My Primary Volunteer Recruitment Strategy
I don’t remember who told me this, but it struck me. You never see people in the Bible doing volunteer fairs or anything like that to try to drum up volunteers. They prayed, and God provided what they needed.
While I can’t say that I’ve never done a bulletin announcement, I can say that every time I’ve had a real need for a volunteer (or an entire volunteer team), God has always provided them. My general philosophy is this: Once God stirs in a persons heart for them to volunteer, it’s my responsibility to train them, schedule them, and try to create an environment that makes them want to stick around (team-building, clear-communication, building friendships etc…). But I don’t even want a volunteer who has decided to help at his church for any reason other then God pushed them into it.
I’m sometimes afraid that this just comes across as an excuse to not spend time doing recruitment. What do you think?
I agree. I’ve done the “opportunity to serve” events, and they don’t seem to bring in the people called to serve – just those with good hearts who see a need and are willing to jump in even where they might not have skills.