Having the right leadership in place is vital for the life of your church. This isn’t just true of paid ministry staff. Lay leaders are also important. When it comes to volunteer leadership roles — from ministry scheduling to teaching and leading — knowing how to develop volunteers’ skills and provide feedback is essential. Consider the following ideas to help grow and develop the volunteer ministry leaders at your church.

It’s no secret that humans are hardwired to engage with stories. From parables to Shakespearean plays, people have always been fascinated by the lives of others. So what does this mean for ministry leaders? It means that if you want to engage volunteers, share stories with them.

If you’ve been serving in ministry for any length of time, you know how easy it is to get caught up in the administrative tasks. After spending so much time in the details, looking for fresh, new ideas can be daunting. But you don’t have to do it alone! If you want to gain a fresh look at the work of your church, look no further than your volunteers.

You’ve likely discovered it can be challenging to celebrate success and plan for progress amid the hustle and bustle of ministry. However, if you want to be more intentional when creating goals for your ministry, start by taking a look at the past year.

The work of ministry schedulers is important to the life of the church, but it can be challenging to schedule and connect dozens — or even hundreds — of volunteers. That’s why we built the newest version of our ministry scheduling software to give ministry schedulers more tools and flexibility.

While some may follow Napoleon Bonaparte's advice that “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself,” anyone who has tried to lead a ministry knows that this management style is a recipe for frustration. Instead, healthy leadership means you must identify, train, and empower others to effectively work alongside you. And that means delegating.

With approximately 1,400 families who come together to worship at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs, it takes 85 volunteers each week to ensure that masses run smoothly. The task of communicating with and scheduling volunteers at St. Gabriel is enormous, so in 2007, the ministry schedulers began using Ministry Scheduler Pro (MSP) to streamline volunteer scheduling for liturgy.

One of the greatest benefits for Ministry Scheduler Pro (MSP) users is that the spirit of sharing that thrives in churches spills over into the MSP community. Discover how the MSP community focuses on sharing.

Standing as the largest parish in Texas with 30,000 parishioners, volunteer schedulers at St. Ann Parish in Coppell, Texas have their work cut out for them. For years, the schedulers who oversaw the 200-250 volunteers required for the 7 weekend masses got by with spreadsheets, phone calls, and ad-hoc organization methods that left some masses sparse with volunteers. When Tom Samson was asked to organize the Greeter ministry, he knew he had to find a ministry scheduling software solution.

While volunteering in ministry can be challenging, it should be equally rewarding. Make sure you know the heart of your ministry by uncovering churchwide, volunteers', and personal motivations. Create opportunities and paths that move everyone in a direction of rich, rewarding experiences of serving in the church.