Finding and keeping your volunteers is one of the most important tasks of a youth worker. Chris Curtis sheds some light on the process and suggests ways of building a healthy and lasting volunteer team.
In the Old Testament account of Gideon gathering the Israelites to fight the Midianites, he starts with an impressive 32,000 men but, as the size of the challenge ahead becomes apparent, this is quickly reduced to a measly 300. For anyone who's stood at the front of a church service appealing for volunteers to help with the youth work, this may sound depressing familiar.
That's a 0.001% recruitment rate for Gideon, by the way. For the record, that compares pretty unfavourably to an average 1% response rate to direct mailing advertising. To put it another way, if Gideon had sent out a flyer in the post, he might have expected a hundred times the response he got. Who knows what could have happened if he'd got a celebrity endorsement.
Just as well then, that it wasn't a numbers game. God was looking for quality not quantity. Three hundred was quite enough with Him on their side and, in the battle that followed, they overcome the entire Midianite army against all the odds. Yeah!
The problem is that most of us are in churches of 32 or, at best 320, not 32,000 so the odds of finding a single volunteer can seem stacked against us? How picky can you be if recruitment is that tough? What's more, how do you ensure any volunteers you do find stick around and do the best possible job of serving young people? These are the kinds of challenges facing thousands of churches who want to work with young people and rely on people within their congregations to make it happen.
Before we get to that, it's worth reminding ourselves what's really at the heart of being a youth worker, volunteer or paid. If your answer is something along the lines of keeping order at the Friday night youth club', 'leading the group on a Sunday morning' or 'running the tuck shop', let me stop you right there. Yes, all those tasks and many others, need to be done, but that's not really what it's all about.
If I cast my mind back to the youth workers I knew as a new Christian, aged sixteen, I remember nothing about what they said, but everything about who they were as people. Not a word of their Bible studies, talks or conversations remain with me - as good as I'm sure they were - but I can recall the faith and passion of some of them like it was yesterday. I remember one youth leader in particular: he was so full of faith and enthusiasm for God. Jesus shone through him and onto me like a blast of sunlight. My faith blossomed with that kind of example.
So it's not just what we do, it's who we are, that counts. Your volunteer youth workers aren't just the people who stop teenagers from spilling coke on the Wilson Memorial carpet, explain the Book of Revelation to a bunch of eleven year olds and then sell them a sherbet dib dab. They are walking talking examples of what you're asking your young people to become: meaning their journey of faith - with all it's ups and downs - is probably saying more to young people than anything on your programme. Henri Nouwen, a respected theologian and writer, summed it up much better than me when he described Christian ministry as "the attempt to put one’s own search for God, with all moments of pain and joy, despair and hope, at the disposal of those who want to join this search but don’t know how."
That's worth bearing in mind when you think about recruiting volunteers, as well as how you support and train them. Like Gideon, you may find that a handful of the right people are worth much more than hundreds whose example won't inspire young people to follow and find God. But whoever they are, find them you must...
Finding your volunteer
1. Don't make a desperate appeal from the front of the church for extra help. It doesn't work. If you're going to do anything in a service, ask one of your existing volunteers to stand up and tell the story of what they do and difference it's made to them as well as the young people. Why not ask some young people to speak to the church too, explaining why they like having your youth workers around. Share your vision and dream for the youth work too. Inspire first, then...
2. Approach people individually. Draw up a list of potential youth workers in your church and talk to them face to face. Remember the story of Gideon: it's not just a matter of finding anyone, so think carefully about who you should approach. Then tell them you made a note of the people you thought would be fantastic at helping and they're on it! Ask them to go away and think seriously about getting involved but, before you go, give them...
3. An outline of what's involved. Have you ever written down what you're asking of your volunteers? Instead of inviting them to 'help with the youth work', make a detailed list of what you're asking them to do and add a note of the kind of people you're looking for (see the box 'Ingredients of a good youth worker' for some ideas). Whilst some people may worry that this will put your prospective helpers off, in fact it's much more likely to make them take your invitation seriously. Don't be apologetic about the commitment although you might want to...
4. Ask people to commit to an initial period as a volunteer youth worker, which can them be extended. It's much easier to decide to help with the youth group for 12 months than something open-ended and it also gives a natural point to review how things are going. You're more likely to find people willing to do this instead of signing their life away until death or the Second Coming, whichever comes first.
5. At this point, if you managed to find anyone, you might be tempted to throw into whatever activity needs the most help. Hold back a moment. There are some important practical steps of course, like CRB Disclosures and other safeguarding requirements, but now's also the time to talk in more depth with your volunteer about where they could fit in the team. Not everyone has the same gifts and experiences, so take the time to discover what theirs are and talk through what they would like to do... helping out with a noisy and anarchic youth club is very different to helping lead a discussion in a small confirmation class. Maybe they'd like to try something new but need some training or help in getting started. When she started volunteering with the youth work at a church in North London, everyone assumed Jean, aged 60, would want to help with the tuck shop and keep herself hidden away in the kitchen. No chance. It turned out she was a whizz at pool and liked nothing better than beating a smug sixteen year old at the game. It's important not to pigeon hole anyone and really get to know what they can bring to the team.
