You are here: Home / Communication / How to be a GREAT volunteer youth worker

How to be a GREAT volunteer youth worker

August 27, 2012 by 8 Comments


After 29 years working on a church staff full-time, I have been a volunteer youth worker for the last two years and have come to better appreciate helpful, non-guilt-producing tools that help me better care for/shepherd the guys in my small group.

A friend of mine (who is a great youth worker Savannah Christian Church: Savannah, Georgia) tweeted a photo of a tool she created for her small group leader training. I loved it! I asked to get a copy and she was happy to share it with me and you (Thanks Allison Murray).

Here’s what I like about this tool:
1. Her asks are realistic for a semester.
2. She is establishing expectations that she wants me to relationally invest teenagers
3. She cares about me (as a volunteer) to help me “think thru” opportunities.

[note: the only thing that might be confusing is that "Element" is the name of their youth ministry--see #1 below]




Question: What expectations do you have of your volunteers? Are they clear/concise? If you’re a volunteer, do you feel like you know what is expected of you? What do you like/not like about this tool–how would you make it better?Share your thoughts here.


[Are you getting Doug's daily blog in your email inbox?] If not, it’s real easy–go here.

Filed Under: Communication, Leadership, posts, youth ministry Tagged With: , , , ,
  • http://www.facebook.com/jessica.aldaba Jessica Elizabeth Aldaba

    Love it!

  • Pastor Kyle

    stealing it

    • dougfields

      Spoken like a good youth pastor!

  • markeades

    agree with Pastor Kyle – stealing it for our upcoming training with new adult leaders – thx Doug

  • http://whatfamiliesdo.net/ Ben Patterson

    As a youth leader, we talk about these things with the volunteers but this is GREAT because it puts it in writing. I will be sure to do this myself as well and not simply leave it up to the volunteers.

  • Luther

    i saw this on twitter last week and loved it!!! i decided to use it. so i was doing little flips in my head when i saw you post it only confirming the great idea that it is. 3 weeks into youth ministry and getting so much great material thanks Doug and company

  • http://twitter.com/HUBpaustin Austin McCann

    I saw this on Twitter last week sometime and I loved it. My volunteer’s are the ones who are really making the impact on my students and I appreciate all they do.

  • Pingback: Top 5 Youth Work Blog Posts Of The Week - Aug 31