Mobilizing & inspiring volunteers

Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss how to recruit, mobilize and inspire your volunteers, especially after you’ve reached the one-year mark.

0:52 Lee says it wasn’t difficult to get people from the launch team to serve and give. The challenge came at about the year mark. 

1:28 At the one-year mark, Lee realized the majority of their giving was still coming through launch team members.

1:47 Only 10% of the regular attenders were regularly serving. Lee says the goal is 40% participation.

2:14 Lee reminds planters that this is normal as you move beyond the launch phase to being an "actual" church.

2:30 Lee says it’s important to create the opportunity and share the vision.

2:38 Lee says there are two ways to share the vision: Focus on the need, or focus on the opportunity and great impact. Don’t go with the need. If you only focus on the need, the need will always be there. You may get people serving for just a moment to fill that immediate need, but eventually, you’ll wear your people out because the need never actually gets dealt with.

3:23 Lee talks about how he addressed this issue with his church from the stage on a Sunday morning.

5:12 Lee says it’s important to celebrate the people who are serving every weekend and the lives being changed because of their service. 

5:31 Also, challenge volunteers to find and recruit the next person to come and serve with them.

6:13 Lee talks about why one of his church’s top givers decided to leave the church six months after it started.

7:26 Lee says, if you mobilize and inspire your people, you’ve got to have that next step right away. "That’s where I find a lot of guys fall short."

7:54 Lee talks about the three next steps he gave to people in his church. First, he talked about becoming a prayer partner.

8:18 Secondly, become a volunteer partner. His church set up tables in the lobby for each of the key volunteering opportunities and invited people to stop by one or more of the tables right after the service.

9:42 Danny likes that Lee made this part of the service rather than asking people to stay longer or come back later. 

12:24 Lee encourages volunteers to share their story: why they serve week in and week out, what they love about their area and invite people to join them in that process.

13:02 Lee says the biggest coaching piece was the need for leaders to immediately follow up with each person who signs up in their area of interest by calling or texting them.

13:42 The next step is to invite them to serve with you.

14:24 Lee talks about the third way he asked people to partner with his church — financially.