Spring is the time of year we start to forget about out adult volunteers. They start missing more youth meetings and soon you can’t get them on the phone and your not sure when they will show up next. So lets turn this around by reaching out to our volunteers. Here are 5 strategies to encourage your adult volunteers:

1. Tell them one great thing

Pull your adults aside and tell them one great thing you see them doing with students. Make a big deal about it and thank them over and over again. Make sure they know they are the backbone of the ministry.

2. Praise gossip

Tell parents about the great things your adult volunteers are doing. Tell a story in church if they will let you. Go on and on about how wonderful your adult volunteers are. Gossip spreads and soon they will hear about what you are saying and feel valued.

3. Ask students to write a note

Ask your students to take a minute and write a thank-you note to their small group leaders. Ask them to express the difference the adults are making in their lives.

4. Gift book

Pick a book that will help your adults grow in youth ministry. Give them a night off from ministry so they will have time to read it. This can breathe life into your ministry.

5. Spouse gift

Give a gift to your volunteer’s spouse, thanking them for the sacrifice of letting their spouse serve. This is powerful. When you take care of the one your volunteer loves you will be taking care of the volunteer.

Telling jokes about the senior pastor is cool, right? Come on, everyone knows that it’s OK to make light of the fact that the senior pastor isn’t cool or doesn’t know how to use the latest technology. It’s just good clean fun, he probably thinks it’s funny too. Have you ever said things like this before? Stop and think for a moment: do your words and actions build the senior pastor up or tear him down? Have your words caused your adult volunteers or students to think negatively about your senior pastor? If they have, you’re not helping the situation, you are actually weakening the church. Sure, it might build you up in front of them but in the long run you are destroying his ministry and yours.

Youth workers struggle with who gets the resources in a church. The senior pastor never has a problem getting the money for his plans and programs but there is never enough money for the youth ministry. Even though most church experts believe churches grow more due to successful youth ministries than almost anything else. It’s no wonder youth workers are jealous of the resources that senior pastors have and can become bitter. Our problem is not who gets the resources, our problem is our attitude towards money in the church. We think that our value and the value of our ministry is determined by the size of our budget. We could actually do youth ministry without money. When I was a youth pastor I went from a church with a $20K budget to a church with a $4k budget and I found I was just as able to reach students with the $4k as I was with the $20k. I just had to change how I did it. So let’s not put money up as the most important thing to a successful ministry. Let’s also remember the senior pastor is always going to get what he or she needs, it’s just the way things go, so are we going to have a bad relationship with our pastor just because of culture? Change your thinking on money and work to have a good relationship with your senior pastor. For more on this subject check out my new book The Disconnect: bridging the youth pastor, senior pastor gap.

Most youth ministries use teams to develop student leaders. Teams can be very effective in this process but most ministries struggle to find time for these busy students to have another meeting. So what is the alternative? Actually, developing a leadership mentoring program can help with this problem. Students are matched up with an adult mentor and they can meet whenever it’s convenient. No longer are you trying to find a time when 12 students and 3 adults can meet. Also, with a mentoring leadership program you can customize the program to meet the specific needs of each student. You can still have a leadership experience for these students by matching them up with an adult volunteer in the ministry who will give them leadership over a part of the youth ministry.  If time is keeping you from having a leadership program, consider mentoring.