How to Recruit Sunday School Volunteers: 7 Practical Ideas
- Eljoh Hartzer, MTh
- Jul 23
- 8 min read
Discover 7 ideas for Sunday School volunteer recruitment and practical steps for implementing them. Build a healthier, stronger children's ministry team.
Nobody teaches you how to recruit Sunday school volunteers - they just kind of expect you to get it done. I've worked in various kids ministries over the past decade and I'd say that volunteer recruitment is the most underrated skill needed to not burn yourself out as a youth worker.
This article is for someone who feels like they're carrying the ministry alone and they know in their heart that it's time to share the load. Where do you find the people who can help you? How do you bring them on board? What is the most important part of Sunday school volunteer recruitment?
This post is one of many free tools on Vine to help Kids Ministry leaders succeed:
May you find space here to pause, reflect, and abide.
7 Steps to Recruiting Sunday School Volunteers
If you don't have enough volunteers to have a rotation going, CANCEL KIDS CHURCH. Drastic I know. If anybody has a problem with them being there, they can kindly be reminded that the kids are part of the family AND (this part is crucial) they can be invited to join the volunteer team!
In my experience, you need about one volunteer per five kids, but that depends on the size of the group and the ages present in the group. Recruiting one faithful helper is a win.
The scary thing about recruiting volunteers is some people will say no. That's okay. At least you did your part - you invited. They might get back to you a few months later after they'd had time to process it with the Lord.
1 - Pray Before You Recruit
Start by asking God to prepare hearts - both yours and theirs.
Matthew 9:38 encourages us to: "Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields." Prayer is where we lay the situation before God, inviting both His perspective and His help. Pray alone, pray with the church staff, pray as a congegratio, pray in Bible study groups.
At one point, lots of older people expressed care about the kids ministry I was leading but none of them were willing to serve as volunteers. So I had them come in during ministry time only (after the game, lesson, etc). They had one job. Come in and pray with the kids. They loved it & some of them ended up joining as volunteers.
Building a kids ministry that lasts takes a lot of faith and patience, but it is so worth it in the end. I know how hard it feels when breakthrough takes time, but at least God doesn't waste a waiting season. Ensure your heart posture remains like soft clay in the Potter's hand.
Practical step:
Set aside fifteen minutes to intentionally pray over the children's ministry. Ask God what His dreams are for the ministry. Listen more than you speak. Pray Scripture. Then end this time of prayer by reaching out to other people in your church, asking them to pray with you for God to send volunteers.
2 - Look Within Your Church Family
God has already placed people in your community with gifts to share.
If you don't know where to start your search, I want to encourage you to study your church and your kids' church volunteers like a population.
What percentage of your church members are serving in kids?
Are the kids represented by the volunteers? (Race, Language, Nationality, Bodily Ability, etc)
How old are your volunteers? Different generations can have a massive impact on the dynamics in the ministry space. In my experience, grandparents help with discipline and respect and young adults help with fun and creativity.
Are most of the volunteers male or female? How can you even that out more? God grants different genders unique gifts when it comes to working with kids
Practical step:
If you have a list of congregation members, scan through it prayerfully. If not, look at photos, observe the crowd on a Sunday, or recall names that come to you. Find 2 unexpected people who you can invite. Remember, your best volunteers are already there; they just might not be who you were expecting to find.
3 - Cast a Vision, Not Just a Need
Invite people into Kingdom impact, not just another job.
Ask people personally. You can ask individually (this goes a long way) or ask by sharing a testimony announcement to the church as a whole.
Ideas:
Our kids ministry is learning about...
Something that God has been doing in Sunday school is...
You are inviting people to partner with what God is already doing. You're not begging them to miss out on the service and babysit a rowdy bunch of kids - Sunday school is much more than entertainment. When you cast vision for the ministry, the value of teaching kids about Jesus, and the eternal impact of their time - people are way more likely to commit.
Practical step:
Be still before the Lord and ask Him what season your ministry is in right now. What theme should you be teaching about? What is He doing in the lives of the kids? Then create a short testimony to share either during announcements or through the church social media channels this week.
4 - Recruit for Gifts, Not Positions
Help people discover how God has uniquely wired them to serve. The wonderful thing about kids ministry is that you need basically every person on board: Administration (Schedule volunteers and communications), Teaching (the lesson), Hospitality (classroom and snack), and so forth.
