Why Sunday School Volunteers Leave: 7 Practical Responses
- Eljoh Hartzer, MTh
- Jul 23
- 10 min read
Discover 7 reasons Sunday School volunteers leave and practical ways to help them stay. Build a healthier, stronger children's ministry team.
Why does it seem like all the other ministries get the best volunteers? People will serve on the worship team for twenty years or be on coffee duty for a lifetime, but many modern churchgoers seem to see Kids Church as a "seasonal" thing. In my experience, willing kids church volunteers are extremely hard to find and even harder to retain.
This post dives into some of the reasons why children's ministry is often a quick pit-stop for volunteers and how to grow your Kids Church so that volunteers can last. Most people don't leave because they don't care for children - might there be something underlying that we can address and get them to stay?
This is one of many free tools on Vine to help Kids Ministry leaders succeed:
May you find space here to pause, reflect, and abide.
If you don't even have a volunteer team to begin with, you might want to start here instead:
Now you've got a team, but they still seem to be a bit... flaky.
Sunday School Volunteers Retention Problems
There is a lot of stigma around serving in Kids Church. Why is it that other ministries get it right that their volunteers last for the long run but the kids' workers are considered 'seasonal'? Why do people serve on the worship team for decades but only do a short stint in kids ministry?
This article is written from the perspective of reverse-engineering the problem.
One day, I thought to myself: What if this volunteer's excuse for ditching is really an opportunity for the ministry to grow?
Reasons why Volunteers avoid Kids Church
"I don't want to miss worship!" (The Worshipper)
"I never see anyone else. It's lonely." (The Connector)
"It's tiring and my body can't." (The One with a Valid Excuse)
"I don't like it." (The Visionary)
"It's embarrassing". (The Fun One)
"I want to be seen". (The Hero)
"I need to hear the sermon". (The Discipler)
Usually when a volunteer gives one of these reasons, they take off. But what if this was the start of a conversation about how the ministry can grow? What if, instead of choosing offense, we chose to hear them out and create space for them inside the ministry? How could we build kids church sustainably?
What if their reason for leaving is actually feedback that could make our ministry healthier?
Why Kids Church Volunteers Leave
The Worshipper
1: "I don't want to miss worship!"
Many people encounter God through music. It is a special way for us to unite with fellow believers and have a time of meditation and reflection. Do you have music as part of your kids church program? You could play worship music while the children do a craft.
If worship is about singing to God and encountering the Holy Spirit, we should be able to do that through Kids Dance and Worship too. If you can't, it might be time to bring in your favorite worship song. We even did soaking time where the kids just lay on the floor and worship music was playing over them. Some fell asleep... and we prayed they dreamt of heaven!
At another stage, we actually asked the volunteers to only come out to kids church after worship was done. They got to stay inside and have a moment of connection with God before coming out to serve. We also played worship music in the space before church started and our team prayed over the program and the kids coming that day.
The Sunday school volunteer who longs to spend more time in God's presence is obviously not wrong for feeling that way - the question is, why are they not encountering God in your Kids Church program...?
Get the worshipper to stay: Make worship music a part of your program / Worship together beforehand.
The Connector
2: "I never see anyone else. It's lonely."
One Sunday, after working as a Kids Pastor for a church for three years, I had a Sunday off. I usually tried to take a Sunday off once a month, but a volunteer would be sick last minute or something would go wrong. You know how it is. Anyway, I was walking around in the church, and then someone came up to me and said: "You must be new here. I am _____! Welcome to church!"
This is a funny story now, but it holds 2 major truths: 1: I needed to get out from behind the scenes and actually know the church & 2: Nobody should miss the service every week. 'Belonging' is an important aspect of church membership!
This one is for the extroverts who have FOMO for whatever is going on in big church, but it is also for the introverts who can feel lonely in a room full of kids. Introduce name tags for both the kids and the volunteers and start each day with a fun name game.
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!
Focus on creating a "family feel" for your group. Put up photos of volunteers, kids, or the crafts they made together on the classroom wall and do group work more than individual crafts and games.
Get the connector to stay: Make sure that your church realizes kids are part of the family.
The One with a Valid Excuse
3: "It's tiring and my body can't do it."
Kids ministry is perhaps a little more taxing on the body than some other ministries. However, it is your job as ministry coordinator to make sure it is easy for volunteers to serve. How about this:
Sarah: "I wish I could help with the kids, but because of my back, I just can't stand for that long."
Kids Leader: "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Sarah. But do you know what we really need? Someone who can sit by the door and watch that nobody runs out. You don't have to be on your feet the whole time."
Serving in children's church should be easy enough that ANYBODY should be able to slot in somewhere! The person with a valid reason - be it old age or being differently abled - should still be able to serve. It's family and there's a place for everyone to come as they are and contribute the little that they have!
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.
Get the one with a valid excuse to stay: Make it easy for them to serve (lower the bar).
The Visionary
4: "I don't like it."
