Church tech teams provide wonderful opportunities for volunteer teams. It’s one of the best places in the church for people with more technical minds—and often more introverted personalities—to shine while making a real difference.
But even though they might be interested in helping out, there are a number of questions that stop them from saying anything:
- Do they even need anyone?
- What staff member would I tell that I’m interested in serving?
- Does it matter that I don’t have experience?
- What kind of time commitment is required?
The key to recruiting prospective volunteers lies in overcoming these obstacles. Once you remove some of the mystery around these questions, church volunteer recruitment becomes a lot easier. Here are 5 volunteer recruitment ideas to build your church media teams.
1. Create A Pool of Volunteers
It’s easy to fall into the trap of running with the minimum viable number of volunteers. But when you maintain the smallest number of people to get the job done, finding a replacement becomes an urgency. This means that you’re often filling the position with the most immediately available person, and not the best fit.
If you grow the volunteer pool beyond the number of people needed, you have plenty of time to train them. When a volunteer needs to take some time off, or can no longer fulfill their duties, there’s someone ready to take up the slack.
So if you only need three people on a Sunday covering all of your tech needs, consider having another three or four extra people whom you’re training for the position.
2. Train Your Recruits
When your guiding philosophy for recruiting volunteers is to create a pool of empowered individuals, you have a lot more time to train them. You’re not trying to cram a year’s worth of training into a couple of weeks—which only stresses everyone out.
Now you can communicate regularly to your church that you’re always looking for people interested in learning more about the tech department and let them know you will train them. This will be less intimidating for them when they are thinking about learning how to use church presentation software, running sound, or programming lights. You’ve already removed two of the obstacles to recruiting your volunteers.
Bonus tip: By keeping a larger number of volunteers than you need and training them early, you can get a sense of the people who have the right heart about service and commitment. This helps you promote the right people into more prominent positions.
It’s also a great way to strengths that people didn’t even know they had.
3. Clearly Define Leadership Positions
Making sure that people know who to go to in various departments is really important. If someone wants to find out more information about playing on the worship team, ministering in children’s church, or running the worship presentation software, it should be easy for them to find out who to connect with.
You should definitely have a list of departments and their contacts up on the website. You can also consider posting them in the bulletin or newsletters.
4. Get The Word Out
People on the media team should consider themselves recruiters. If someone expresses interest in their work, they should be able to invite them to come and check it out. They should have an understanding of the commitment that’s required for an entry-level volunteer, and be able to encourage their involvement.
You can also regularly cycle through different departments from the pulpit. All it takes is five minutes on a Sunday morning to tell people what the the tech team does, thank them for their service, and let people know who to talk to if they’re interested. You can even keep connection cards at the AV booth. This way more introverted people can express interest without having to worry about the initial conversation.
If you have absolutely no capacity, then keep a list with the names of people who have expressed interest.
5. Create A Volunteer-Friendly Environment
Recruiting volunteers doesn’t have to be about going out and finding people who will serve. If you create the right kind of culture, volunteers will come to you. Spend time casting a vision of the church as a volunteer-driven ministry. Let people know that they can make a difference, and then let them know about the opportunities available.
Looking for a new and powerful church presentation software to utilize motion graphics for your church or ministry? Check out MediaShout 7 and begin using motion backgrounds for worship today!
