volunteer quit

Volunteering at church can be an incredible experience. It helps us connect with our church family, develop stronger relationships, and further our growth as disciples of Jesus. While there are many excellent reasons to serve, sometimes volunteers fade away and we’re left wondering what happened. So, why do volunteers quit? I’ve enjoyed serving and usually said, “yes” to requests to volunteer, there were times when I stepped away from serving. You may run into this with your volunteers. A long-time volunteer may tell you he needs a break and wants to step down in a few weeks. Your most dependable leader in the nursery may say she’s ready to move to another ministry area. While this can be frustrating and discouraging, it’s something you need to be prepared to handle. Why do volunteers quit? Some reasons have nothing to do with the church: Other times, the reason has everything to do with the church: What can you do to you prevent more volunteers from quitting? #1 – Don’t let people overcommit Every volunteer coordinator loves people who’re willing to sign up for more than one responsibility. However, while it’s great when a reliable volunteer is willing to help in several areas, you need to protect him from himself. As a general rule, don’t let volunteers serve in more than two services per week. Also, if someone is serving weekly don’t ask her to serve at every single special event (especially if your church has special events each month). #2 – Know what’s going on in their personal lives Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t about getting too nosey. This is about getting to know your volunteers (especially those in leadership roles). These types of life events can be wonderful but also energy draining. If a volunteer is serving in multiple areas and has a demanding job or new responsibilities coming up, you may need to be prepared for him/her to step back from something. Talk with your volunteers and gauge how each is doing. #3 – Develop a leadership pipeline It can be hard to find qualified and reliable volunteer leaders, so when you find a few it’s tempting to load them up to max capacity. Please don’t do that to them or to yourself. Constantly be on the lookout for people with leadership potential and invite them to serve. Put them under the leadership of your current volunteers and work together to develop them. Then, as your current volunteer leaders need a break or fewer volunteer roles, you’ll already have others who’re ready to step up. #4 – Honor your volunteers Don’t expect to keep volunteers for long if you… You’ll frustrate, discourage, burn out, and frankly just tick people off doing that stuff. As Carey Nieuwhof pointed out in his post on why churches lose high capacity volunteers, “Few things are more demotivating than giving up your time as a volunteer only to discover the staff person responsible didn’t set you up to succeed.” Instead, take the time to plan ahead for each service or event: #5 – Request feedback Meet with your volunteer leaders at least quarterly. Find out what they’re hearing from their teams and what they’ve noticed personally. #6 – Be open about shortcomings As someone progresses from attending, to serving, to leading other volunteers, he will get closer to seeing the inner workings of the church. This includes the great things right along with the less-than-ideal stuff. If a volunteer has the pastor or other church leaders on a pedestal, he may become disillusioned when he sees the real deal. Here are several ways to counteract that issue: #7 – Provide Clear Expectations Create job descriptions for each volunteer role. Include why the role exists along with specific tasks someone filling that role should perform. We provide sample volunteer job descriptions in The Church Operations Toolkit to make this effort easier. There’s a lot you can do to retain volunteers. Protect them from themselves, plan ahead, communicate often, express your appreciation, be open about what needs improvement, and ask for forgiveness when needed. What are some other reasons you’ve heard of volunteers quitting?