How to develop volunteers for restorative ministry
The comment I get the most is, “You are successful with your outreach, because you have a high number of volunteers,” and that is true. But, it isn’t luck, random opportunity, or some extraordinary ability either. Often pastors are discouraged from starting restorative ministries because they believe they are already overworked and they don’t believe they will be able to gather enough volunteers to do the work. So hopefully I’ll be able to inspire a few of you to trust God in this, in less than 600 words.
Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV) says “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ”. God provided us gifts for ministry in order to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry”. We weren’t ever supposed to solely do the work, we were to “equip” others to do the work and those others’ purpose was to “build the body of Christ”, which is to develop new disciples. So the model is, pastors equip your people to do the work of restorative ministries, which will produce new disciples in Christ. So now with the understanding of the biblical calling for this work, how is it accomplished?
The common thread among the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers is the gift the Lord “gave” us, of leadership. We are given the gift of leadership to lead the church. Although there are many definitions of leadership, the one I like the most goes like this: “Leadership is the act of getting others to do something they wouldn’t do on their own”. I’ve had a lot of experience in doing that during my time in the military, but we as leaders are given this giftedness by God, and we need to use that gift to do something others wouldn’t do on their own, which is volunteer. Leadership is getting others to do something, in this case volunteering for restorative ministries. Well, how do we do that?
“Volunteers often will not go where you haven’t lead, so you need to show them.”
The application of leadership, “to equip the saints”, for this work is really only a two step process. In step one, leaders need to demonstrate Christ-like servant leadership, and they are not asking anyone to do something they are not willing to do. So get out and gather resources, distribute them to people in need, and witness to them demonstrating God’s love for them and desire to restore them. Volunteers often will not go where you haven’t lead, so you need to show them. Secondly, compel them to serve. A fruitful way we have compelled others to volunteer is to conduct a spiritual gifts inventory for everyone in the congregation. Many spiritual gifts inventories are available for free, and can help identify the gifts God has given members of your congregation. Every gift in the inventory relates specifically to areas where volunteers are needed. The gift of hospitality for greeters, the gift of service for the food shelf and so on. Assigning gifted members of your congregation to areas of restorative ministry provides them the opportunity to exercise those gifts and develop new disciples. When people work in their giftedness it brings joy, which keeps them serving in that capacity and produces all the fruits of the Spirit which can be used effectively to witness to others.
“When people work in their giftedness it brings joy, which keeps them serving in that capacity and produces all the fruits of the Spirit which can be used effectively to witness to others.”
If you are interested in more ideas or support for your Restorative Ministries outreach, contact Pastor Dan Molind at 802-595-5783.
Dan Molind is the Restorative Ministries Coach at Baptist Churches of New England.
