highlight them. Here is how you can highlight your team so that more people will be aware of who they are and what they do:
- Make sure the Church knows there is a team in place. Whether you call them up on stage to introduce your team to the whole Church, share about them in a leader spotlight email or even have information about them at the Youth Table, make sure people know
Have your team visible and leading during meetings. It’s natural the student minister would lead often and be up front a good amount. But that doesn’t mean he/she needs to be upfront leading EVERYTHING. In fact, if that is the case, you are not setting your volunteers up to be successful with students. If you want to highlight your leaders, give them up front roles and responsibilities. Even if they are a little uncomfortable being up front use this as an opportunity to help them become more comfortable there so students will become more comfortable as them as leaders.- Make sure students know who they are. This happens when leaders are up front but this also happens when leaders have opporutnites to spend time with students. This is part the leaders responsibility by doing contact work with students. But it is also the student minister’s job to set his/her leaders up so that students feel comfortable with them. Each leader is different so as you get to know your leaders and what gifts they have, make sure that they are visible and interacting with students during gatherings or other student ministry activities.
- Make sure parents know them. A lot of times the Student Minister is the direct contact with parents. However, if you really want your volunteers to be known and valued for their contributions, set up ways for parents to get to know the volunteers. An easy win is simply having volunteers meet every parent of whose child they minister to. That way parents can get to know them and feel comfortable with them. You maybe even want to consider having a leader/parent get together a few times a year so they can have some time together. One way you can encourage volunteers is to encourage them to do contact work with parents and have regular communication with them. This isn’t where you share all the secrets kids share with the leaders. Rather this is a time for leaders and parents to get to know each other and find ways to partner together.
Conclusion
Student ministry is more than just a one person show. You need a team to be effective. However, it takes more than just having a team in place to be effective. You need to highlight them and have them very visible to students, parents and the Church so that they know there is more than just the Student Minister in place to minister to students. That is why it is always the great to highlight your volunteer team. The more you can get in the habit of doing it now the better it is for students, parents, the Church and the Student Ministry as a whole for the long term. What about you? How have you highlighted your volunteer team to make sure students and parents know who they are and are comfortable with them? Share your thoughts and experiences below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.Want to learn digital tools to expand your reach in ministry? Join the Digital Bootcamp Facebook Group!
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