Are you in any children’s ministry Facebook groups? I am in several of them and I have noticed that frequently on Sunday mornings those leading children’s ministry lament their volunteers who may call out leaving them short staffed.
There are times that I will question how they view their volunteers which often leads to them “pushing back” on my comments.
Have there been times when those serving with you have “called out” and not shown up for your Awana club night? I am sure that you have experienced those days. How did you react?
I serve in a small church. If all of our clubbers are present, we have 21 children in Cubbies through T&T with 10 leaders. Let me share what happened recently.
All of my Cubbie leaders were expected and present for the club night. Sparks and T&T share leaders. On Tuesday, the person scheduled to lead game time realized that they were double booked for the night. Another leader asked of they could have the night off and I told them it was okay and I would handle game time.
Wednesday came and I received texts from two leaders that they would not make it. One was the admin person so I would now handle check in, etc. This left one other leader and myself. As the night began, that leader was not there because they were caring for their child who was ill.
So what was my reaction when now I was the only leader for Sparks and T&T?
I was not upset with my those who serve along side of me in Awana, I simply began working on making sure I was covered child protection wise so I was not alone with the children by texting the Cubbie leaders and working with them to make sure that I was not alone.
You may wonder how I managed Sparks and T&T together by myself. As I noted, I have a small club. That night there were five Cubbies, four Sparks, and one T&T clubber. I had five children.
I was not upset with the volunteers not being there. They generally let me know ahead of time when they cannot make it; ask if they have something that they would like to do as a family that night causing them to miss the night; and they truly care for the children.
I do not have any issues encouraging the leaders to do something special with their families because I know that they have lives outside of Awana and I know their dedication to God and that they are raising their families to live for Him.
My volunteers are special to me. Not because they serve alongside of me, but because they share a heart to reach children with the Gospel. I also know that there are times when I may not be able to make it and I know that when I am not there, that they are able to run the club night flawlessly.
How do you view your volunteers? Do you lament when they are unable to be at club? Do you understand their life situations? Do you work with them as they raise their families?
All I ask is that leaders let me know as early as they can when they’ll miss club so that I have the ability to prepare, mentally or physically. The only time I get annoyed is when they text me hours, minutes, before club begins or, as has happened, after club has already started. And even then, I understand. I don’t begrudge them not being able to be there. It just makes it a little more difficult but nothing we can’t handle! I recently had a leader have to step down for a few weeks and within 2 weeks a clubber parent came to me and volunteered to step in, without me even asking! God sees our needs and fills them.