Leadership Training in Church Plants

In the 80's and 90's there was this buzz word - leadership. I'm not hearing about that much anymore.

Why?

What are you doing to train leaders or volunteers outside of your Sunday morning service?

Let me define what I mean by "train." I'm not talking about training them to fill a position, but to have the mindset to think like a leader. A leader is someone in my book who influences people to become more like Jesus.

Do you have another term or word for leadership? What do you call these people we have called leaders? Maybe that's a dumb question, because there really is no other word.. but I thought I would throw it out there to see if anybody is thinking about this differently. Are the times changing in other words that we are using different terms for leadership?

Questions:
1. Are we hearing just as much about leadership and if no, why?
2. What are you doing to train leaders or volunteers outside of your Sunday morning service?
3. Do you have another term or word for leadership?

volunteer resource

I know volunteers are vital to any church operation, but many questions surround recruitment, assessment, keeping them involved, preventing burnout, etc.

In fact, it was even a recent post on this blog.
I think it is pretty much safe to say we all have questions concerning this area.

Church Volunteer Central could be a resource that is worth checking out for materials, information, and help. Maybe they can answer some of our questions.

Encouraging Your Volunteers

One of the things I love to do is come up with ways to encourage our ministry team volunteers. Yes, we need to express our appreciation to our volunteers. However, one of the biggest pit falls to being a volunteer is the temptation to start feeling sorry for yourself, like you are doing more or serving more than other people. This mindset is the quickest road to burnout. We all know that some people serve more than others but allowing that mindset to invade your volunteers is toxic to everyone serving.

So how can you prevent it? Get their eyes off themselves and on others...not necessarily on those they are serving cause most volunteers have that concept down. We have to get them focused on appreciating and encouraging those who serve along side them. We have found this to be one of the most effective tools to change the "poor me" attitude. Here are two ideas we currently have in play with our volunteers:

1) "Be The Key" - each Ministry Team Coordinator was asked to communicate this concept to their team: Each of us are a key that God can use to help open the hearts of those coming to the service so that they can receive the Word. You never know what is going to touch someone. Whether its setting up and making things look prepared, making coffee, a smiling parking attendant, or a friendly greeter, etc. all of us play a part in creating an atmosphere that disarms people and makes them feel safe, comfortable and relaxed...which prepares the way for the move of God. I bought these antique skeleton keys from the scrapbook store and made some "Be the Key" cards for each Coordinator. When they or one of their team members see anyone going "above and beyond" to serve or reach out they write them a note acknowledging what they did and include a key with it as a reminder. It might be something as small as moving over to sit next to a visitor or something as big as walking people to their car with an umbrella when its raining. Just make sure its something that is "above and beyond" their normal, expected job and that it was "others minded".

2) Team Challenge - this month I challenged my Guest Services Team (Parking Attendants, Ushers, Greeters, Hospitality) to choose someone from one of the other ministry teams to pray for this month as well as write them a card to encourage them and thank them for what they do. I gave them a list of everyone serving on other teams. (IMPORTANT: Do not list anyone from your team even if they serve on another team. This is not a time to pray for our team but for OTHER teams. Also, do not tell the other teams you are doing this.) The response has been tremendous! In fact, I plan to continue this next month until every member from the other teams has been adopted for one month. I can't wait to report back to you about the results...but I can already tell you that it has given my team a fresh momentum and focus. You can feel the excitement!

Do you have any ideas that are working for you? I'd love to hear them!