Churches are strange. Maybe it’s because they are simultaneously organizations and organisms, and they require structure and spiritual formation. For churches to thrive, they need qualified people to teach, counsel, lead, care, support, guide, worship, administer, negotiate contracts, resolve conflicts, produce media content, direct finances, maintain facilities, welcome guests, support IT, think strategically, cast vision, etc. Unfortunately, most churches do not have the financial resources to hire all the people needed to make this happen. Yet, week after week, month after month, and year after year, churches pull off what seems to be an impossible task – operate a church. How?
Fortunately, the Bible provides insight into this very subject. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, he wrote, “11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” Ephesians 4:11-12. In this context, the body of Christ, also known as the Church, isn’t a building; it’s the people. One of the primary roles of the church staff is to equip, empower, and encourage volunteers to do this vital work. Interestingly, statistics show that the more a church spends on staffing (i.e., more employees), the fewer volunteers the church uses. Since volunteering is a benchmark for discovering the engagement level in your church, it makes sense to track and measure data related to volunteerism.
What Tracking Volunteers Isn’t
The majority of volunteers are highly skilled and capable in their abilities. Whether teaching children’s Sunday school classes, helping in the finance office, playing instruments during Worship services, administering the network, managing a facilities project, or any other area within the church, this metric isn’t a tool to create insecurity among existing staff. Utilizing volunteers is a way to support the staff in accomplishing far more than possible without the volunteers.
While volunteering demonstrates a high level of commitment to the church’s mission, vision, and values, it is not the only measurement. Don’t question a church member’s dedication or spiritual maturity based on their volunteerism alone; see the bigger picture.
What To Measure
On the surface, measuring volunteers is pretty straightforward: track each person volunteering, the area(s) they are serving, and the amount of time they volunteer. Even churches without sophisticated ChMS (Church Management Systems) can create simple sign-in sheets to track this data. For example, in the facilities office of one church, they put up a new sign-in sheet every week. Every time a volunteer comes to serve, they look for the correct date, write their name, time in when they arrive, and time out when they leave. The facilities manager keeps an ongoing spreadsheet to track the information. Other churches use their ChMS to run reports showing the number of people serving in each area and how long they volunteered. Regardless of the method, capturing the person, area(s), and time is essential.
Measurement Frequency
Tracking volunteers and their time must happen every time they volunteer. Capturing volunteer data can get complicated for some volunteers because they serve in multiple areas. For example, a volunteer may get up early to help set up the facility for Sunday worship services and also serve as a Sunday school teacher. It’s essential for the church to capture the number of hours every volunteer serves – in each area they serve – every time they serve.
Gathering the volunteer hours every time they serve allows the church to summarize the data into meaningful reports.
Comparisons
Knowing what to track (volunteers, where they serve, and the number of hours they serve) and how often to track it (every time they serve) is the starting point to creating meaningful metrics. The power of the metric depends on how the church uses it. Here are a few ways to use volunteer data:
- Percentage of volunteers vs. average weekly attendance: According to studies by the Unstuck Group, the average church has about 45% of its average adult Sunday attendance volunteering. Where does your church fall on that spectrum? If it’s under 45%, what plans does the church have to increase its volunteer force?
- Number of volunteers in specific areas: Create a pie chart that shows the number of people serving in each area – Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry, Worship, Group Leaders, Financial Team, Safety Team, Facilities Team, etc. Is there an imbalance that needs attention? For example, children’s and student ministries often require more volunteers than the finance team.
- Number of volunteers for large events: Often, when a church hosts large events like Trunk or Treat, VBS, Christmas Eve, Easter, Youth Camps, Workdays, etc., it gets an influx of volunteers. Compare the number of volunteers for these events from year to year. This metric may give insight into how valued the volunteers feel and if they want to return and bring others with them.
- Total number of unique volunteers and total hours: Because some people serve in multiple areas, it’s not uncommon to see that a church appears to have more volunteers than their average weekly adult attendance because they count the same person several times. For this metric, regardless of how many places a person serves, only count them once and show the total number of all hours volunteered and compare that from year to year.
- Volunteer retention: This may take a little more time, but match the names and areas where volunteers serve. How long has that volunteer served in that area? Is it difficult to retain volunteers in specific areas? Why?
Measuring volunteerism in the church does more than just identify “free” labor; it shows engagement and buy-in to the mission from the congregation. Healthy churches allow volunteers to use their strengths and gifts to build up the church while hiring staff that enlists, equips, empowers, and encourages volunteerism. It’s the “X-Factor” for how churches get so much done with so few staff members.
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