4 common questions youth leaders ask about recruiting and equipping volunteers

Volunteers are essential to your ministry. But finding and retaining good volunteers can be a challenge.

I was in the music store during my freshman year of college when I met Dave—a large man with a larger laugh. I had been given a guitar as a present before college, and I needed new strings. I must have looked lost (which I was) so Dave asked if I needed any help. Somewhere in the midst of that interaction, I went from looking for guitar strings to becoming a Young Life volunteer.

Now, after three decades in various ministries, churches, and settings, I can confidently say recruiting youth ministry volunteers has never been as easy for me as it was for Dave that day. And in the past four years, it seems like it’s become more difficult than ever. The Hartford Institute for Religion has found that there’s been a drastic decrease in the percentage of congregation members volunteering since the pandemic.

However, there’s good news: the same report finds that the recent trend “shows a significant recovery.” With hope on the horizon, many youth leaders are asking how to equip their volunteers to disciple teens effectively. Thankfully, there are some time-tested ways you can connect with and empower people for the sake of the ministry and the gospel.

4 common questions youth leaders ask about recruiting and equipping volunteers

Where do I find youth ministry volunteers?

Start with who is in front of you. There are no better people to ask than the people you know and who know you. This group may be first in line because you’ve already created a community and a sense of belonging.

If you need to look wider than that, do yourself a favor and deploy multiple strategies for volunteer recruitment. Announcements and information tables will only go so far. Create a plan that fits in your context and utilizes four or five different strategies to gather, inform, invite, and initiate youth volunteers. “Gathering” could be an open house or a one-on-one coffee. “Informing” may be an information sheet, social media video, or phone call. Whatever you choose to do, make sure that you exhibit gracious persistence. Rarely do people say yes on the first ask, so have a plan about how to ask in different ways.

What training do youth ministry volunteers need most?

Teach new volunteers the why, what, and how of doing ministry. When they know those three things, they’ll feel confident about going out and doing the work of ministry with students. Usually, your “why” is found in your church or ministry’s vision or mission statement. If you don’t have one, spend time with your existing team and create one. Whether they’re leading a small group or at a worship night, everyone should have a clear why. Training that begins with a very clear why provides volunteers with vision and metrics to know if they’re successful.

The “what” and “how” are the methods you’d like them to use to accomplish the why. The what should be clear, motivate your team, and lead to the how. At FYI, we’re dreaming about this one: “We want to see every young person connected to an adult disciple who loves Jesus.” How you accomplish your what is the job of ministry.

Sometimes how you train your team to lead an event or gathering might be more about what you say no to than what you say yes to. Priya Parker puts it this way, “You will have begun to gather with purpose when you learn to exclude with purpose. When you learn to close doors.” [1] She writes about inviting people to gatherings—but the same is true for what you do. Training your team, then, should be specific to each event and gathering. A few years back my ministry team sat around the room and planned an event. I started the planning with a dream big exercise and captured ideas on paper. Then I asked our team to cross out anything that didn’t directly help us accomplish the goals of the event. We reduced our ideas down from thirty to three and created one of our most talked about events ever. Training is a powerful driving force that helps your team focus and be successful at the “how.”

Why do volunteers stay in ministry?

Two vital factors impact volunteers’ willingness to stay connected to your ministry. The first is purpose. One leader I served with, Dan, had told me that he was done volunteering. After convincing him to stay for the summer, he stayed around for nine years! That’s because he found a vision and purpose for the work he was doing, and he was excited about leading students. When you’re able to clearly identify your students’ needs and prepare your volunteers to meet those needs, they will find purpose.

The second vital factor is belonging. That group of volunteers that Dan was a part of had been really living life together, and we became like a family. Dan is still a good friend of my family almost a decade after we left that church. By being a community of youth ministry volunteers, we were able to identify and use our gifts for discipling others together. It was that community where we found belonging with each other and the church. Through purpose and belonging, your volunteers will find reasons to stay when things get challenging.

Why do volunteers quit?

Volunteers step down from ministry for a lot of reasons. One that can be changed immediately is to thank those who serve with you. Many youth ministry volunteers leave because they don’t feel celebrated or thanked. You can do that right now: pause your reading to send a text to one of your volunteers and let them know how much you appreciate them. Make sure each member of your team knows that they're important in the ministry (because your students may never tell them!) and that they're a part of God's family.

Volunteers will also quit if your training, expectations, or community don’t create a rewarding experience that engages their sense of self or calling. The culture we create on our teams may limit the type of people who serve. We have to intentionally create space for those who are younger, older, don’t have a lot of time, and may even come from a different cultural context. Fuller professor Soong-Chan Rah says, “We may not be aware how limited our worldview and how narrow our analysis of our own cultural context may be. It requires a trip to another level to see the whole panoramic view… in order to appreciate the scope of cultural differences.” [2] Though some may say they don’t have the time (and sometimes they truly don’t!), before a volunteer resigns it can be helpful to explore whether their experience serving in your youth group is meeting their need for purpose, belonging, and community.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of the church. Without strong intergenerational relationships, the next generation will continue to walk away.

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[1] Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering. Riverhead Books, 2020. 36.
[2] Soong-Chan Rah, Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church. Moody Publishers, 2010. 84.