The Choice of a Lifetime: You’re Not “Just A Volunteer”

One of the seemingly never-ending needs of most children’s and youth ministers is that of volunteers to serve in various capacities helping to care for and teach the younger generations. Whether it be rocking babies in a nursery or chaperoning a lock-in, the need for “all hands on deck” is often a consistent concern for those “in charge.” The simple reality is this – if a church desires to have a children’s or youth ministry with multiple age-specific classrooms and opportunities, there has to be volunteers who are willing to be present to staff those positions.

So often, when I work with churches and ask how they invite volunteers into these roles, I hear the following: We list the needs we have, the openings we need to get covered, and we let them know it will only be once a month at most or 12 times a year or so and they only need to commit to a year at a time.

But last week I talked to someone who took a completely different approach. One that, honestly, blew my mind at both its simplicity and its necessity. And one that nearly eliminates the need for volunteer recruitment as an ongoing and ever-present need.

First, in this church, volunteers do not get assigned to a specific age or room. In other words, they don’t volunteer to work in the nursery or to work with middle schoolers. Rather, they get assigned to a group of children, a specific set of little ones who start out in the nursery, and as they grow and move up through different parts of the ministry program so does the volunteer. This idea came from the research that shows that consistency in relationships is integral to faith formation in rising generations.

One of the hardest things for a child or youth at church to experience is to have a children’s pastor or youth pastor that they have developed a strong relationship with to suddenly leave for new church or new job. Very often, that paid staff member is the only consistent person they have in their church experience while volunteers fluctuate from week to week. But this approach changes that – from the time they are young until they graduate, these young people have a consistent relationship with one or two adult church members who have grown alongside of them.

Which brings us to the second key part of this church’s approach to children and youth volunteers – a question on the application that simply reads, “Are you willing to do this for life?” The explanation is simply this: As a volunteer in this church, it is understood that even after the church service is over, even after graduation from high school takes place, even after the child has grown into an adult, this volunteer will forever be to that person a representation of the church (the body of Christ) and of Christ himself. Once we have taken on the role of teacher, mentor, and friend, we can’t just shrug it off and leave it behind once our “responsibility” is completed. Rather, when we accept this role as nurturer, guide, and spiritual mentor, even with the youngest of children, we are signing on to a lifetime of loving well and living like Christ.

With all of that in mind, it’s no surprise that the final characteristic of this church’s volunteer ministry is that strong relationships develop between the volunteers and the whole family, not just the child in a classroom for a Sunday morning once or twice a month. When a volunteer at church has changed diapers, helped potty train, been part of the “learning to read” process, cheered them on through tests and games and performances, watched them learn to drive and shown up at their graduation, that person is no longer a volunteer – that is a mentor, a friend, a brother or sister in Christ.

What this church has done is huge – they have sent a message that they don’t need volunteers to fill a slot or teach a class or chaperone a bunch of rowdy teens. They have said, “We need mentors who will walk with these children and youth throughout their growing up years as a consistent testimony of the love of God, the body of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”

And guess what? It works! This children’s pastor shared with me that she never had trouble finding volunteers, even with the lifelong commitment question, because ultimately, she wasn’t finding volunteers – she was mobilizing the church for the work it is called to do – make disciples!

If you have been around ReFocus for any amount of time, you know that I deeply desire for churches to find spaces and places for all ages to gather in worship, learning, and relationship with one another. But I also value the importance of peer relationships and age-sensitive spaces for children and youth to flourish together. The approach described above adds an essential layer of true intergenerational relationship and mentorship to the age-sensitive approach in meaningful and substantive way. If your church is not ready or able to bring all ages together, this is one way to help bridge the gap between generations and provide those essential formational adult relationships in a child spiritual life and community.

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