We've all hit this wall in any department but especially with children's ministry volunteers. The question of "How can we get more volunteers?" comes up over and over again. Maybe you've put an ad in the bulletin, made a fun video for service announcements and shared it on social media, and even had a recruiting party with free pizza, games, and gifts to try and show people what volunteering in kids ministry is like in hopes they'll sign up to serve.

While all of these methods might gain the attention of people who want to join your children's ministry team, you may be overlooking a key bridge between "Interested" and "Signing Up." The key bridge is that people in your church are probably asking people who are already volunteering (or their children) what their experience is like before deciding to volunteer in children's ministry themselves.

While you still need to use as many methods as possible to let people know that there's an opportunity to serve in your children's ministry, if you make your current volunteer culture amazing, you'll have an entire team of recruiters - your current volunteers!

What would your current volunteers say about working in your children's ministry?

Before you can decide where to focus your energy, you'll need to discover what's currently working and what could be improved. An anonymous survey can help, whether you do something fancy like an online survey, or you simply hand out a piece of paper and ask your current team members to fill it out next time they volunteer.

The key to getting helpful results is in the questions you ask. If you ask "Do you enjoy being a Children's Ministry Volunteer?" you'll get lots of "yes" - after all, if your children's ministry volunteers didn't like being there, they probably wouldn't show up. But if you ask "What do you like most about serving on our children's ministry team?" or "What tips would you create to encourage new volunteers joining us?" you'll get more specific answers:

• I like preparing lessons and setting up the room
• I like seeing the kids in my group each week
• I like doing music and actions with the children
• Show up early your first time on the schedule. It will take a little more time than usual to get everything set up so by the time to children arrive, you've had time for prayer and can be free to focus on them.

Surveys will be most effective when they are less than 5 questions. Too many questions and people won't complete them (or give partial answers) and too few questions and you won't have enough information.

For your last 3 questions, use the method of "Start, Stop, Keep":

• What do you think we could start doing or create to make volunteering more fun for our children's ministry? (or something like "What are some new ideas you have for our team?")
• What do you think we could stop doing? (or something like "What complicates your role on our team?")
• What would you like to see us keep doing? (or something like "What is working well that is valuable for you?")

Decide what to improve for your children's ministry volunteers

The feedback from your survey is really valuable. It will let you know what's working well and what needs to be improved.

Start with "What needs to be improved?" based on results that are not meeting your standards

Feedback like "The walls are not my favorite color" won't show up all that often, but feedback like "We don't get our schedule or curriculum until the last week of the month, and it would be helpful for me to know when I'm scheduled farther in advance" might show up more often.

What is the most common feedback for improvement, and what less-common feedback can be an easy change?

For instance, getting feedback from multiple people that they would like to get their schedule further in advance could be a change that you make that helps a lot of people. It's worth the effort to help multiple people.

Getting feedback from only one person who says they're allergic to the scented kleenex, could mean simply replacing the box with unscented kleenex and not purchasing the scented version next time. This a quick way to show you listened.

What is working well that could be enhanced?

Sometimes changes aren't just to address what isn't working well, but often can be used to enhance what already is working.

If you get feedback that people love when you have a summer BBQ together as a team, or enjoy the video training tips you email 2 or 3 times per year, you could simply increase that frequency and enhance what's already working.

If your volunteers like it when you create an email to let them know what's coming up in the next few months of ministry, or an email asking everyone to pray for a specific topic on a specific day, you could consider starting a Facebook group for your volunteers so they can interact with each other and get more regular updates.

If you've been setting out snacks for your volunteers to enjoy before service starts, and they like that because they can skip breakfast on Sunday mornings, maybe the first of the month you'll bring in donuts and coffee instead of just the usual granola bars.

Creating a volunteer culture that people love will make more people want to join that culture and your children's ministry team

Recruiting Sunday School Volunteers Idea 1:

Use "Testimonials" from your volunteers as advertising tools for new volunteers

Instead of the typical "We need more nursery workers. Sign up today!" consider asking your current volunteers about why they love to serve.

