5 Ways to Prepare Your Ministry for When You Can’t Be There
It was Saturday night around 8pm. We’d just finished dinner and were watching TV. Suddenly, I felt a rumbly in the tumbly and got to see dinner all over again.
I didn’t know if I had a bug, it was a fluke, or I was just stressed out. It didn’t really matter in the moment because one thing was for sure: I couldn’t do kids church the next morning. If I ask parents not to bring their kids within 24 hours of having a fever, how could I show up 14 hours after throwing up?
As I frantically thought through what to do, I made a few calls to my top volunteers to ask if they could step up. Thankfully, I’d already set everything out. All they had to do was turn things on. But this was early in my ministry, and while I was moving away from the David Reneau Show, the transition wasn’t complete. Most of these “top” volunteers didn’t do more than stand in the back and watch. And now I was asking them to do things they’d never done before.
Thankfully it was just a fluke (maybe stress), and I wasn’t sick again. But I still stayed home and let my team carry the day. It stretched them and many took on more responsibilities later because they saw they could. But looking back now, there are 5 things I’ve learned to do differently. So that when it happened again, the ministry and I were in a much better position to provide a service without me there.
1. Write out your procedures
One of the biggest problems in my ministry was that I was the one who turned everything on. I’m very tech savvy, so I know how everything works and can fix just about any tech in service on the fly. So, when I was out, my volunteers had to do what I did naturally every week.
As a result, my volunteers begged me to make an emergency binder. Because the tech booth and check-in were the most common problem areas, I made one for each area. They walked step by step through how to turn everything on, operate the technology, and fix the most common problems. It took a while, but once I completed a draft, I watched my least tech-savvy volunteers use it. When they had questions (and they did), I went back and edited it. I did this several times until they could rely on it. Before long the binders became essential to running the service. And I could be absent without a hundred phone calls.
I talk more about making your guest experience great here, including how to get a copy of my procedures.
2. Prepare for your service before Sunday
The biggest asset to my absence was that I was already prepared. At the time, I was bivocational, but even now I spend every Thursday preparing. When I was in everyday kidmin, I printed all my materials, loaded my PowerPoint, practiced, pulled out props, and laid out supplies. My goal has always been this: if service started in an hour, I’d be ready.
Whether you’re full-time, part-time, or no-time, I strongly suggest you do the same. Waiting until Sunday morning is never a good idea. Too many things can go wrong that you won’t have time to fix. And if you’re unexpectedly absent, that can make it worse. On my sick day, my volunteers had to call me to figure out how to turn everything on and ask where I had put the essential supplies. Over-the-phone tech support is never easy.
It takes work and careful planning, but you can be prepared before Sunday. I wrote more about how I do it here.
3. Cross-train your team
When I worked at Sam’s Club, I was assigned the Center Section. That’s where they keep the books, clothes, and snacks. My name was David in Center. I’m not sure if my coworkers even knew my full name. But even though I “worked” in Center, I was never there. The supervisors cross-trained me to work in every other department there. I could put out produce, answer questions about TVs, pull a member’s vitamins out of the rack with a forklift, and run the register. And that was only half of it. I jokingly changed my title to Utility Partner instead of Floor Partner.
But the strength of all the cross-training was that when someone was out or needed to take a break, my supervisors never had to worry because someone else could step up and take their place.
I took that philosophy and applied it to kidmin. Most of my small group leaders also served as crowd control, helped run sound and media, or oversaw check-in. Some I trained to present on stage, lead a game, or teach the lesson. Very few of my volunteers did just one job on Sunday morning. It helped me fill out my volunteer structure flowchart and rarely left me in the lurch on Sundays when someone called out, or worse, no called/no showed.
Don’t walk in this Sunday and demand that every one of your volunteers learns how to use ProPresenter. Just as you gave them a place to serve in their gifts, you need to add a second place that lines up with their gifts and passions.
My bubbly, happy volunteers did double duty leading games. My administratively minded ones helped in check-in. My tech-inclined ones served in the booth. I usually added the second job as needed, and only after they’d served in their primary responsibility for three to six months. I wanted to make sure they knew what they were doing before I added something else.
4. Delegate your responsibilities
The hardest part for many leaders is giving away their responsibilities. Many of us got into this because we’re doers. We make things happen. Now we’re in charge, and we need to motivate other people to get things done.
It’s far too easy to hold all the responsibilities to yourself because you think you’re the only one who can do it well. That’s why I had the David Reneau Show and eventually let it all go.
If you want to be able to take a Sunday off, sick or otherwise, then you need to delegate your responsibilities to other people. It’ll help them become owners of the ministry and give you peace of mind. I talk at length about how to do this well here. And don’t worry, you’ll never run out of things to do. There’s always more.
5. Practice for the inevitable
Even if you’ve given away all your responsibilities and cross-trained your team, your very presence brings peace and order to the room. Because you know what’s going on, who’s there, and how to do everything, people look to you when things go wrong.
So, before you get sick, take a Sunday off. Observe another ministry. Go to church. And let your team handle the Sunday. If things start going off the rails, you’re not too far away and can get them back on track. Don’t make my mistake and let the first Sunday your volunteers run everything be the Sunday you can’t be there.
I go into more detail on how to prepare your team to take over so you can go to service here.
Getting sick is a fact of life. And even if you get perfect attendance this year, you can’t count on doing that in perpetuity. Even if you have Superman’s immune system, there will still come a day when you’re no longer in charge and someone else will need to take your place. Prepare now for that eventuality. Then when you’re sick on Saturday night, you have one less thing to worry about as you call on your trusted team to pick up the slack.
t was Saturday night around 8pm. We’d just finished dinner and were watching TV. Suddenly, I felt a rumbly in the tumbly and got to see dinner all over again.
I didn’t know if I had a bug, it was a fluke, or I was just stressed out. It didn’t really matter in the moment because one thing was for sure: I couldn’t do kids church the next morning.