Assimilating Volunteers: Investigate

The Policy Agreement is another tool to assist in informing the applicant of what volunteers can and cannot do with the kids. It begins the training process, and is a deterrent to potentially harmful individuals. Simply knowing that there are policies in place, that the church is “watching” and concerned about potential problems is often enough to turn away the wrong individuals. Again, have a lawyer review any Policy Agreement that you ask applicants to sign.

2 – Face to Face Interview

The interview can be set up as a formal interview, or a sort of interview “on the fly”, but should be conducted by the Children’s Ministry Pastor/Director, or another core leader (staff or volunteer) specifically trained to do so. The interview should used for information gathering, getting to know potential volunteers, informing them of available opportunities, discussing their experience, gifts, abilities and desires for ministry, communicating what is expected, and answering questions. It should be done only after receiving the applicants Application, so that the Application can also be reviewed in the interview. Click here for a sample interview questionnaire. If the initial inclination from both sides is to proceed, you may give the applicant a Spiritual Gifts Inventory or other gift and abilities assessments to take home and complete while you proceed to the reference/background checking.

3 – Reference & Background Checking

As a normal part of the process, all references provided by the applicant should be checked thoroughly. Phone calls should be placed and followed up on as well as possible in order to ensure the suitability for the individual to work with kids. A secondary part of this step should be to take the names of all potential volunteers before the church staff. Someone may be aware of situations that may disqualify the individual that would not come to light under any other circumstances. Simply sharing the name of the individual and the position they are applying for is what is needed for this step. In addition to following up references, a legal background check is essential. KidMin360 does not specifically endorse any company doing these checks, but it is not hard to find them via a Google search. You may also have someone within the church (someone in law enforcement) who may be able to facilitate background checks.

4 – Follow-up and making a decision 

After all screening processes have been completed, it’s time for both the potential volunteer and the Children’s Ministry leader to make a decision to either proceed with ministry involvement or not. If the decision is to proceed, whatever gifts and abilities inventories are used should be turned in, and a discussion as to exactly where the volunteer will fit (if it’s not already been determined) should take place. Observation, if there is any question or uncertainty, is an excellent way to help in this process. Actually seeing the classroom in action often is quite revealing to the potential volunteer. Once the determination of where the volunteer will assist is done, you may want to consider having the volunteer sign a Commitment Form. The Commitment Form should state the area that is being committed to, an outline of the responsibilities, who the direct lines of supervisors will be, the term of commitment, and any other pertinent information. The applicant should review and sign the Commitment form and receive a copy for themselves.

Depending on many factors (denomination, church culture, etc.) these steps may be different or emphasized to different degrees. However, investigation should be a non-negotiable part of your assimilation process. It is irresponsible of any church to neglect this process.

What would you add to this step in the process?