Now, this one is a bit trickier. There are definitely giftings and talents that God gave certain people, but sometimes people have the idea that they need to be The Child Whisperer in order to be able to serve in kids. That's not the case at all! I recently read a quote that said: "Imagine how quiet the forest would be if only the best singers among the birds sang!" and it applies here as well.
A great way to respond to this is to have them do a giftedness test. 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.
Play your volunteers to their strengths and they will stay for a long time!
I did the DISC assessment with my group of volunteers once and it really helped me see how to put the right person in the right seat. Help them discover their unique calling and purpose. This also opened a conversation about me delegating & the team sharing more of the load.
If we view Sunday school as a family, there is a place for everybody. Jesus was a thirty-something-year-old man, yet He said: "Let the children come to me!" It was not His main purpose of being, but He loved kids well anyway. The issue shouldn't be whether someone likes children or not...
Get the visionary to stay: Help them develop a heart for kids and why they matter in the Kingdom.
The Fun One
5: "It's embarrassing".
Kids ministry should never be embarrassing. Sure, we can be silly and playful if that is our character, but that is not for everybody. Sitting in front of thirty kids with neon green oversized glasses on your face won't help them pay better attention to what you're reading from the Bible.
How the faith of youth takes shape needs to be more authentic than that. For them to have true faith formation and not just entertainment, they need a LIVED faith; a tangible faith; and a real faith.
With that being said, we should not be too proud to share the Gospel with kids. If pride is the reason for not wanting to serve in Sunday School, that person needs to check their heart. Why won't you be joyful, playful, and lay yourself down? What is really holding you back?
Often, the person who finds kids church cringy might be right! Lend them your ear. They might be "cool" enough to know what the kids will actually enjoy. This person can be your greatest asset if you give them the floor to come up with ideas rather than criticism.
Joshua: "I just wanted to let you know I won't be serving in kids church anymore. Don't take this the wrong way, but it's so... silly. It's not really my personality to jump and dance and stuff..." Kids Leader: "Yeah, I get you. Discipling kids should not make you feel embarrassed. How do you think we could improve? You can help me out 'cause this is not my strong suit, but you'd be amazing at it!"
Get the fun one to stay: Let them come up with the game or give input on how you can make it more fun!
The Hero
6: "I want to be seen".
OK, I doubt that anybody really told you this in so many words. Perhaps they struggled to express what they feel: "It's so hidden away and removed from everything else". Kids ministry is humbling. Imagine the volunteer who has three children hanging from them and glitter on their face in a room somewhere far away. Now, imagine the worship leader standing up on stage under the spotlight, literally.
If someone expresses the Fear Of Missing Out desire expressed here, pause and pray. Perhaps God actually does want them in big church for a specific reason, but more often than not God meets us in our hiddenness. 'Obscurity' is actually stated as a spiritual practice by some. God cultivates beautiful fruit in us in the hidden and secret seasons of life.
Sometimes, Sunday School even gets a bad rep. It can be the recipient of a lot of criticism but little help - and I know from firsthand experience that it makes you forget why you started in the first place...
But this person has a valid point. They want to be seen. Thank them - Celebrate them publicly - Volunteer appreciation will go a long way here...
Luckily, kids ministry is about real relationships and connection. When kids like you and approve of you, they will make sure you always feel seen and appreciated - that's just their way.
Get the hero to stay: Help these children's ministry volunteers bond with the kids so that they can be the kids' hero!
The Discipler (Kids Church Volunteers Type #7)
7: "I need to hear the sermon".
This one is valid. One of my mentors once said: "Leaders should be self-feeders". If you want to be able to point children to the living water, you need to know where it is. If your volunteers lack "oomph" (I mean, the vooma and passion); this is probably the reason.
As the ministry leader, you have the responsibility of also being a spiritual leader for your volunteers. Send them worship songs and share devotionals with them. Help them understand why children are worth discipling. Start a Bible study group with them. If your church records the sermon, send it out to your communications group every week and encourage the ones who served on Sunday to give it a listen.
You can't pour from an empty cup - and you shouldn't expect your volunteers to do so either. But kids church should be true discipleship as well! And that individual can be a great one to have on your team because they understand the value of a relationship with Jesus.
Your curriculum and lesson content could be so good that it even gives the volunteers goosebumps. The Gospel can be packaged in kid-friendly ways without being super cringy and shallow!
Get the discipler to stay: Get a good curriculum OR create space for Sunday School helpers to truly disciple the kids.
Recap & conclusion
Can you identify any of the personalities from this post in your church? Are there others that you would add to the list?
7 Archetypes - How to help them stay:
The Worshipper – Worship together.
The Connector – Build community.
The One with a Valid Excuse – Lower the bar.
The Visionary – Find their gift.
The Fun One – Welcome fun ideas.
The Hero – Help them feel seen.
The Discipler – Make room for discipleship.
My invitation to you is to try out one of the techniques described in this post and see if it makes any difference. Remember Hebrews 12 - to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus & not grow weary, because there's a great cloud of witnesses (like me) cheering you on as you go!
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.
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