With Easter right around the corner, you likely have busy days ahead of you. Every congregation needs some extra hands to help during this season of the church calendar so you can create a welcoming atmosphere and smooth experience that ensures visitors return.
But finding enough volunteers to do all you want to see God do during Easter isn’t easy. With the right approach, however, it’s simpler than you think.
Here are five strategies that can help you find the volunteers you need for your upcoming Easter celebration.
1. Make It Personal: The Power of a Direct Ask
Among all the effective marketing strategies out there—and there are plenty of great ones—nothing works quite as well as a direct ask. That’s true in just about every area of life, but it’s especially powerful in the church. People are much more likely to respond when the request comes from someone they know. A personal ask makes them feel noticed and valued. It shows them that someone who truly knows them sees what they bring to the table.
Encourage both your church staff and current volunteers to employ the “tap the shoulder” method—intentionally reaching out to friends and acquaintances who might be able to help with certain roles.
In fact, make it practical for them. Next time you have your staff or volunteer teams together, urge them to make a list of the people they know in the church. Encourage them to be exhaustive. Then, write a volunteer role in which each of those acquaintances would thrive.
Then, ask them to think through which volunteer role each person might be great at. Then, challenge them to reach out—personally and specifically—to the people on their list. A thoughtful invitation can go a long way!
2. Use Social Media to Spread the Word.
Nothing multiplies your communication efforts faster today than social media. Plus, you can connect with potential volunteers without high costs.
As you do this, remember:
- Catch the eye above all. Good social media posts need something visual to grab attention. Don’t rely on text alone.
- A short video from a pastor (particularly your lead pastor) will probably perform well. Just make sure you include a text overlay so people can get the gist without turning the sound on.
- Highlight a meaningful testimonial from a past Easter to show potential volunteers the impact they can have.
Focus on posting your Easter volunteer message where your members are active. Don’t worry about trying to cover all your bases on social media.
3. Make Signing Up Incredibly Easy
When you make signing up complicated, you tell people you don’t really need their help. Think about the basic information you absolutely must have for them to get started. Remember, you can always get more information later.
At the bare minimum, you need a name and a means to contact the person (either a phone number or email address). You can also include how and when (which service) they want to serve. You can make those optional and get the information when you reach out to them. Everything you add to this list likely means a little bit of a response drop. (But of course, the more information you get, the easier it will be upon follow-up. It’s a trade-off.)
Don’t forget to provide sign-up locations in multiple places. Of course, you want a place where people can register online (your Church Management Solution should help with that). But make sure you have a place on your campus where people can sign up to help after a worship service, too.
Constantly ask yourself how we can make this easier for prospective volunteers. (And when Easter is over, ask your volunteers every year, how could we have made it easier for you to get involved?)
4. Lower the Bar for First-Time Volunteers.
One of the most common reasons church members don’t volunteer is they fear if they say yes once, they’ll be stuck in a commitment they can’t retreat from.
To help with those fears, offer some low-commitment, low-pressure volunteer roles, such as passing out bulletins or helping out with the church-wide Easter egg hunt. In fact, this is so important that you should create low-commitment, low-pressure roles if you don’t have any. You need some “starter” volunteer roles to get people involved for every time of the year.
Once your volunteers have tried these low-commitment options, point them toward other long-term volunteer roles (before next Easter!).
5. Show Appreciation and Celebrate Volunteers
You might wonder how appreciating your volunteers can help you fill open Easter volunteer slots. There are two ways to think of it.
- Happy volunteers (those who feel seen and appreciated) are great salespeople to help you fill future roles.
- Satisfied volunteers don’t quit nearly as often as unhappy ones. That means you have fewer volunteer roles to fill!
Start right away by building a consistent rhythm of appreciating and celebrating your volunteers. Think in terms of a multi-pronged approach.
- Send hand-written notes (and be as specific as possible in what you’re appreciating your volunteers about).
- Give a shout-out during your worship services the week after Easter. (By the way, this sends a signal to future servants that you value volunteers.)
- Recognize your volunteers on social media. (Consider a short video of all your staff members saying thank you!)
- Host a special volunteer breakfast or dinner where the staff serves the meal.
Do these four things regularly, and you’ll build a culture of appreciation throughout your volunteer system. You’ll also have fewer struggles to find volunteers in the future.
Conclusion: Start Recruiting Today!
Easter volunteer recruitment doesn’t have to be something you dread. Use the tactics above to help get a head start on this year’s process.
And don’t wait—start asking, posting, and appreciating today!
To learn more about how to make this Easter your best volunteer experience yet, download The Ultimate Easter Volunteer Toolkit for free!
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