By Margie Morris

Good training helps volunteers succeed. It equips them to tackle meaningful jobs with determination and skill. It’s not always easy to let go of tried-and-true methods to allow for innovation. But by loosening our grasp, we allow volunteers to generate their own enthusiasm rather than asking them to be caretakers for our plans.

1. Foster Team Spirit

Train your volunteers to work together and to share ideas. Urge them to make decisions jointly.

2. Delegate

Train your volunteers to involve people of all ages and backgrounds in your program. Teach them to look for helpers who have valuable skills and a servant mentality. Have them search within the congregation and outside in the community.

3. Seek Out Training

Train your volunteers to ask for what they need. Offer various learning opportunities including workbooks, seminars, community courses, and video training. {Church Volunteer Central offers more than 80 text-based training sessions, as well as several online multimedia training sessions. Ed.}

4. Take Risks

Train your volunteers to break out of the mold. Although taking reasonable chances sometimes leads to disappointment, it more often heightens excitement and enthusiasm.
5. Celebrate Success

Train your volunteers to appreciate the work they do and the people they work with. Even though we take our ministry seriously, laughter and lightheartedness make it fun.

This article “5 Things You Should Equip Your Volunteers to Do” by Margie Morris was excerpted from an article in Group magazine. March 2003. It may be used for study & research purposes only.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”