Lesson 45: Recruiting Your Team
Building a strong team of volunteers is one of the most important responsibilities of a children’s ministry director. Curriculum and resources are necessary and important, but people are what make child discipleship come alive. Faithful, well-trained leaders help kids feel known and loved, teach God’s Word, share the Gospel, and invest in the spiritual growth of the next generation. As a director, you get to equip and encourage your volunteer team, helping it grow into one of your ministry’s greatest strengths.
Note: Refer back to Lesson 9: Person-to-Person Discipleship to learn more about why DL is designed for an in-person, volunteer-led children’s ministry environment.
Recruiting volunteers is not a one-time project – it is an ongoing part of ministry leadership. This lesson will help you understand how to invite people into ministry, what qualities matter in a volunteer, and what resources are available to help you build and maintain a healthy team.
What is Recruiting?
Recruiting is the ongoing work of inviting people into a disciple-making mission. Effective recruiting happens year-round and is woven into the culture you build.
Recruiting includes:
- Casting a clear vision for child discipleship and communicating why it matters
- Leading your ministry well – creating a purposeful, Kingdom-oriented culture that people want to join
- Sharing testimonies of how God is at work in children and families
- Inviting people to pray
- Recognizing spiritual gifts in people and inviting them to use those gifts
- Identifying specific needs in the ministry and prayerfully seeking people to serve in those roles
Volunteer Qualifications
Children’s ministry is fun, energetic, and filled with joy – but it is also serious Kingdom work. Because our goal is to lead children to Christ and help them grow in their faith, volunteers are held to high standards of character and spiritual maturity.
Additionally, we highly encourage all churches to have a safety and security policy, and to follow it carefully.
Recruiting Resources
We provide several tools to help you build and strengthen your team:
- Yearly Recruit Event Package: A themed, ready-to-use package to help you host a church-wide volunteer recruit event. It includes creative ideas, visuals, and talking points. This resource is released in the spring. A notice will be sent via email, and the package will be available in the members’ area of the website.
- “Recruiting and Training for Leaders – Pep Talk, Principles, and Practical Ideas” video: A practical and encouraging video for directors, full of principles and ideas as you recruit.
- Position Descriptions: Clear descriptions for each role to help potential volunteers understand expectations and responsibilities. These can also be used for training and onboarding. The position descriptions can be found in the members’ area of the website, but are also available at the bottom of this lesson.
Recruiting volunteers is both a ministry and a leadership skill. You are not just filling roles—you are inviting people into the joy of discipling children, investing in eternal work, and strengthening your local church. Lead with clarity, prayer, and purpose, and God will use your team in powerful ways.
- Resource downloads in this lesson:
- Links to Recruit Event packages
- Position Descriptions:
- DL Director
- DL Assistant
- Team Leader
- Elem Lead Teacher
- Elem DT
- PS Lead Teacher
- PS DT
- Shepherd