No one talks about the pressure to be a certain kind of person to serve in Sunday school. At one point, we got really desperate about getting people in church to see you didn't have to be a 20-y.o. girl to serve in kids. So we came up with this plan:
At the church entrance, right next to the coffee stand, we put up a notice board with individual cards stuck to it. Each card had a simple, tangible, need written on it. Instead of saying "We need Kids volunteers", it would say "We need 1 person to write name tags and check kids in before service". Not all the cards were picked up, but the ones that were turned into some of our most unlikely but most committed volunteers.
Make serving accessible and lower the bar.
Practical step:
Think about the people in your church and what they're good at. Pray and ask God to show you the people through His eyes. Don't look for Sunday school skills - look for general skills. If you identify a skill that someone has, invite them to bring that skill to the ministry this coming Sunday.
5 - Create a Ministry Worth Joining
Build a healthy, joyful culture where volunteers encounter Jesus too.
If you are serving alone, might it be because the ministry is inaccessible to others?
Have you expressed the need for help?
You need to help people see what's going on inside the ministry. Build a window where they can peek in with little commitment and get curious about what's happening inside.
Easy fixes:
If kids ministry happens off to the side, release the kids as part of announcements and let the congregation extend their hands to pray a blessing over the time together.
Create a notice board where you post what you're learning about with some photos.
When the church comes together as a family (testimonies, fellowship sunday, meals together) ensure that the kids are present like they'd be in a family.
Practical step:
Unschedule yourself one Sunday and take on the role of the observer. Notice the team dynamic among your volunteers, the way children enter the classroom, and how parents talk about the kids' ministry. Identify 1 easy fix to address going forward, from the list above.
6 - Equip and Encourage
Give volunteers the training, support, and confidence they need.
Most of the time, the people serving or helping out in Kids ministry are maternal figures. Why is that? Oftentimes, other people don't feel equipped to serve in Sunday school. It's your job to empower them. Let's reduce the fear of saying 'yes'.
This links back to point nr. 2 where we covered topics like race, age, and gender of volunteers, but it takes it a step further. "We are doing a half-day training on the basics of Sunday school - Can you attend that?"
Some fun topics to train on include:
Practical step:
Identify one growth area of your ministry. Or, even better yet, ask your volunteers what part of Sunday School they find the most challenging. If you don't have volunteers yet, ask a parent at church what aspect of discipling their children is challenging. Then find a training on that topic and do it together.
7 - Lead Like a Shepherd
Care for your volunteers as disciples, not simply as helpers.
As the leader of this ministry, a mindset shift is needed: These people are not only the volunteers and helpers, they are the ones walking behind you. You are teaching them how to teach kids about Jesus. You are discipling them into discipling children.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are countless Biblical leadership principles to follow.
Do team-building exercises when new helpers join to help each one find their unique role in the flock. Make time for volunteer appreciation to help them see that their presence makes a difference. Share Bible-based books and songs with them; help fill their spiritual cup so that they can pour it out on the kids.
Practical step:
Even if you have only one volunteer who's serving halfheartedly, think about them right now. How can you come alongside them as a spiritual leader and friend? It might look as simple as asking them how you can be praying for them in this season of their life. If you have a whole group, schedule a Bible study time together.
Recap & next steps
I think the biggest breakthrough for me was around hiddenness VS opening that window I talked about. It was even necessary to do that from the top down. Sometimes, I'd reserve a time slot in our church staff meeting where I could share with the pastor and the rest of the team what's going on in kids ministry. When I had volunteer appreciation or a big event, I'd ask other staff members to help writing cards or running errands. It's easy to suffer in silence and much harder to ask for help. In my experience at least, when people learned about what was going on and understood how they could help - they always rose to the occassion.
People can't support a ministry they can't see.
Now you have a toolbox filled with seven tried and tested methods for recruiting help in Kids Ministry. Would you add any to the list? Which one can you try this week?
Pray First
Look Within Your Community
Vision > Need
Recruit for Gifts
Build a Window
Equip, Empower & Encourage
Lead your Flock
My invitation to you is to try out one of the techniques this week and see if it makes any difference.
If you found this article useful,
the Complete Guide to Leading Sunday School is the next step.
In it, I bring together more practical ideas, Biblical encouragement, and years of ministry experience to help you build a Kids Church connecting hearts with Jesus.
P.S. If you enjoyed this article and would like to stay in touch, I want to invite you to join my newsletter by leaving your email below.
Comments