Equipping Ministry Leaders

Are We Really Listening?
Don Simmons

Are we really listening? Can we be sensitive to a volunteer's underlying feelings about serving in a particular area, especially when we have our own agenda for his or her service?

Our discovery processes are designed to determine a volunteer's best match in service, according to his or her gifts, passions, and experiences, as well as the best fit for a ministry team. It is possible that in our ministry interviews we will unintentionally sidestep important heart-to-heart conversations with our volunteers by walking into the interview with preconceived notions about them, or our desire to place them in a particularly needy ministry. A friend recently told me of her experience in her church's discovery process. In her placement interview, she told the interviewer about a painful situation with her granddaughter and asked the interviewer to remember the young girl in her prayers. What my friend hoped for was an opportunity to serve alongside other grandparents where she would be able to develop supportive friendships. Unfortunately, the interviewer was focused on his agenda of filling the slots on his list and didn't pick up on the feelings she was communicating. He assumed that since she was a grandmother she would be a great fit for the children's ministry team and encouraged her to serve in that area. He had completely missed the fact that being around children at this time in her life was very difficult for my friend.

It is possible to ask questions in a way that promotes those heart-to-heart conversations with every volunteer. Well-planned interviewer training should encourage interviewers to ask questions about a person's recent unsuccessful volunteer experiences, as well as those where they were fulfilled. In my own placement interview at a church where I served for years, the interviewer asked me, "What is something you hope we never ask you to do?" Believe me, I had a list! While there are people more than willing to do anything a church leader asks them to do, there are often areas we are clearly not gifted in and should avoid. The rule of thumb here is: If you ask volunteers where they do not want to serve, be sure to document their responses so that the church does not stumble into asking people to do exactly what they said they hoped they would never be asked to do!

Here are some simple tips for discovery interviews:

•  Go into the interview with the prayer and hope to discover and uncover the great gifts that God has placed in the volunteer. Approach the interview as a treasure hunt, not an endangered-species safari. Be open to surprises and the development of new relationships through the process.

•  Leave your list of help wanted slots behind! The goal is to discover the best ministry fit to fulfill the volunteer, not to fill a quota or meet a deadline for staffing.

•  Practice asking probing, open-ended questions that will provide insights into the spiritual, social, and physical aspects of a person's ministry background and needs.

•  Pay attention to body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions. When the volunteer talks about a ministry area, does he or she slump, or become animated with excitement? What appears to stimulate smiles, laughter, and a relaxed posture?

•  Be sure to ask about the type of team that brings out the best in the volunteer. Remember that you are inviting this person to serve as a part of a ministry team, and not to serve as a solo agent (if the person indicates that he or she serves better alone, probe a bit more to discover what experiences may have spawned that attitude).

•  Don't confuse the interview with the actual placement. The purpose of the interview is to discover the best fit, not to quickly fill the slot.

•  Treat the interview as a conversation with a new friend, rather than an interrogation or job interview.

•  Last, be sure to document the responses, and be sure that the ministry connectors are aware of the person's interview responses. With confidentiality in mind, ask the volunteer if there is any of the information that he or she would prefer to remain confidential, and then tell the person what he or she can expect to happen with the information he or she has revealed to you. Treat the person's responses with dignity and respect, and honor his or her request for anonymity and confidentiality.

{Ed.: Church Volunteer Central members may also want to check out our Interview Form and Interview Tip Sheet .}

Don Simmons is senior consultant with Creative Potential Consulting, a church and nonprofit consulting firm. He is a presenter for Church Volunteer Central Live and was formerly director of Leadership Equipping and Development (LEAD) in Fresno. Prior to directing LEAD, Don served as associate professor of Christian Education at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Northern California.

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