To accomplish more, you have to require more …

Having too low a standard is a primary reason why many church leaders have a problem recruiting church members to serve in various positions within the church.

It’s often believed the problem is that people are too busy and can’t be asked to do too much. While it’s true a lot of people are busy, even the busiest make time to do what they believe in, and are willing to commit to the degree they can provide quality service.

Let me give you just one case history.

Several years ago I was asked to help a small church that was stagnating. It’s Christian education ministry was in death throes. The leadership begged and pleaded for people to serve for one week at a time, which meant they spent most of their time and energy trying to plug holes. That meant the quality of the ministry was terrible. The non-paid leaders were nearly burned out.

When I met with the ministry and church leaders, they told me something you don’t often hear, but would turn out to be pivotal for turning things around. They said: “We’re burned out, and we need help now. Things have to change now. We don’t want you to take months getting to know everyone and doing something slowly, we have to change things now.”

I loved that! With a burning desire to really do something, we were able to launch a complete, new Christian education program within 45 days of our meeting.

Key to turning things around was developing a higher set of expectations for everyone involved in the Christian education ministry of the church. The beginning point was to get the membership to agree to what the mission of that ministry was, and in order for us to accomplish our objectives we had to be committed to what it would take, and be willing to truly invest in and commit to building a quality program that made disciples.

In the past, someone was recruited for an open position, then thrown to the wolves. They didn’t receive any training, guidance, or support for the work they were asked to do. There was no direction, no goals, no objectives. It was all about not drowning. Then the person was left in the position until they burned out or quit. No wonder they couldn’t recruit anyone to serve!

In the new program, anyone serving in a position had to make a one year commitment. That new standard was pivotal to the success of the new program. At first, the leaders thought I was crazy. How could we ask people to serve for a year when they couldn’t recruit people to serve for a week? Here’s how:

• It was obvious to everyone that a piecemeal approach didn’t work. By building agreement to that, it was clear that a commitment was needed to build something that would achieve the mission of the ministry.

• Then, we eliminated the “fear elements.” In the past, people were put into a position and then left there until they burned out or quit. We changed that. I made a promise that before the end of their year of service, I personally would sit down privately with each person serving in the Christian education ministry and would offer them three options, 1) they could renew their commitment for another year, 2) they could step out of their current position to serve in another area in the church, or 3) they could take a break. I promised them that, regardless of the choice they made, there would not be any false guilt heaped upon them, or any effort to change their decision. In fact, we would ONLY thank them for their service, and shortly after the renewal evaluations were done, we would host a banquet in honor of all those serving in that area of ministry (which we did annually, something everyone in the Christian education ministry looked forward to and appreciated).

• Before anyone could serve in the Christian education ministry, they would be required to go through a training program so they could actually be adequately equipped to do the work they were being recruited to do. Additionally, they would be fully supplied with the best curriculum and materials available to help them be successful (that actually required writing a custom two-year curriculums for one of the areas of ministry).

• Throughout the year, they would be fully supported by the leaders of the ministry and the church. Additionally, we would have trained substitutes available to relieve them for vacation, illness, emergencies, or for a valid reason why they would need to temporarily be away from their position during their year of commitment.

By putting all of these things into place, we were able to fill every position, as well as recruit and train substitutes. The outcome was that, during the five years I worked with this church, we maintained a very high level of retention among those serving in this ministry. Perhaps two or three people annually would choose to transition to another area of service (which kept them actively serving) and only occasionally did someone say they were taking a year off. Along with a high retention rate, more people were interested in serving because of the whole opportunity for service we had built.

The key to so few saying they wanted a break was changing the entire environment of service. Instead of serving being seen as something you were “thrown into” without being equipped, guided, supported or appreciated, church members now had an opportunity to be equipped for service and fully supported while being a part of a team that was dedicated to making a real, quality impact in the lives of those they served. This resulted in a enthusiasm for ministering to others that led to significant spiritual and numerical growth in the church.

The turn-around from stagnation to consistent, healthy growth in the life of this church hinged on asking more of people rather than less. By implementing a higher standard, people became enthused about being a part of something of quality that actually achieved results. However, while raising the standard of commitment was crucial, what had to be included with that was a commitment to train and support workers, as well as a genuine expression of appreciation for the hard work they provided.

Are you asking too little of the people in your church? Are you making excuses for having low standards and expectations? What kind of commitment would the people in your local church need to reach in order to take your church to the next level of growth? How can you challenge your church to that level of service?

Scotty