In 1992, Al Newell and his wife, Wendy, founded Newell and Associates, a volunteer management consulting ministry. For over 20 years, he has specialized in developing volunteer ministries. A current adjunct professor at Denver Seminary in Colorado, Mr. Newell founded Compassion International’s National Volunteer Network.
Far from the rest of humanity in my home, I use the downstairs bathroom. When my wife goes out of town, she grants me a pass to shower in her bathroom. The danger begins when I reach for soap. There is no bar of soap. There is a bar of something. It smells funny, and I’m confident it is not made for a man.
Sometimes my wife uses liquid soap. As I search for liquid soap, 17 bottles confound me. The label on the first bottle reads, “Volumizing Hydrogenant.” That can’t be good. I grope and find 2 more bottles: “Bionutrient Active Cleanser” and its twin, “Scalp Therapy.” Isn’t there some soap in a language I understand?
Oh, the Power of Language
Who would want cheap blinds when they can afford to spend thousands of dollars for “window treatments”? Who would order cold potato soup when they desire vichyssoise? In a similar way, educators’ words announce their perceptions of volunteers and shape the way volunteers view themselves. If administrators or teachers want to tap into an amazing but often hidden reservoir of resources, they would do well to become “VOL-lingual”—that is, they would learn to speak the language of volunteer partnership.
Learning to Be VOL-Lingual
Becoming VOL-Lingual Lesson One: Overcome the Stigma of Volunteerism
In college I qualified for the Federal Pell Grant. I’ll never forget the time a professor pointed out that I was on welfare. But welfare, I contested, is for those other people. The truth is that all government grants are a form of welfare, but the stigma had kept me from seeing that reality.
When approached as partners and used appropriately, volunteers can revolutionize a school’s funding.
Teachers and other paid staff members often perpetuate the stigma that volunteers are in a “lower class.” Paid employees may have trouble grasping the benefits that volunteers bring to a school, but they would do well to recognize the incredible benefits volunteers represent.
Compassion International volunteers take the responsibility for leading major fund-raising events. Sometimes volunteers spend hundreds of hours on a project that may only raise a few hundred dollars. Yet because these volunteers speak on behalf of poor children, tens of millions of dollars funnel into Christian schools and after-school projects all over the world through Compassion International.
When approached as partners and used appropriately, volunteers can revolutionize a school’s funding. They can reduce the pressure of large classrooms by tutoring, coaching, or otherwise giving more attention to kids who desperately need it. Of course, there are risks and conflicts of interest that must be deftly handled through carefully selecting volunteers. But don’t let the thorough screening keep you from the gold mine of benefits.
Becoming VOL-Lingual Lesson Two: Volunteers Are Partners
If you really believe volunteers are partners, your belief shows. Effective volunteer ministry starts deep inside the heart. Paul believed that those advancing the cause of Christ were partners and fellow workers in ministry, and that belief oozed out of him. In his New Testament writings, Paul used the Greek word synergos 13 times (Romans 16:3, 9, 21; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 1:24, 8:23; Philippians 2:25, 4:3; Colossians 4:11; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; Philemon 1:1, 1:24; and 3 John 1:8). Synergos is a compound word. Syn means together with, and ergos means coworker or to labor. Paul viewed those under his authority as partners, not peons.
Speak to volunteers as you would to other respected adults or business partners.
Classroom assistants, parents, and fundraising coordinators join with you in the same cause and ministry. Sometimes it is difficult for teachers and administrators to recognize that volunteers share the same passion for their Christian school or that volunteers value children as much as paid workers do. Yet this passion for Christian schooling and this valuing of children are the very reasons that school-parent volunteers financially sacrifice to send their children to Christian schools.
Before experiencing great results from volunteers, many paid leaders must experience the Philemon transformation. Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus, came in contact with Paul and underwent a conversion. Paul then pleaded with Philemon to view Onesimus in a new light. In verses 16 and 17 of Philemon, Paul urges Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother and a partner instead of as a slave.
How do you view volunteers—as helpers, cheap labor, or partners in the ministry of educating children? The language of partnership begins in the heart and continues in verbal and nonverbal ways.
Becoming VOL-Lingual Lesson Three: Speak the Language of Partnership
Speaking partnership language to volunteers can be especially difficult for those who teach or lead young children. People often forget their target audience; and instead of being appropriate for adults, their attitude, language, and illustrations are more suited to children. If you ask parents the ages of their young children, they often indicate their children’s ages by holding up fingers. A similar type of unintentional mistake is happening when children’s ministry directors in churches use illustrations of bunnies or toys in their volunteer recruitment advertisements. The following guidelines can help you in speaking to your target audience—adult volunteers, partners, and fellow workers in ministry:
- Speak to volunteers as you would to other respected adults or business partners.
