If you are leading a volunteer workforce, you are in good company. The US Department of Labor reported that this past year (ending September 2011) that there were 62.8 million people that were actively volunteering in some organization. These people came from all walks of life, all economic classes, some college, some not, all races, both genders, young and old.
On average they spent about 52 hours in the past year volunteering, about one hour a week.
While you may not remember all these numbers, remember the "one hour a week".
Studies have shown that in about an hour, the average volunteer can be fully trained to perform the job for which they are assigned. The church jobs that volunteers fill range from some simple jobs like handing out the weekly bulletin or folding chairs to more complex tasks like supervising a nursery or leading worship.
What is unfortunate is that all too often, we don't give these volunteers the one hour of training that they need. This is unfortunate because the church is one big volunteer-run organization. Since the day of Pentecost, the vast majority of the leaders in the Church have been volunteers. Volunteers provide the invitation, the hospitality, the teaching, the training, the development and also the governance of most churches.
When training is inadequate, volunteers don't get the opportunity to fully understand the importance of their role. Without proper training they can't lead and without leadership the mission suffers.
Fortunately the best people to do the training is volunteers. We just need to give them the opportunity and let them know it is a priority; let them find the one-hour to train. Let them lead.....62.8 million can't be wrong.
