The Problem with Church Volunteers

By Mike Glenn

Ask any non-profit leader or church staff member what their number one problem is, and both will give you the same answer – volunteers.

They can’t find people to volunteer. They can’t find volunteers who show up on time. They can’t find volunteers who will show up at all. If they do show up, they rarely show up with a good attitude or work ethic… and then, they won’t return your phone calls at all.

If we could just get people to volunteer, everything in our church or organization would be perfect. Of course, that isn’t true either, but complaining about volunteers allows us to look like we are really concerned and working hard.

I’ve been doing what I do for a long time and I’ve made a point to try and understand the reasons churches have such a hard time identifying, training, deploying, and retaining volunteers.

Here’s what I found out.

We’re doing it all wrong.

For one thing, people’s lives have changed in ways we are only now beginning to fully understand. The same internet that allows us to work from anywhere at any time also allows us to be found anywhere at any time. The line between “my” time and “company” time has become hopelessly blurred. Many of our people aren’t really sure exactly what time is their time to begin with. They’d love to volunteer. They really would…but on whose time?

Our 24-hour world means people have less time to do the things they really want to do. By the time they get to their job, help the kids with homework, take the kids to ball practice, dance lessons, tutoring and who knows what else, there’s just not a lot of time left. People would love to help. They would love to be part of some ministry or mission that was doing good work in the world, but they really don’t have time.

So, those of us who ask for volunteers need to be realistic when we ask people to volunteer. If people have one hour a week, what can be done in one hour? What can be done in two hours? Three hours? Most volunteer positions can be broken down into small chunks of time to allow volunteers to “job share” a ministry.

For that matter, most churches need to do a serious evaluation of what we’re asking people to do in the first place. Let’s face it. A lot of what we do in the church we’ve been doing since the fifties. We don’t do anything the same way we did in the fifties. We certainly don’t need to be doing church now the way we did then. So, before you ask someone to hand out bulletins, ask yourself, “Do we need to have bulletins at all?”

If something needs to be done, then someone in the congregation is gifted in doing just that. God will not call a church to a ministry without equipping the church for that ministry. God calls every congregation to a unique ministry and brings talented men and women to that vision. Church leaders need to install a process where members can discover their spiritual gifts and talents, then be deployed to those places in the life of the church where they can make the most impact.

There is nothing more exciting than watching someone understand how God created them and then watch them find ways to use their gifts that make a difference in the church and community. Once a person understands how they are designed to be used in God’s kingdom, worship and discipleship comes more naturally. Those who serve are driven to discipleship because we want to do our ministry better and we want to know more about Christ and how He works in the world. We’re driven to worship because every day we’re seeing God show up in and through our lives.

Now, let me stop here and address the downside of gifts. When our church first started taking seriously the idea that every member is called and gifted for kingdom impact, I noticed a comical trend. Whatever our church needed to have done, no one had the “spiritual gift” for that particular ministry.

Well, maybe not, but if you’re a member of the family, you’re going to have chores. Every person in the family has to do something for the good of the family. Grocery shopping, cooking, lawn care, taking out the garbage – without someone taking care of these basic tasks, the family dissolves into chaos. Let’s face it. No one has the spiritual gift for taking out the trash. It just has to be done.

Likewise, if you’re in the family of God, you’re going to have chores.  Rocking a baby in preschool, helping a child color their picture, chaperoning a student trip – you don’t need to be spiritually gifted for any of these. You only have to be faithful.

Faithfulness is more important than talent. Obedience is more important than ability.

Using the word “volunteer” bothers me. I’ve almost stopped using it in conversation. Volunteer means I can show up when I want to, if I want to. There are no constraints on time or allegiance.

We didn’t volunteer. We were called. We were called to join Christ in this redemptive adventure called “church.”

And, if we love Jesus, we are eager to do whatever we can to join Him in His work.