How to Train Your Kids Ministry Volunteer Team
You are a world changing Kids Ministry leader! God is using you in HUGE ways to help kids love Jesus more and love God’s House! It’s a huge job and that’s why you need a great Kids Ministry volunteer team by your side.
You want the DREAM TEAM! And you have been working really hard to recruit and build your dream team. Great job!
You have a super excited, newly recruited dream team…so what’s next?
Training!
Training new volunteers is vital to the success of your Kids Ministry. When you take the time to properly train the team, you are equipping them to be effective and to do KidMin the way you want it done.
So, what is involved in training? Here are three things I will cover in this post:
Give Clearly Defined Expectations
Training a new team is important, but you also want to continually strengthen the team. We call this volunteer retention. When volunteers feel informed and cared for…they will keep serving in your KidMin.
What does volunteer retention involve? I will be talking about the following things:
(Note: This is part 3 in a 3-part blog post. In part 1, we covered 3 Recruiting Mindsets to Overcome in Kids Ministry and in part 2 you learned 5 Tips to Recruit Kids Ministry Leaders.)
So, are you ready to get started to train and strengthen your amazing volunteer team? Here we go!
Want the kids at church to have an incredible experience every single week? Check out the Kids Ministry Atmosphere Checklist: 11 easy steps you can take for ALL kids to WANT to come back week after week after week.
Training…
The better trained your team can be the stronger the ministry will become. So, here are some steps that should be a part of volunteer training.
Interview New Team
Take some time right at the beginning to meet and greet your new team members. Making that connection at the beginning will make your ministry feel more personal. Here are some things to consider when you are meeting new team members.
- Get to know your team and know their strengths.
- Learn their profession. Some professions can lend a great deal of strength and experience to your team.
- Teachers/Educators
- Special Needs Training
- Medical Training
- Find out why they want to serve with kids
- Discernment is so important- unfortunately, not everyone may have the right motive for working with kids.
- It is your job to protect the kids and create a safe environment for them.
Share Your Heart
Now that you have met your team and gotten to know them a bit, let them get to know you. Sharing your heart is a great way to create buy-in with your new volunteer team and to introduce them to all the amazing things God is doing in your area.
You can add the following to this part of your training.
- Introduce yourself.
- Share the WHY behind KidMin and why it is so important.
- Share stories of how God is moving in your ministry.
- Tell about Salvations in your area.
- Share stories about kids who have stepped out in faith to change their world.
- Give the new volunteer a sense of how they will be making a difference.
Give Clearly Defined Expectations
This is the nuts and bolts part of the training. The more time you spend in this area the more equipped your team will be to actually do the “job” of serving in kids ministry. Here are some topics to add to this section of your training.
- What to wear.
- What time to arrive.
- How to do the job/know the job description.
- Talk about your ministry/church’s policies and procedures.
- Who they go to with questions or problems.
Clearly defined expectations help the new volunteer feel confident in their new role but can also give you something to fall back on if expectations aren’t being met. After all, everyone wants to do the right thing; they just need to know what it is.
Volunteer training needs to go beyond a “when they first start,” but be an ongoing part of your ministry; regularly reviewing evacuation plans when the seasons change, sharing heart and vision before big calendar events, going over expectations to keep the team functioning at the highest level.
With this in mind, your team wants to do a great job and the better trained they are the stronger your ministry will be.
Solid training can equip your team to be really effective, but there is another step in the process, volunteer retention.
Retention…
Recruiting a new volunteer is great but retaining a current volunteer is better. The happier people are on your team, the longer they will stay on your team.
Volunteers join your team for many reasons.
- The desire to change the world is evident in them.
- They have kids in your ministry.
- The love for working with kids is one of their key characteristics.
- They really like you and want to serve alongside of you.
Volunteers will want to stay on your team when you incorporate the following concepts.
Want to grow your kids ministry team to be the best it can be for you and the church? Download the 4 Proven Ways to Build Your Kids Ministry Team and watch your team grow in effectiveness, reaching more children than ever before.
Making Ministry Kind
This seems like a silly point, but it can be really critical to the longevity of your volunteer team. Your ministry should be really, enthusiastically, over the top kind.
What does that look like?
Your team members should be known by name at first sight. Don’t rely on their name tags or badges. Ministry should be personal and as the leader, this starts with you. Don’t delegate this or leave it to someone else to get to know the team.
How do you do this?
1. Consider your volunteer team as your family. Think of ways to offer connections among the team and with you. This could be a party or get-together outside of church to build community. Really amazing things happen when you allow volunteers to get to know you outside of church.
2. Show thankfulness and appreciation for their service. Working with kids can be awesome and challenging at the same time! Keep in mind they could serve anywhere in your church but they chose your team, so they need to hear your gratitude regularly. This can be in person, chats, text messages, phone calls, emails, or even mail in their mailbox.
3. No matter how you do it, showing gratitude should be a priority. As a caution, be sure you are doing this generally with volunteers of the same gender. Avoid texts, phone calls, emails with members of the opposite sex. Delegate that to someone of the same gender. The gratitude needs to be expressed, but care needs to be given as to who is expressing the gratitude.
Imagine rowing a boat. When all the paddles are oaring the same direction, you’re moving forward with ease and speed. However, when some oars are pulling and others pushing, you feel stuck.
Now, translate this to ministry and your volunteer team. The more connected the team, the easier it is to move forward in all God wants you to do. Making ministry personal and over-the-top kind should be the top priority.
Additionally, volunteers will want to stay on your team when they understand the difference they are making. This brings us to point #2.
Recognizing the Impact
You and I both know Kids Ministry is WAY beyond babysitting! You’re helping kids learn about and love Jesus, as well as creating a Biblical foundation that will stay with them their entire lives. KidMin is an amazing place to serve and your team needs to hear the impact that they are having…a lot!
- What awesome things happened in your services?
- Who got saved or baptized?
- Are there any testimonies from kids or their families?
- What happened in the church as a whole? Remember, when the church wins, we all win. If another department wins, KidMin wins too.
- Were there adult salvations?
- Were there first time families/guests that visited the church?
- How about hearing some encouraging testimonies from other ministries?
Consider a central location in your area where you can post stats and share the amazing things that are happening in your area and in your church. Stories and testimonies build our faith and are really encouraging.
A side note about sharing stories is that you don’t want this to just be one-sided. Create a space that allows volunteers to share stories about amazing moments they had with a kid or things that happened in KidMin that spoke to their heart.
One thing that can be easy to forget is that even though you are in KidMin, you still teach God’s Word. The lessons you teach kids week in and week out can be super impactful to teens and adults too. Creating a space with your team and sharing those stories and testimonies will be really encouraging to you, your team as a whole and your church leadership.
A Word of Encouragement
You are doing amazing things each week in your Kids Ministry. God is using you in huge ways and you are helping kids learn they are truly world changers. Training and strengthening your volunteer team can help you do all God has called you to do and make a bigger impact than you ever thought possible!
God has big plans for your ministry! You are changing the community you live in by helping kids love Jesus more and loving God’s house. It’s so exciting to know that God wants to grow and build your Kids Ministry and help you take your ministry to the next level.
Did you miss part 1 or 2?
Part 1: 3 Recruiting Mindsets to Overcome in Kids Ministry
Part 2: 5 Tips to Recruit Kids Ministry Leaders
Like this post? Sign up for our free blog updates to never miss a post. We’ll send you a FREE ebook to say “Thank You.”
Discover what pastors of growing churches do to see massive growth and how you can position your church for the greatest days ahead.
Click here to get immediate access to this free masterclass.
