Volunteering is the way to develop leadership skills
Martin Luther King: You don't need a college degree to serve. Photo EPA AFP Photo Files
Christian Life
Volunteering provides young people with great skills. And volunteers are very necessary for Christian ministries in Europe. However, how do you get youngsters enthusiastic about these roles?
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Volunteering is a great platform for learning to serve and love others, as well as a great opportunity to develop personal leadership skills. Teenagers and youth have huge potential and talents that can serve the church and society. Their energy and creativity can boost any kind of church ministry if used correctly.
The needs of the church and society are too big to be fully covered with budgeted structures. Therefore, having volunteers is a blessing and the answer to the biggest needs of our society.
However, volunteers are not born. Instead, they are raised under the wise guidance of ministry leaders. But how can we recruit volunteers among teenagers and youth?
Wisdom
First and foremost, we should start our journey with constant prayers for wisdom to wisely choose young people for a specific job and to guide them.
After we find a young person, we can start sharing the vision for a specific project and invite him to try and join it. The key to raising a volunteer is personal connection and warm communication. Without sharing a vision, it would be hard to find people who are ready to step up, especially if they don’t know how they can contribute.
It is important to be precise with expectations and the “cost” of help (specific hours or the development of required skills) so it could look attractive but not too easy.
Give the potential volunteer time to consider the invitation (so he is not driven by emotions only). If he says yes, we should talk about a probationary period.
A probationary period could be a lifesaver in case something goes wrong. It means that in 2-3 months, we will discuss his experience and how he feels about continuing the voluntary work or leaving it.
Training
It is not only important to teach a new volunteer how to do his job properly. In addition, building relationships with him or her should be a vital part of the training process.
The true growth and development should take place under the loving and wise guidance of a ministry leader. The volunteer might leave the project, but the time there should leave a deep and good imprint on his heart and character.
Raising a volunteer is not only about making someone do a task. Instead, it is also about raising a disciple with whom we share our heart, passion, and experience. We are called to make disciples, teaching them what we have learned about and from Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). Raising a volunteer means to disciple a follower who learns to love, to serve and to sacrifice.
Martin Luther King Jr. already said: “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
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