Can You Go On Vacation Without Everything Falling Apart?

Summertime is fast approaching. And for many families that means it's vacation time. But for those who are serving in children's ministry, that is not always the case.

Summer can be one of the busiest times of the year. There's VBS, camp and a host of other events and programs. Because of this, those in children's ministry often end up going on vacation at a different time of the year.

Whenever you go on vacation, it is often a test of the strength of your volunteer team.

You see...here's the big test.

Can you go on vacation without everything falling apart? Or if you got sick during a big event, could it happen without you there?

This obviously depends on the strength of your volunteer team.

If you are equipping your team, then everything should run smoothly when you are not present.

Now I know this is more challenging than ever. The biggest concern of every children's ministry in the world is having enough volunteers. From the largest church to the smallest church in the nation, everyone needs more volunteers.

Add to that the affect Covid19 has had on volunteer teams and you are looking at a big task when it comes to building a volunteer team. Many ministries have lost half or even more of their volunteer team.

But I want to encourage you. Keep building your team. There are people who are still committed to children's ministry. Many of them are in your church. You just haven't found them and asked them yet.

This past Sunday, I invited a man to join our volunteer team. He didn't say "yes" yet, but I planted a seed and as I get to know him better and build a relationship with him, I am confident he will soon be a part of the volunteer team.

That's how you build volunteer teams. One ask at a time. One person at a time.

Don't complain about the lack of volunteers. Get up and do something about it.

Essentially your job is to work yourself out of a job by building a team that can run the ministry without you. But don't worry, if you can become good at building teams, you will always have a job.

You can get tons of great ideas about how to enlist, equip and empower volunteer teams in my book "The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams." It is available at this link or you can find it on Amazon at this link.

My prayer for you is that you will be able to take your vacation and not have to worry how things are going back home.