What does your church do to celebrate its ministry volunteers? Do you recognize them for their hard work? Do you have a planned activity to show them that you appreciate their ministry?
Ministry volunteers are the church’s greatest resource. Every church has them and can’t function without them. From the parking lot, to ushers to the nursery, volunteers are like motor oil to an engine – they keep it running smoothly.
By the time you count choir members, ushers, greeters, parking attendants, Sunday School teachers, media ministry, bookstore workers, and a host of other volunteers, they far outnumber paid staff. Collectively, these volunteers donate hundreds, if not thousands of hours every month. Obviously they don’t do it for a check, they volunteer their time and talents to their ministries because they love the Lord and they love the church.
At least once a year your ministry should find a way to appreciate its volunteers. It could be a formal event like a banquet or it could be something casual like a family picnic or a fun day. Whatever you do make sure the volunteers know that it is especially for them and don’t allow any of your volunteers help with the event. Make the event really special and treat them and their families like special guests.
Whether people express it or not, they appreciate recognition for their efforts and they love special treatment. Celebrate your volunteers, treat them like special guests and they will serve faithfully for a very long time.
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Tags: appreciate volunteers, celebrate volunteers, church volunteers, ministry volunteers
February 18th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Hi Valerie – I don’t go to church but I can appreciate the work that volunteers do. When I was in nursing, they had a volunteer group – I think it was called The League of Friends. It was totally voluntary and the volunteers had a small trolley and they would bring round magazines and stuff the patients could buy.
I really think those people made a difference to the patients, not just for the service they provided but also because they were always so cheerful.
But now, things have changed and the hospitals have huge shops selling all those things at premium prices.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Hi Cath – Volunteers for all organization should be appreciated. Many years ago (in the ’70′s) I was a Pink Lady. In the States, that’s a hospital volunteer group. One of my jobs was to take magazines and books to patients on weekends. During the week, I worked in critical care. As a former nurse, I’m sure you can appreciate the efforts of volunteers.