Fix it: Set clear expectations up front about serving and all it entails. Let your volunteers know exactly when they need to commit by, and don’t make them feel pressured if they are in a busy season. Make sure they know if this is a one-time or continual commitment (and, if continual, how often they are needed) so they won’t be surprised later.
Also, don’t require more time of your volunteers than is necessary for their specific contribution. For example, if their task is to greet newcomers, they probably don’t need to be there an hour early every week they serve to have a greeters-meeting. Your volunteers may be more than willing to serve, but not able to make a huge time-commitment. Make sure you are offering some serving opportunities that don’t require a continued commitment and also some that don’t require a lot of time or training.
We all go through seasons of life where serving is more of a stress than a joy, and if your volunteers are hesitating to make a decision, that’s a good clue for you that they may be feeling burdened by their commitments. Be respectful of your volunteers’ time, and remind them that they know best whether or not they are in a season to serve.
4. They withdraw, don’t show up or fall out of contact.
Are some of your volunteers no shows? Have any ghosted on you? It may be that your volunteers are feeling burned out and don’t know how to express that to their church leaders. They may even feel guilty or even resentful, so avoiding it (or you) seems the easiest course of action to them.
Fix it: Provide an off-ramp for your volunteers. Sometimes just knowing that they have been granted “permission” to opt out of serving for a time makes all the difference to a burned out volunteer.
Make sure to teach an entire pool of people the same volunteer roles so you’re not relying on one person for a certain volunteer role every week. If you rely on one person, they may feel pressured to serve; and if there’s a week they can’t serve, you may be left in the lurch.
Also, it’s important to mandate rest for your volunteers. So many people overcommit themselves and work themselves to exhaustion; sometimes it takes someone forcing us to rest to realize how much we needed a break. Church leaders, consider requiring all of your regular volunteers to take a month off of serving per year. Your volunteers will come back from their break refreshed and excited to serve again.
Lastly—and I can’t stress this enough—be sure that you are setting aside time to spend with your church members without bringing up volunteering. I once heard someone say that they felt like their pastor always had an agenda when they spent time with them. Investing in face-time with no agenda will ensure that your current volunteers are feeling supported—not pressured—by their church leadership.
