1. Remember your purpose

• Your role as the leader of your team/group is first and foremost to disciple your members.
• Equipping people to serve and minister with their time and S.H.A.P.E. is a critical stage in the disciple-making process.
• You are an “equipper” not a “do-er,” so your job is not to “fill slots” or do tasks.

2. Identify the roles on your team and write ministry descriptions

• Have you clearly identified the different roles people can step into?
• Do you have a “Ministry Description” for each role on your team?
• Are both written in document form that you can email someone? (see template)
• This is important for an effective equipping ministry culture. It helps you to clarify the opportunities, it helps the Connections team know the opportunities, and it helps prospects prayerfully consider them.

3. Prioritize a strategy to pray

• This is so obvious that it’s sometimes neglected, but it makes sense—God’s Spirit gives the gifts as He chooses (1 Corinthians 12:11).
• God is the one only one who can move a person to step up to serve, but prayer is the method Jesus gives to provide for the need. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38). While this applies for evangelism, it is hardly limited just to that area.
• Enlist your team to help you pray continually prior to recruiting, while recruiting, and even after recruiting seems to have met your current needs. We will have more laborers if we intentionally and strategically pray for more.

4. Communicate immediately and effectively with prospects

• If you’re recruiting someone who hasn’t yet expressed interest, never underestimate the power of a personal ask. Bulletin and verbal announcements don’t recruit volunteers, you do!
• If you’re responding to someone’s expressed interest, follow up immediately (expectation = within 24-48 hours of learning about the person expressing interest).
• Personal follow up is typically better than written, but a written follow up can set the stage for a productive personal conversation.
• Be sure to:
• Thank them for their interest. Don’t assume they have committed yet.
• Ask what prompted them to express interest. This reveals a lot about their motivation and possible fit.
• Explain succinctly the “why” then the “what” and “how.” Be sure to express your passion for this ministry area and its significance in fulfilling our vision and mission as a church, but also describe the personal benefits to being involved—spiritual growth through serving, satisfaction through contribution, opportunity to enjoy connecting with new friends and having fun in the process.
• Invite questions. Don’t be afraid of not knowing answers. Admit when don’t know and promise to research and get back to them.
• If they want to learn more, provide the written description and offer for them to “shadow” someone in the role.
• Follow up to discuss the time commitment and length of service (people are more likely to commit if you offer a defined “term of service” with a specific end date).
• Invite a response. To prep further for this important step, review Bill Hybel’s leadership axiom, “Make the Big Ask.”
• Note: If they decide not to move forward in the role, sometimes “no” = “not now” or “not this.” Remember, you’re not just recruiting people to serve on your team, you’re helping them find and use their S.H.A.P.E. for maximum ministry effectiveness and enjoyment. This might mean you refer someone to another ministry area.

5. Have an application/interview process.

• This can be informal but it must be intentional.
• It takes time but it’s worth it.
• Create a predefined set of questions for your ministry (written application or in-person interview). Be sure to include character and competency.
• See example of “Leadership Interview Questions.”

6. Initiate orientation

• Schedule a time to map out more info and equip the new volunteer with what he/she needs at that time (for example, how does scheduling work?). Watch out for overloading him/her with too much information at the start.
• Connect the new volunteer to the team. If you aren’t having a team meeting in the near future to do this in person, send an email to introduce this individual or find other creative ways to do so.
• Invite feedback from the new volunteer to improve your onboarding process.

7. Stay connected

• Stay close to new learners when they’re not sure of themselves.
• Use the basic coaching questions when you connect:
• How are you doing?
• What’s going well?
• What challenges are you facing?
• How are you tackling them?
• How can I help?
• How can I pray for you?

Celebrate every stage along the way. This is easy to miss but easy to correct.