3 Kinds of Kidmin Volunteers (and How to Keep Them)
Photo by Erika Giraud on Unsplash
My Senior Royal Ranger Commander was unhappy. I was at my first church, and I’d recruited a new volunteer for the ministry. He was great for the ministry. But now his son was moving up to the next age group and my volunteer wanted to go with him. The Senior Commander couldn’t understand why this father wanted to leave. Why didn’t he want to stay with the age group he was currently serving? After all that’s what he’d done for the last 30 years.
It was an interesting question. I was a new children’s pastor focusing on elementary aged kids. At the time I didn’t have kids, so I was there because I loved the age group. Why wouldn’t this father just stay and not move up with his son? Doesn’t he love 8-11 year old boys?
Around that time, I realized that there are actually 3 kinds of volunteers in kidmin. Each one is valuable in their own way and has their own expectations for what their service will look like. It’s your job as the leader to identify what kind of volunteer they’re going to be and treat them accordingly. You’ll have a lot fewer headaches and the time the volunteer spends with you will be far more rewarding.
1. Serve with their kids
In my experience this is the most common type of kidmin volunteer. They serve for a variety of reasons.
They want to see what their kids are learning.
They want to do their part.
They want to help their kids spiritual education.
Whatever their reason, they’re there for as long as their kid is in there. This person may be your most dedicated volunteer. They show up to everything, stay late, and donate supplies and funds. But when their child moves to the next age group, they move with them.
When they do this, we have two options. (1) Rail against them, making them feel guilty for leaving all the other kids. Or (2) thank them for their service and help onboard them to the next age group. Option two is what I did for my Royal Ranger volunteer. Once I pointed out that my volunteer was here for his son, my Senior Commander relented. The father moved up with his son and faithfully served for years. It was a smooth transition because it was basically the same ministry but with older boys.
Because many of your volunteers are only there for their kids, it’s important to identify them early. If you know they’re planning to move on, go ahead and start looking for their replacement. You may be saying goodbye to a bunch of fifth graders and their parents. But you’re also saying hello to a bunch of kindergarteners.
The key here is to hold your volunteers with an open hand. Don’t live with a scarcity mindset, never letting your volunteers go. They’ll grow to resent their serve time and eventually quit. Instead, live with abundance. Your volunteers are a gift of provision for God. If He provided them once, He will provide them again. If you need help finding volunteers this post can help.
2. Serve, but not with their kids
There a other volunteers that are similar to the first group, but with a key difference. These parents want to give back to the ministry with their time and energy, but don’t want to do it with their kids. They do this for any number of reasons.
They’re afraid their kids will misbehave.
They don’t like the age group the kid is in but want to do their part.
They want to make sure their kids are there, so they serve at the same time.
As with the volunteers who only serve with their kids, these volunteers are special. You should celebrate them. A lot of times they’ll fill holes in other ministries. The other day, a mom asked to switch to nursery next year. Her kid was moving into the age group she was currently serving and she wanted to serve but not in the same room.
Like I said, hold these volunteers with an open hand and let them do what’s best for them in this season. If they need to move to another ministry, help them do so. Don’t push against it. They may become one of your biggest recruiters. Because you helped them transition smoothly, they'll talk about how great it was to serve with you.
3. Serve forever (the Golden Goose)
My senior commander and I thought that our volunteers will be there forever. That was our mistake. As we’ve seen, most of your volunteers are only with you for as long as their kids are. However, there are a rare few who join you and then stay long after their children have moved on. These are the ones who serve for 10 or 20 years because they love it. If you’re a kid’s pastor, I’d venture a guess that you were one of these volunteers. Some of my closest friends and ministry partners are “lifers.” Honor and cherish them for their service.
As much as I like to keep everyone in nice little boxes, people don’t work that way. They move in and out of these categories as the years pass. I’ve had several volunteers become lifers once their kids moved up. Similarly, I’ve had long-time volunteers decide to move to a different area. Many because they started having kids or the ones they had were promoted. Sometimes, they want to try something new.
People are people. No volunteer will be with you forever, nor will you. We are all itinerant ministers. There was someone before you and there will be someone after you. It’s the same with your volunteers. Trust that God will take care of you and your ministry. Care and celebrate each of your volunteers. Because those who are faithful with little with be trusted with much. (Luke 16:10)