The Five I's are a simple way to remember how to look for new volunteers to build your serving teams. Follow this process and you can, over time, build a strong body of serving teams in your church.

These simple five steps are: 1. Identify 2. Introduce 3. Inquire 4. Inform 5. Involve

Identify--Find somebody

You have to identify who you believe would be suitable for the serving task you are looking to fill. Typically, this will be someone you don't know, and someone who is alone or whose family tends to stay by themselves. Look for someone who appears nervous or looking around your church. Don't forget those rare people who ask to be connected, and anyone who is attending a medium-sized group activity.

Introduce--Make contact

If you do not know them personally, you must make contact! It sounds simple but is often overlooked. Most people won't jump out and volunteer automatically. Smile and say hello. Briefly tell them your name and what your level of involvement is at the church and how long you have been coming to the church. Then flow immediately into the next step.

Inquire--Ask about them

This must be done on contacting new people first. You must ask if you can serve them in any way. If it is their first time or first few times to the church and no one has approached them, the chances are high that they came to church looking for some help--so be ready to help them!

Your next step is to ask if they would like to serve others--ask about their desire! Do they want to serve in some capacity? Are they looking to get involved? Do they know about their gifts and about their passions? Use the answers to these questions to help connect them to others in your church community.

Inform--Tell about opportunities

The first step is to be knowledgeable about church serving opportunities. Make sure you have a good handle on what needs to be done (it sure doesn't hurt to have such opportunities written down in the weekly church bulletin!). Through questions, find something that they have interest in doing and introduce them to a leader in that area.

Involve--Direct them toward growth

Do not leave the new person until a "set thing" is confirmed. A "set thing" is a follow-up time--a connection with another church servant-leader or team member that agrees to help--where an opportunity to learn about a particular serving ministry is set up.

Use these Five I's and continue to grow your ministry through volunteer serving teams!

About the author:

Paul D. McDonald, MBA, has consulted with churches on growth and management of the "business aspects" of running a church. Visit http://wreach.blogspot.com/ to learn more.

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