How to Motivate your Church Workers (2024)👍

How to Motivate your Church Workers? As Leaders I view our work to Train and guide God’s workers by helping, training them, letting them go, and develop. We are there in the background giving them the tools they need to succeed as they Build. I view it as

Words of Encouragement for Church Workers

We are there in the background helping them serve, handing them another brick, and another brick as they build God’s Kingdom

The effective running and growing of a Church are enhanced by motivated church workers. But what do we do when our church workers are demotivated? How can we reignite the enthusiasm, and spark a fire that catches on and spreads through the church family?

I would get people so excited some times, that the unexcited people would get jealous….and I tried to encourage them – to shake the dust off and get moving

Churches should provide a community for its members so they feel a sense of belonging. The ideal situation is having members come and ask how can I help. Where can I serve? Members should be asked to serve not demanded but from a spiritual perspective.

God brought them to your body at that location. God Brought them because of their spiritual gifts. It is wise for you to help them serve in their areas of gifts. Bear in mind that your Church staff is a mixed generation so you will have to be able to inspire them to work well together.

All Christians are called to serve whether by singing, playing a musical instrument, teaching Sunday morning classes, Bible School, driving the Church bus, cleaning the church, Communion, leading prayer, Reading scripture, Prayer Warriors, working in the administrative office, usher, or even the pastor. (1 Peter 4:10) reminds us that Christians should be involved and use the gifts that God has given them.

What is Vision Casting – Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish

Check this vision – I would follow this – Greg Gaines

Churches do need lay workers as pastors cannot do the administrative tasks themselves as this will be overwhelming and leads to burnt-out. You have two different types of workers in the church body today.

• Lay Workers
• Paid Workers
• Self-supported Workers
• Retired Workers

All these different categories need to encouraged, excited and motivated in different ways. Church workers and volunteers are motivated by many different ways.

Motivation can be any act or object that drives a person to operate at their fullest potential. In a Church environment, these motivational suggestions are given as examples and could take the form of the following.

How to Motivate your Church Workers / Prayer

Some Great Biblical Scholars feel that no mighty works and great movements of the body do not begin or happen until prayers are offered. It could be that God Moves when his children make request. It could be thought that God is not moving because his children are not asking. Anyway you lokk at it the Prayer ministry is foundational for nany Body of Believers. Some things to pray for

• Pray God Send Laborers to the vineyard at your location. ( Matthew 9:38)
• Pray God’s Spirit would descend on your family
• Pray Outsiders would see Jesus in his Family
• Pray God’s Word would be planted and begin to grow

Pray up your church workers, you can have a group prayer with them, you can call them out during the service at Church in front of the congregation or even call them on their phones individually. Prayer changes things.

• Prayer Zoom Calls
• Prayer Phone Calls
• All Night in Prayer meeting – Body spends all night in prayer
• Going apart for prayer – On Our Mission teams on one of the very first nights of our campaigns we gathered the church leaders and we went up to a secluded Hill, Mountain, one time it was a secluded beach to spend the night in prayer for the work. – I have had workers come years later and said that that night changed their lives.
• Fasting / Prayer Weekend – One weekend we had the whole church go to a retreat we rented and those who went prayed and fasted all weekend.

Love

(1 Corinthians 16:14) “Let all that you do be done with love”. When as a leader you show love to your Church workers and volunteers it shows them that they are appreciated and you will in return get love and respect from your workers.

People can sense when you truly love them or just using them, As Leaders we want to have the same eyes that Jesus does. To see not only the best in our brothers and sisters, but see the best they can become in God’s Kingdom

Say thank you

I have been in Church leadership all my adult life, I also have been in Management in my secular Jobs. Mainentance Manager, Maintenance Directors, working with people, which I love to do.