Sustaining a volunteer team
John runs the youth work at a large Baptist church with team of eight volunteers helping with the Sunday church classes, the Friday night youth club and the youth cell. Some of the volunteers are around for pretty much everything, but there are others who's busy lives means they only help out on a Sunday a couple of times a month. "It took me a long while to realise that keeping everyone on board meant more than just dishing out the monthly programme" he says. "I had to start thinking about how I could build a team rather than just expecting everyone to turn up for their individual slot and disappear off again." He laughs as he talks to me. "I reckon 30% of my role as the full time youth worker is spent with the team of volunteers rather than young people. Maybe it sounds too much, but the team we've built have stuck with it for the last five years and they've made more difference than I could have ever done on my own with that 30%."
There's a principle here that is fundamental to building a team of volunteers: the more you invest in them, the more they'll be able to do for young people. Build a team not a rota, and be prepared to put time, money and effort into it. Why not start with the obvious and:
1. Get together as a team regularly. Make it fun, eat food together and get to know each other. Meet not only to plan and pray, but for more frivolous reasons. Have the kind of Christmas party that will make everyone else in the church wish they had sad 'yes' to getting involved. Socialise together and build a sense of community between everyone, especially those who might fell like they're on the fringe because they only give a few hours a month. While you're at it...
2. Show people they are valued. Make a fuss of birthdays and acknowledge milestones. Make a cake for someone when they've finished their first year in the team or survived their first youth weekend with only minor bruises. Acknowledge the time and effort people are putting into the team in as many ways as you can imagine. But it's not all about cake...
3. Insist on training being part of the commitment. Turning up to Friday night youth club isn't enough on it's own. Back to John: "We have a checklist of the basic skills and knowledge we'd like everyone to have. Stuff like knowing a little about adolescent development, how to lead a group discussion and, of course, safeguarding and child protection. There's about ten things in all and, after some of the basics at the beginning, we ask people to work at two of them every year. Sometimes I'll put on a special evening, but we also use the Local Authority training programme, which is free, and I have a library of books on each topic." What impresses me about John is that he keeps a detailed record of all this, and so knows who's done what. "It's a balance between creating an expectation that everyone will do some training, even if it's only a day or evening every six months, and remembering that the team are volunteers with families, hobbies and the need to chill out and watch Hollyoaks sometimes." I hope he's joking about Hollyoaks.
Another youth group I came across added another more subversive approach to their training programme. They ran film nights for the youth workers, watching a series of movies that explored youth culture and life as a teenager. After each film, they held a carefully prepared discussion that became a powerful opportunity to learn and reflect from what they'd seen. The message is that training needn't be tedious.
It's worth mentioning that there are also more formal programmes for volunteer youth workers, many of which give a recognised qualification at the end. Centre for Youth Ministry's 'Engage' course, for example, involves up to six training days with some written tasks and reflections. Complete it and not only have you learnt a huge amount, you'll also have a Level 3 qualification as a 'Youth Support Worker'. And there are plenty of other similar courses up and down the country.
Problem solving
That's all well and good, but what do you do if a volunteer isn't working out? Maybe they don't turn up when they promised, or don't seem to be able to relate to young people. You'd like to think you'd spotted these kinds of issues right at the start, but sometimes it only comes to light later on.
The key here is how you set up a volunteer at the beginning. Get that right and you'll find dealing with any difficulties is a lot easier. So a clear agreement can make a huge difference. Set out what you expect of you volunteers and what they can expect from the church. Get them to sign it not just read it. A lot of youth leaders shy away from this kind of formality but it's actually vital and - trust me - it really won't put people off. If you have that in place, it's much easier to sit down with a volunteer youth worker and talk to them about a problem. (Whilst this kind of agreement is important, so that you and the volunteer know where they stand, it's not a contract in the legal sense and the wording of it should not confer obligations but expectations.)
Another route is to have your team regularly self evaluate what they're doing and then talk about where they need to develop and get help or training. So, for example, you might produce a simple sheet with a list of statements like..."I feel comfortable starting a conversation with a young person who's new to the club." and "I'm able to lead a discussion with a small group". Ask people to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 10. Often you'll find that someone is well aware they're not great at something, but doesn't know how to sort it out. Identifying weaknesses in this way is a lot less threatening.
Back to basics
"What I really love about being a youth workers are those times just chatting to young people and talking about anything and everything. I get to share about my life, including the up and downs of faith. That's why I do it."
Sue brings us back to where we started: a reminder that it's really all about being an example to young people, about inspiring them with our own lives and faith. That's what really motivates people to volunteer. They don't do it to get out the house more, or get sleep deprivation on a weekend away... they do it to make a difference. If you really want to find and keep a team of volunteers, that's the thing to remember above everything else. Give them the opportunity to do that, equip them to do it well and celebrate their achievements. Get that right and that small team of adults could just go and change the world, or at least a part of it. It's Gideon all over again. Yeah!
Chris Curtis is the Director of LCET - visit their website at www.LCET.org
