There has never been a better day than today to add a new volunteer to your kid’s ministry team! (I know you just said AMEN loudly from wherever you are reading this.) I’m sure you are an expert at thinking outside of the box; isn’t that a prerequisite for leading in family ministry? Just in case you are looking to build some new volunteer roles onto your team, here are 20 creative roles for kids ministry volunteers.
No role or responsibility, that impacts the life of a child, is ever too small.
20 Creative Roles for Kids Ministry Volunteers
1. Admin team:
This team can work onsite on Sunday mornings in a small group, or from their home during the week. They can be responsible for cutting and prepping all materials for the lesson activities.
2. 1st Impressions Volunteer:
Do you give anything to first time guests? What do you have in place or can you add to make a great 1st time impression that leaves kids and families excited to return? These volunteers can help package gifts for 1st time guests as well as handwrite personalized ‘thanks for visiting, we can’t wait to see you again next week‘ postcards to be mailed after a guests 1st visit.
3. Facilities Crew:
Cleanliness is a top priority for kids ministry environments. Enlist the help of a volunteer team that can be responsible for deep sanitizing & resetting/organizing each environment during the week. (This is one of the best supports because they help notice broken toys, replace batteries, wash linens from Sunday and deeply clean against germs!
4. Followup Team:
individual phone calls…thanks for joining us, hear how your experience was, see if you have any questions we can help answer.
5. Host:
This special team of volunteers walk new families through the entire morning. They assist at check-in, help get each child dropped off to the correct location and then escort the parent(s) to the main auditorium.
6. Service Leader:
A position for a high capacity volunteer. They oversee the details for one service hour and are the go-to person, serving shoulder to shoulder with the kids ministry staff leader.
7. Room Leader:
Leadership position for inside each individual age group environment. The room leader is the ‘point person’ inside their environment and works closely with the Service Leader to lead and support the other volunteers serving alongside them. Room leaders can also be great candidates to also be coached for a Service Leader role. If you find yourself, adding a new service time, adding a new location, or just needing to fill that position during an absence, you already have a leader trained and ready to go!
8. Floater:
Sometimes volunteers want to serve alongside children but cannot commit to serving on a weekly basis. Creating a ‘floater’ role is a great opportunity to get them engaged in a incredibly supportive but with flexibility. A floater would receiving training in each of the preschool environments. On the weeks where they are available to serve, they get to plug into whichever environment would most benefit from their support. Maybe one week it is the four year old environment and the next time it’s with two years olds.
9. VIP Team:
Are their kids who are on campus for multiple services each weekend due to having parents who volunteer? Create an environment just for them. Choose a VIP team to serve in this space and intentionally have FUN while building deeper relationships and developing leadership in these kids who get to be on campus for an extended time.
10. Calm Down Crew:
This position helps support kids that may need to calm down outside their age-appropriate environment. (Perhaps they become over stimulated or are emotional and need a change of scenery.) The calm down crew can go for walks up and down the hallway or even take kids for a ride on a wagon or a bye-bye buggy. (The bye-bye buggy is one of my favorite kids ministry purchases to date and in my opinion, very worth the investment!)
11. Security:
A specialized component of your church’s security team. These individuals maintain a secure environment as per your church’s security protocol, but they support kids ministry every week. They build rapport and relationships with kids and families, in essence adding an additional layer to the security families feel when leaving their kids behind.
12. Diaper Crew:
What a blessing to create a specialized team of volunteers, whose sole responsibility was to support every environment that changes diapers. Two or three volunteers who enter the environment, help facilitate all the diaper changes and then head to the next environment.
13. Volunteer Concierge:
Do you have a way to love on your volunteers who are serving inside kids environments? Some churches offer ‘break rooms’ for their volunteers. A concierge team serves a similar purpose. They have Tylenol, drinks, snacks, an extra power pack/phone charger and a warm smile. These volunteers visit each environment on Sundays, at a time that has been predetermined for convenience.
14. Worship Leader:
A kids ministry worship team is a great way to model for kids, at an early age, how to worship Jesus. The worship leader can be responsible for choosing engaging worship songs, facilitating trainings and practice for the kids min worship team and can be mic’d up on stage to lead kids through the worship set. (Kids have so much FUN worshipping when they see a leader on stage having FUN!)
15. Tech Facilitator:
The tech facilitator is a great role for someone who has an understanding or is interested and inclined to learn, the tech components inside your environment. There are likely people who are gifted in this
16. Social Media Moderator:
An active and engaging online presence is important for reaching families who may be participating with your ministry online. A volunteer in this role helps make weekly posts, share stories, answer questions and generally facilitate engagement and connection.
17. Team Photographer:
This person’s weekly role is to capture pictures of the team engaging with kids/families per your safety protocols. With a dedicated photographer, you could easily get photo waivers signed on the spot by parents if needed.
18. Buddy:
Families with children that have special needs can sometimes struggle to attend church. In fact, depending on the specific challenges, they may struggle to participate in many things that other families take for granted. Buddies are a great way to create a safe space for them to attend and participate in your church. A ‘buddy’ is an individual trained and equipped to partner, one-on-one with a child with special needs. They provide individual support and accommodations that allow the child to integrate into your kids ministry environment and participate to their fullest capability.
19. Team Trainer:
Think of the team trainer as a ‘coach.’ This is a leadership position that serves to manage the training of new volunteers to the team. (Someone who can lead and teach the expectations, policies, procedures and answer questions on behalf of the team and church.
20. On-boarding Team:
Team to walk new volunteer candidates through on-boarding process. This team is responsible for handling the details for background checks, training, shadowing and follow-up. With a dedicated on-boarding team, you can intentionally follow up with new volunteers after 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 6 weeks of serving. This team makes sure everyone is confident in their new role and that volunteers get fitted into the best serving opportunity.
Here’s the Truth:
You may have some of these positions already on your team. Quite possibly, you read this list and thought, I don’t even have enough hands to hold babies. How can I sacrifice a volunteer, just to package gifts and write postcards to guests? I’m not necessarily suggesting too ‘move’ people, I am suggesting to create more leadership tiers and to ADD people.
- Every new position you create, allows you to engage new volunteers, who may have a different gift set and passion than directly working face to face with kids. You can so easily increase the capacity and reach of your team while also offering the opportunity for someone else to use their life to impact the next generation.
- Far too often we put volunteers into roles that are not a great fit for their gifts or passions because we are desperate. (Speaking from a place of understanding; no judgement.) When this happens, people often don’t stay volunteers for very long. Getting the right people into the right positions inspires longevity and stick-with-it-ness.
- Sometimes people who have NO experience working with kids, feel intimated to jump in and work with kids. Often, they WILL say ‘yes’ to a position that allows them to make a difference in a ‘low-risk’ way. (Low risk meaning, they don’t feel overcommitted to a role they think they are under-qualified for. Over time, and as their confidence increases, volunteers will shift into new and different roles that increase their connection and personal impact on kids. It’s pretty incredible to watch them start in one role and stretch into more and more of generation shaper as time goes on!
Make it easy for people to SAY YES to being on the team!
If you need to focus on recruiting volunteers make sure you don’t miss this article HERE! It will help if you are asking questions like, ‘Where do I find a tech facilitator for Kids Ministry?‘ Don’t like INSIDE your team, start to look OUTSIDE your team; recruit, recruit, recruit.
I have been known to ask people what their ‘gifts’ or ‘interests’ are and then respond, no matter what their answer is, with ‘that awesome, we have a place in kids ministry just for you!’ The truth is…I haven’t been approa