{"id":2658,"date":"2013-03-28T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.churchvolunteerdaily.com\/daily\/leading-volunteers\/is-your-volunteer-program-still-breathing\/"},"modified":"2016-09-07T18:30:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T00:30:38","slug":"is-your-volunteer-program-still-breathing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/retain\/is-your-volunteer-program-still-breathing\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Your Volunteer Teams Thriving?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"_mcePaste\"><\/div>\n<div>We all want our volunteer\u00a0teams to be healthy and thriving. In fact, many of you shared your ministry dreams with us and we know from your responses that you desire to see people serving in their gifts and growing closer to Jesus. But how can you be sure you&#8217;re creating a healthy environment that fosters team health?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-108 post hentry category-background-check full\" id=\"post-content-108\">\n<div class=\"entry-content full-content\">\n<p>Susan Ellis, volunteer management expert and founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.constantcontact.com\/fs070\/1101128346960\/archive\/1105375320636.html#a6\">energizeinc.com<\/a>, recommends taking your organization&#8217;s pulse by asking the following questions. They can be used at\u00a0team meetings, perhaps one or two at a series of meetings, or as the focal point of a staff\/team retreat.<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>What&#8217;s the difference between why volunteers begin serving at the start, and why they stay? Why do some people lose interest or fade away?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>How welcoming are we to newcomers, really? What exactly do we do to show them they are welcome &#8211; beyond greeting them\u00a0to their first meeting or event?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>What happens when someone has a new idea? Do we have a process for genuinely considering suggestions and options for the &#8220;minority opinion&#8221; to be heard or for individuals to pursue different options?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>Are we having fun?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This last question is a good one. Imagine asking that at your next\u00a0team meeting! You might receive some crazy looks or even hear, &#8220;What does that have to do with anything?&#8221;! I think we can serve God&#8230;and people&#8230;and enjoy the process.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a proven strategy to help you address these issues, check out\u00a0the new <em><a href=\"http:\/\/store.grouppublishing.com\/OA_HTML\/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=3183094&amp;section=13862\">Volunteer Leadership Series<\/a>!<\/em> It&#8217;s designed to help you build a firm foundation in your volunteer ministry, and then move beyond the basics to sustain your program and keep it growing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u00a0<strong style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/store.grouppublishing.com\/OA_HTML\/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=3183094&amp;section=13862\">Order Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all want our volunteer\u00a0teams to be healthy and thriving. In fact, many of you shared your ministry dreams with us and we know from your responses that you desire to see people serving in their gifts and growing closer to Jesus. But how can you be sure you&#8217;re creating a healthy environment that fosters team health? Susan Ellis, volunteer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,670],"tags":[112,113,184,216,239,240,223,105,199,278,115,128,15],"class_list":["post-2658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retain","category-volunteers","tag-church-volunteer","tag-church-volunteer-central","tag-church-volunteers","tag-how-to-recruit-volunteers","tag-leadership-strengths","tag-leadership-strengths-and-weakness","tag-recruit-volunteers","tag-volunteer","tag-volunteer-appreciation","tag-volunteer-appreciation-ideas","tag-volunteer-central","tag-volunteer-training-blog","tag-volunteers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are Your Volunteer Teams Thriving? - Group Children&#039;s Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We all want our volunteer\u00a0teams to be healthy and thriving. 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