- Rejoice over mutual contributions.
- Celebrate team victories.
- Share information.
- Ask advice.
When you allow volunteers to joint venture with you by letting them share responsibility and information, you take the ministry relationship to another level of partnership benefits. Exodus 18:22 (NASB) explains, “So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.” When the economy is down and your school is hurting, for example, volunteers will offer to help carry the burden and solve problems, if they are invested as partners in the ministry.
Use partner-like or neutral titles. Some titles such as classroom helper reduce your recruitment pool and unintentionally lower the perceptions volunteers have of the value of their jobs. This type of title can also reduce the respect they garner from students. On the other hand, you can enhance the status of volunteers by selecting such titles as classroom leader, team member, and ministry partner.
Avoid focusing on the word volunteer. An executive in a large Christian ministry successfully partnered with some volunteers and doubled her department’s ministry efforts. When she introduced them as volunteers, she noticed that the eyes of the paid staff immediately dropped. She stopped using the word volunteer and noted that respect for these ministry partners grew immediately.
Avoid we-they language and posture. When I introduced some key volunteers to an executive, he responded, “We really appreciate your help.” He meant well, but it sounded as if the volunteers were doing him a favor. Let the word we refer to all staff. When real partnership exists, condescension flees.
When my daughter, Becky, was a student teacher, she noticed that the paid staff treated her with professional respect. However, the volunteer classroom assistant—who had a degree, experience, and her own children—did not receive the same honor.
Don’t patronize volunteers. The act of patronizing volunteers may be subtle. “We would have invited you to our staff meeting, but since you’re a volunteer, we didn’t want to put that pressure on you.” Another subtle occurrence can result from demeaning language that reduces a volunteer’s feeling of value and causes embarrassment. For example, a volunteer management training promoted this idea: give a volunteer a Caramello candy bar with a note that says, “We Car-e for you.”
Don’t thank volunteers. The apostle Paul never thanked his staff. Instead, he offered thanks to God for his coworkers. But please don’t misunderstand me. Affirm volunteers, but recognize them as partners, not parents. For example, in place of saying, “Thanks for helping us out,” say, “It’s great to be on the same team, doing great things for God” or “Isn’t it great to serve children together?” The latter comments communicate partnership and emphasize the fact that ministry is a joint venture.
Becoming VOL-Lingual Lesson Four: Speak the Language of Nonverbal Partnership
Let volunteers carry the weight of ownership. When a new volunteer says, “Something has come up. I won’t be able to work at the event after all.” Respond by saying, “That’s too bad. What are you going to do about that?” Intentionally let volunteers feel the weight of their commitment. You will probably not have to say such comments more than once.
Invite key volunteers to staff meetings. Even though a volunteer women’s ministry director in a large church carried as much responsibility as the paid staff did, she was never invited to attend staff meetings. Base your invitations on responsibility and function, not on a status defined by paychecks.
Honor paid and volunteer staff at the same recognition event. Having a volunteer recognition banquet might be a great gesture, but it will probably have a downside. Forcing paid staff to show up on their own time and clap for volunteers resembles a YMCA team sports banquet at which parents gather to indulge the kids. If you want to elevate volunteers to partnership status, recognize paid and volunteer staff with the same sincerity at the same event.
Becoming VOL-Lingual Lesson Five: Develop a VOL-Lingual Culture
You can teach manners to your children. However, a visit to Cousin Billy’s house, where they are allowed to belch at the table, will be a setback in the manners department. In a similar way, the entire staff must support and reinforce a VOL-lingual culture. Champion the use of partnership language in staff meetings, in newemployee orientation, to editorial staff, to webmasters, and especially to key administrators.
If you want to elevate volunteers to partnership status, recognize paid and volunteer staff with the same sincerity at the same event.
Once I visited a Christian school in the Dominican Republic. In order to impress a packed room of 6- to 10-year-old students, I tried out my paltry Spanish. Hoping to tell them my name, I blurted, “Me llama Albert.” The room exploded in laughter. Once the laughter died down, an interpreter explained my faux pas. Using the feminine ending of the Spanish word for name, I had just dubbed myself a female. I learned that speaking another language takes considerable practice.
Becoming VOL-lingual won’t happen overnight. A multilingual friend told me that it takes 10,000 mistakes to learn a language. You can start with words, advance to phrases, then to sentences, and finally to conversations. Soon VOL-partner language will be your second language, and you will be better able to benefit from partnering with volunteers. Once you don’t have to think about it, you know you’ve become VOL-lingual!
Becoming VOL-Lingual 7.3