One thing that has stood out to me how powerful a word of encouragement is. The pat on the back for a job well done. A sincere thankyou however you express it

• Verbal Thank You to that person
• Acknowledement to group or leadership of that persons contribution
• A Quick written Note of thanks
• Expression of thanks to the persons family

I have found many time that these thing are more important than money. And can achieve great lengths in lifting a laborers Spirit and enthusian levels

You don’t want to lie, but appreciate the effort that they helped with. Their time, money, gifts all that can apply.

Also, people are wired differently and the wise leader will understand the type of motivation that each person needs.

• Praise
• Thanks
• Money
• Small Gifts
• Gifts of Time Off
• Gift Bible / Prayer Journal /
• Birthday / Anniversary – People appreciate you remembering

Have you ever done a task or several tasks for someone and all you needed was a thank you and it never came? How did you feel? Disappointed, Right?

Well, imagine how your Church workers feel when they have been working behind the scene or publicly without as much as a thank you. Even though they are giving of their time freely and it is coming from a good heart they still want to feel appreciated. There are so many ways you can say thank you.

You can say it openly in church, you can give them birthday or anniversary gifts, you can have a yearly banquet for them. In doing these things it will show them that they are appreciated.

Provide Training and Development Opportunities

Whichever area they are working in, provide a short training course that is certified that can get them jobs and opportunities outside of the church. Send them to workshops and seminars. I’m sure your workers would love this initiative as some of them would have wanted to do some of these courses, but was not able to financially.

Ministry Training / Advancement Training

First – Church Workers have already shown a desire to learn and help in God’s Kingdom. You need to make sure that you give them the training and support they need, to do their existing ministry.

I have seen many church workers get discouraged because they are trying so hard, so slide beside them and give them with training all the tools and support they need to suceed in this area of trhe kingdom.

Second – provide other training opportunities so they can advance in their kingdom skill sets. Many of our church workers have a strong desire to lead and grow and that needs to be nurtured.

In My case I Grew this way

• I preached my first sermon – 12 years old
• I became Deacon
• I became Teacher
• I sought more advanced teacher training – nights after work
• I sought a 2-year bible training program
• I sought Going on Mission to Africa
• I led missions to Africa
• I ent on Mission to South America
• I led missions to South America – etc

See The growth pattern, we need to watch for that in our church workers and help steer that God-Given desire to Grow. Providing the training they thirst after. Our Workers have God’s word planted in their hearts. We need to give it water and sun – and watch them grow

It is amazing to taste people’s motivation levels when you are helping them grow this way. It is motivating, exciting, they are enthusiastic, they come, they sacrifice, they give because they want to. It’s an exciting thing to be a part of.

Get their opinions

You might be the head, but your church workers have voices. Ask their opinions on certain topics, get their feedback. You might get the answers to a few issues in regards to the church that you have been struggling with for a while and was not able to get them resolved. Volunteers will feel more motivated when they see that you respect their opinion.

I would Have Brain Storming sessions. This is how I structured it

• Pray about the Task and Workers
• Set up a time that was the most convenient for all
• I provided all the food
• I set up whiteboards
• I captured all thoughts and ideas
• I encouraged large – impossible suggestions from the group
• I encouraged thinking Big – Impossible things without God – That would take faith
• I listened to everyone
• I controlled the session so that everyone could speak and share
• We then distilled all the ideas give and then with the group designed a plan of action
• Then people were volunteering and giving what was needed
• I continued to hand the workers Bricks as they Built.

Treat them as Equals

Remember they are volunteering their time and effort because they believe in the cause and the common good of the church. If you are having a cup of coffee offer your workers also. Have movie nights at the church, have a potluck where they can invite their families. Providing these ways for your staff to have fun, they will end up getting to know you and each other better and it will create a bond and a sense of trust.

Find out Each Person Abilities and Interests

When a person is in his or her comfort zone they will perform a lot better opposed to when they are uncomfortable. For eg: If a person is interested in music, you might find that this person will work much better in the music department. If a person likes teaching then he will be better teaching Sunday are Sabbath School. Find out at first what they are interested in and what they are good at. With that you along with the person can make a better decision in which area of the Church he or she should volunteer their service.

