Every pastor and ministry leader will tell you that volunteer recruitment is essential. They will also admit, with a degree of perplexity, that there are times when volunteer recruitment does not seem to be happening. Why is this the case?
There may be various factors at play.
One factor could be seasonal causes. For example, it may be more challenging to recruit volunteers in the summertime since people are traveling and out of rhythm. Another factor could be a lack of process. Where clear steps are missing, ministries can devolve into the Wild Wild West of recruitment efforts. However, there is another factor at play, one that is often overlooked: unhealthy underlying mindsets that hinder volunteer recruitment efforts. Here are three mindsets that may be hindering your ability to recruit volunteers.
1. The Maintenance Mindset
“I already have enough volunteers.”
This mindset occurs when someone operates within a volunteer team size they believe is adequate to sustain their ministry. Once they’ve hit their desired volunteer threshold, they close up the recruitment shop. This thinking initially appears practical, but it overlooks two ongoing realities in the life of a local church.
First, volunteer teams tend to experience attrition naturally, not addition. Volunteer teams never remain in stasis. Teams shrink because life happens. He moves. She needs a break. Therefore, if leaders are not continually pushing the rock of recruitment uphill, they will eventually be crushed by the growing needs of the ministry.
Second, a church may grow. If a leader is not recruiting for growth, the volunteer team is already not right-sized for future growth. The baseline shouldn’t be the current ministry but the anticipated growth of the whole church.
2. The Crisis Mindset
“There are more pressing concerns in the current season.”
Due to the pressures of issue X, volunteer recruiting is pushed down the list of priorities. To be fair, real problems arise in the life of a local church that require a shift in priority. However, in most cases, the “current season” talk can become an escape hatch that justifies why ministry recruitment is never a priority. The crisis mindset denies two crucial realities.
First, strong volunteer teams step up in times of crisis. Doesn’t a leader’s capacity to deal with a crisis increase with a stronger volunteer team? Additionally, consider how a crisis may be better handled collectively. Our volunteers are often smarter and more capable than we are, and they have expertise in a broader range of fields, which raises the overall intelligence of the team to better deal with crises.
Second, recruiting is inconvenient in every season! Is there ever truly a great time to recruit volunteers? No! It’s always a busy season! There’s always someone to care for. There’s always something to fix. Ministry recruitment occurs in the valleys of conviction, not on the hills of convenience.
3. Vision-Less Mindset
“I don’t want to burden others.”
This mindset is perhaps the most dangerous because it cloaks itself in a veneer of nobility. “I want to honor people’s time because I know they are busy.” But this sentiment often comes from a lack of conviction about one’s own ministry.
By saying, “I don’t want to burden others,” one may actually be saying: “I don’t really believe what I’m doing is very important.” The vision-less mindset denies two realities.
First, church leaders have a biblical mandate to equip God’s people for ministry. Ephesians 4:11-12 outlines the reason we’re in our roles—it’s to equip God’s people for the work of ministry. Failure to recruit, develop, and deploy is a heart issue of defiance against the gracious command of the Lord.
Second, God is already writing a development story in the life of every Christian. Every pastor or ministry leader can tell you about how they first started serving. They will tell you about how someone gave them a chance and how God used that to propel them forward in their discipleship journey. Why would the very ones who have benefited in this way then rob others of the same developmental opportunity?
Should pastors be mindful of people not burning out? Absolutely. It is essential for ministry leaders not to mistake church activity for spiritual growth. But it’s not our job to be the Holy Spirit for others or assume that’s what’s going to happen. We have the privilege of stepping aside, making the invitation, and letting the Holy Spirit do His job.
One of the best ways to invite your people into serving in your church is by making it part of your discipleship process from the start. That’s exactly what the Rooted experience helps church leaders do by introducing biblical rhythms of following Jesus, including serving, as foundational to the Christian life.
Posted on August 13, 2025
Steve Bang Lee is the Regional Multiplication Pastor and North Irvine Lead Pastor at Mariners Church and co-author of the “On the Table” and “The Image of God” Bible studies from Rooted Network.
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