Is it because they love the comradery, or maybe getting to hold the babies, or watching the preschoolers learn their bible verse, or experiencing worship with your elementary students?

Have your leaders tell their stories and how serving in children's ministry has enhanced their relationship with God, and with your church family.

This could be on video or written in your bulletin with their picture or a 2 minute Q&A on stage during announcements. At the end of the testimonial, have the person telling the story invite your church members to join your children's ministry.

Whatever your current volunteers love most about your team probably matches what potential volunteers are looking for.

Recruiting Children's Ministry Volunteers Idea 2:

Make a video asking your children what they love about your children's ministry

Remember "Kids say the darndest things"? Use that idea to let your church family know what goes on in your kids classrooms. Of course, you're going to get some pretty interesting answers from a 4-year-old, but you'll also get a few heartwarming moments that can open the door for you to talk about the opportunity to volunteer.

Children have an innocence and honesty that can recruit the right people.

Recruiting Children's Ministry Volunteers Idea 3:

Ask an adult how growing up in kids ministry created a foundation for the rest of their life

This could be video, or on stage during announcements, but let your church members hear about the long-term impact they can make in someone's life by joining your volunteer team. People want to know that the effort they're putting in will make a difference - whether that's at their job, in their home, or in their church.

Maybe that adult remembers praying for the first time with a group, or a specific lesson from your curriculum, or an encouraging moment from your leaders, or a free gift from your children's ministry.

Show your church members that volunteering in your children's ministry will have a lasting impact.

Recruiting Volunteers Idea 4:

Ask your current volunteers to invite 1 person to shadow and serve with them for a weekend

As a bonus, have a free pizza party for your team and shadow or give them a gift card to a local restaurant to go out for lunch together.

As much as you explain it, most people don't really know what it's like to be a volunteer until they actually do it.

Maybe they think it's all changing diapers and rocking crying babies, which isn't for them, but what if they actually love playing their guitar - not that they want to pressure of being on stage in front of the church on Sunday, but they know enough to play a few songs for the preschoolers to dance around for worship.

Maybe they think you're just simply playing games to keep the kids entertained while their parents are having church, and they don't realize how much they'll learn from teaching lessons, helping students memorize bible verses, prayer with the children, and worshipping together.

Recruit Children's Ministry Volunteers Idea 5:

Ask Children's Church Parents and your Ministry Leaders Who Their Favorite Babysitters Are

The best babysitters are also great team members for your children's ministry. They're already trusted to spend time with children and probably love them, and wouldn't get a reference from the parents if they weren't great at what they do.

Then, go to those babysitters and say "So-and-so said you're one of their favorite babysitters! We're looking to expand our Sunday School volunteer group. Would you like to grab a coffee and see if you might be a fit for children's ministry?"

What's Next? How do I move forward with finding out if someone is a fit to move ahead with volunteer training?

Once you have a meeting set with a new team member, have an agenda and an overview of what's involved in the position and how they may be a fit. A simple pre-printed checklist will be sure that you cover all of your bases, and give them an idea of what the rest of the meeting will look like.

If that person is willing to grab coffee with you, they're interested in getting involved but will have some specific questions in mind.

Treat this opportunity like laying out everything involved, and allowing the person to make a decision, not like a sales call where you're trying to get them registered.

Outline a high-level overview of what the experience is like for your new volunteers

including your curriculum, leadership, communicate your vision, schedule, and how often they'll serve. What helpful resources will you provide them in their training? How much time is involved for preparation during the week, and how early are they expected to show up on a Sunday morning to prepare? What do you do to build community among the leaders in the group?

Treating this part of the process poorly will result in people being unclear about expectations and either not joining the ministry, or joining under false assumptions. This is really important in growing volunteers, and finding the right people to spend time with the children in your church!

Recognize that you'll need to take an active role to recruit, not a passive role of putting a message in the announcements and waiting for people to show up.

Photo by Anna Earl on Unsplash