Nurture Their Spiritual Gifts / Individual and Body Grows

We Look For the Spiritual Gifts God has given that Worker and guide them in that direction of service. God giving the gifts each of his children need to grow. Also giving each body of Church the needed gifts for it to grow as a family.

Birthday parties

Once per month have a combined birthday party for every worker that is born during that month. There are persons who have never gotten the opportunity to have had a birthday party. Larger Congregations can have a lot of fun with this.

Mission / Ministry T-shirts

Every volunteer should wear a T-shirt with the department name on which they serve, so they can be easily identified which area within the church they serve. I’m sure they would wear those T-shirts with pride.

Celebrate with them

When a volunteer or their family members has accomplished something great, celebrate with them. Recognize them in the main Church service. These little things motivate and boost morals. This can be accomplishments in their work, their community service.

Look for Ways to Encourage and Uplift your Workers – It will go miles in creating an atmosphere of Excitement and caring.

Provide refreshments

Provide refreshments for your Church workers, ensure that a cup of coffee is readily available. They should be able to have a meal while they are working. It is possible that might be their only meal for the day. Donuts, Cookies, Pizza, KFC Fried Chicken, One time I picked up several bags of White Castles Hamburgers. You would have thought people hadn’t eaten for a week they were gobbled up so fast. Be creative and different and original, It will create pleasant memories.

Have a field trip

Having a field trip semi-annually for a group of Church workers is a good initiative to prompt these individuals to continue working within the Church environment as their way of building the kingdom. They can use this opportunity to evangelize and win souls for the kingdom. They are human and they need to have fun too.

Schedule a visit to another Church that has a similar ministry that they are excelling in. Your workers will gain wisdom and inspiration from the collaboration of like-minded Christians. It will also help you in avoiding obstacles that they encountered in their work in the kingdom.

Worker of the month

Also, the implementing of a Volunteer of the month system could serve as another motivating factor to drive workers to not only continue working, but to work even harder, in an effort to attain this title. This system will, in a way, shift the focus from how long volunteers are willing to work, but also the quality of the work being carried out.

Make a Call to Action / Cast a Vision

Speak on the word, advise the members what it means to volunteer their time in Church freely, how it helps them to discover their purpose and how it will make them feel fulfilled. How they will get emotionally and spiritually recharged and how it will give more meaning to their life as a servant of God. Sermons like these will compel other persons to come and join your team and give of their time willing. This will motivate your current church workers.

Get Personal

Learn their names, date of births, find out about special anniversaries. Learn about their family members. When you show interest in their personal lives it shows that you genuinely care. Spend special time with your workers. Sometimes we can get so busy in our service, we forget the reason things are moving and going well. Look to strengthen your teams.

• Know Them
• Know Their Families
• Know their professions
• Know their Dreams and Where they want to grow to
• Share their struggles
• Share their tears
• Help them over the rough spots

Place Pictures on Walls

Place pictures of Church workers with their names, department in which they serve and position held on walls in the lobbies, corridors are anywhere that other members of the church frequents so they can learn a bit more about the persons that serves within the church. This will be a major motivating factor for anyone who sees their picture on a wall every time they passes by.

Motivated people are happy people within the church environment or outside of the Church environment. Make sure you do all you can to keep your Church workers happy.

(2 Timothy 4:2)

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”.

Conclusion

Get to know your teams. Become a Family, Grow so close you feel like blood even though you may not be. God BlessHow to motivate your Giving

Best Bible Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Below is a table featuring some highly regarded Bible Encyclopedias and Dictionaries along with their publishers and websites where they can be found or purchased.

You can generally find these resources on the publishers’ websites, as well as other online book retailers such as Amazon or Christianbook. It’s always good practice to confirm availability and review additional details on the specific websites or other reliable online bookstores.