Increasing Involvement in Outreach

Many churches complain of a lack of dedicated volunteers for their outreach ministries. In some instances, they began their program with a substantial amount of volunteers and within a couple of months; the number of volunteers had dwindled to no more than a handful. In other instances, the church was unable to acquire any volunteers from the start of the program.

While the cause of a lack of dedicated volunteers varies, there are a few common culprits that your church should consider during the planning and implementation process of an outreach program.

Lack of Leadership
It seems trite to say but everything rises and falls on leadership. I have found that selecting motivated project leaders with vision is the first and essential step to ministry success. Ministry leaders with a vision for outreach are better off waiting to begin until after they raise up a motivated leader.

Lack of Planning
When designing their Christian outreach program, some churches forget to think of the role that volunteers will play in the implementation of the program. Outside of their planned program personnel, there aren’t any defined tasks for volunteers to take on. As a result, when church members show up to volunteer they end up sitting around without anything to do. When planning the outreach program, keep the volunteers in mind.

Lack of Advertisement
Many churches fail to advertise their outreach ministries adequately. They may announce the outreach opportunity during the announcement section of worship service, but they fail to mention it at any other time. This is a big mistake. Church members have a life outside of the church. They have full-time jobs, children, workout regimen, etc. While the outreach program at church may be important, it is added to the long list of “to-do” items that they church members accomplish each week.

Lack of Recognition
Some churches fail to recognize and/or thank their outreach program volunteers for the wonderful job that they’re doing. This may cause some church members to feel unappreciated and diminish morale. A recognition event could easily solve this problem. Your outreach ministries committee could simply have cake after worship service, put up a thank you banner, or if funds are available, have a dinner celebration.

While there are other causes of a lack of participation in Christian outreach programs, this list can help churches to avoid the common pitfalls that have hindered the success of worthwhile programs. If churches remember to keep both the target community and the congregation in mind while planning the program, these problems can be avoided.