you need them. Be sensitive to their calendar too.

~ Celebrate the joy of serving with them. At New Hope, we are servants of celebration. Cheer each other on celebrating the joy of worshiping Jesus through serving.

Thanks for all the follow up and for following through with the new volunteers God has blessed us with.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 12:02 am and is filed under Leadership, Volunteers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.