{"id":30848,"date":"2015-12-01T02:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.churchvolunteercentral.com\/?p=30848"},"modified":"2016-09-07T18:42:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T00:42:56","slug":"first-serve-recruitment-for-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/training\/first-serve-recruitment-for-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"First Serve Recruitment For Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think of volunteer recruitment\u00a0as dating. No one expects a long-term commitment on\u00a0the first date\u2014so don\u2019t ask\u00a0volunteers to jump into a lengthy position of involvement until you\u2019ve given them\u00a0a chance to see what it\u2019s all about. Invite your volunteers on a first date by creating a \u201cfirst serve\u201d event.<\/p>\n

First Congregational Church <\/a>of Hudson, Ohio, just completed their fourth annual churchwide day of service. They hold this event each September as a way to invite people to a short-term serving opportunity. It gives them a taste of being in ministry. This day also kicks off the fall schedule of events and activities.<\/p>\n

Karen Joshi, connections ministry coordinator, reports, \u201cEach year approximately 500 volunteers fan out across three counties. This year we extended service to Cleveland and partnered with the efforts of the Cleveland Police Foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen starts the planning about six months out by developing a team of crew leaders. This team helps develop the projects they\u2019ll do in the community. With the aid of a social worker, they reach out to organizations and city groups to discuss needs and coordinate work tasks.<\/p>\n

Crews include children working side by side with their parents, teens, and seniors. All ages are included in multi-generational crews.<\/p>\n

The day begins with an opening worship service. Crews then go out to their assigned sites. Projects run throughout the day, with crews receiving a packed lunch to enjoy onsite. Crews are invited back to the church for an evening meal to celebrate and share God Sightings. Crew leaders take photos of the action, which are uploaded to a slideshow so everyone can see the impact they\u2019ve had on the community.<\/p>\n

In his book The New Breed: Understanding and Equipping the 21st<\/sup> Century Volunteer<\/em><\/a>, Thomas McKee states, \u201cThe effective recruiter recognizes that getting someone to volunteer is like the dating process. The goal is to get to know each other before you \u2018pop the question\u2019 and ask the person to join your volunteer team. This means that you can\u2019t rush to close the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Congregational Church has found that this annual event gives people a chance to see what serving is all about and many join ongoing ministries as a result.<\/p>\n

Give your volunteers opportunities to date. A short-term event gives prospective volunteers a \u201ctaste\u201d of what serving is like. By the time you do \u201cpop the question\u201d for a longer ministry commitment, you can be pretty confident they\u2019ll say yes!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think of volunteer recruitment\u00a0as dating. No one expects a long-term commitment on\u00a0the first date\u2014so don\u2019t ask\u00a0volunteers to jump into a lengthy position of involvement until you\u2019ve given them\u00a0a chance to see what it\u2019s all about. Invite your volunteers on a first date by creating a \u201cfirst serve\u201d event. First Congregational Church of Hudson, Ohio, just completed their fourth annual churchwide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":30849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,6,670],"tags":[184,620,621,622,130,232],"class_list":["post-30848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recruit","category-training","category-volunteers","tag-church-volunteers","tag-community-outreach","tag-first-serve","tag-getting-volunteers","tag-recruitment-2","tag-volunteer-recruiting"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Serve Recruitment For Volunteers - Group Children's Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Think of volunteer recruitment\u00a0as dating. 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