Recruiting and Training Plan
Ethan Harrison
CHMN 360: Foundations in Ministry Programing
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For the recruitment and training program in our youth ministry the goal is to gather
people that feel the call to serve and help, but also the people that are best fit to train up and
develop into leaders and disciples for the students. The reasoning behind why we want people
who feel the calling to serve and because we want people who want to have the desire to be
involved and are willing to put in the commitment to help disciple students. We as a ministry
understand that these volunteers might not be the most prepared, but we will have training in
place to sharpen the necessary skills and
The recruitment would preferably come from inside the church family, and we would
reach out to the congregation. We want to make known to the church that their service is valued
and that there are always openings to serve in the student ministry. This allows the people that
feel like they could serve the chance to step forward and have a conversation with us and maybe
go into an application and interview. We would also reach out to our existing volunteers to see
who they would think be a good fit for leader. Listening to their input can be useful because they
are just as invested in the ministry as the staff and have reasonable input for who could be a good
addition to the team.
Once the ministry has its prospects, the ministry will observe the possible volunteers who
might show qualities of integrity, character, community, and sensitivity. Understanding the
prospects, integrity and character is vital because you will be able to evaluate if the volunteer is
willing to grow in the ministry while also being able to lead the students. Then understanding
their community and sensitivity will allow the ministry to determine the quality of which the
prospective volunteer can lead and serve while in the ministry. This process of observation will
be two pronged, the first will be in regular conversation and interaction and then the second will
be conducted in the application and interview process.
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Moving forward to the application and interview process there are a few red flags to look
for when determining their fit which include: someone who has just become a Christian or is new
to your church; someone with a history of making sporadic commitments; someone who is going
through a significant life crisis or transition; someone who has high expectations for staff to be
best friends or for the ministry to provide personal experiences; someone who has hidden
agendas that are desired or that go against the ministry's goals; someone who is not committed to
living above reproach; and an unsupportive spouse. These are crucial to address and eliminate
from your youth ministry because these issues can cause major issues in the ministry. It is also
necessary to see the persons social media for two reasons, seeing what that person is willing to
post tells a lot about their character, along with that students have easy access to the volunteer’s
social media, and we want to make sure that the volunteer’s life on social media is appropriate
for students. It would be good to ask questions like "are you a member?" or "have you served
somewhere before?" during the interview. These are direct and straightforward questions that
will spark interesting discussion. Reaching out to candidates on their level during the recruitment
process is crucial. It is our duty as leaders to lead by example for our volunteers. Regardless of
how simple or difficult it is, don't be afraid to get your hands filthy and come down to their level.
For the approach of training the volunteers there are six categories to review the six
categories of training and developing are vital: they are, events, meetings, discussion groups,
conversations, communication, celebration. The comprehensive approach for educating small
group leaders in effective leadership includes getting together once a week for check-ins to
assess the performance of the volunteer team. The goal is before every midweek event that the
volunteers will show up around an hour early at 5:30 pm to pray over the ministry and commune
before the students arrive. Everyone's hearts and brains are set up for leadership as a result. You
A schedule for the ministry would look like:
Month of August:
Event: Back to School Bash
Meeting: Small group leadership training
Conversation’s: meet with new volunteers
Communication: weekly emails
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have the capacity to pour out when you are being poured into. We really need this in our day-to-
day lives. During the huddle period prior to the event, the volunteer leader is responsible for
communicating the purpose, guidelines, and subject for that night. This vision will make clear to
the leaders how vital it is that every student who enters the building knows, loves, and is noticed.
It is vital to examine goals and guidelines that need to be improved or sharpened when meeting
once a month. With this, your leaders should be encouraged on what has been going well. A
proper balance between the two is required. It is critical to appreciate your leaders' victories
while motivating them. Whatever you celebrate in ministry will be repeated. "What are you
celebrating within your ministry?" is a useful question to ask before starting a ministry. For the
calendar of training volunteers it should be a consistent planning for each month, the will be
months that will be different from others, but it is vital that the ministry is consistent with
checking in with the volunteers.
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