I find that a lot of ministry leaders don’t think about recruiting volunteers or developing leaders when they have all their positions filled. They think because they have enough leaders right now there’s no need to focus on developing new ones.

The challenge with this type of thinking is that ministry is constantly changing. What happens when someone gets transferred to a new city or decides to volunteer in another area of the church? You find yourself in a mess. You need new leaders but you don’t have anyone in the pipeline. Then recruiting volunteers and developing leaders becomes a priority. When you only focus on recruiting volunteers when you have a need it’s too late because you needed new leaders…yesterday!

To fix this faulty thinking we have to start developing for vision, not for need. We have to start recruiting volunteers for where our church CAN be, not where it currently is. We need to develop leaders for the future, not for the present.

If there’s a vision for growth, then recruitment and development must be a daily discipline for every ministry leader.

For example, if you have 5 greeters, begin developing for 10 greeters. If you have 15 small group leaders, start developing for 30 so you can expand quickly when God adds new people to your church. If you can comfortable minister to children with 30 volunteers, recruit for 60 volunteers.

One of the things I’ve discovered over the years is that God typically doesn’t bring the increase until we are prepared for the harvest. The way we prepare as ministry leaders is by constantly expanding our recruiting efforts…especially during seasons when we have all our positions filled. That’s why it’s imperative that we begin to develop for our future vision, not just for our current needs.