You may have written some new years resolutions that have to do with finding new volunteers to help out in the girls ministry. If so, today’s post may be helpful to you.

The new year is a great time to look for new leaders and invite them into the girls ministry even if every “slot” (for lack of a better word) is filled.  I have found myself scrambling for leaders at the beginning of a school year, because I wasn’t actively looking for potential leaders in the midst of the previous school year.  The beginning of a new year, is the middle of our small group year so we’re not having to make a mad dash for new leaders. We are simply looking at the groups to see if there are groups ready to multiply and if there are, we need to move leaders into those spaces in order to grow a new group.  So how do you go about recruiting a new leader and growing a group?  This is more than one blog post so today I’ll just post a couple of tips and if it’s helpful, I’ll post some more.

TIPS:

• At the beginning of a new year I have found that people’s schedules may have changed, so look back through your emails or notes and don’t hesitate to ask someone who originally had been interested months ago but couldn’t due to prior commitments.

• If you have a retreat coming up, they are great opportunities to invite someone you think would make a great leader to come and just give it a try for a weekend. (Of course you need to ensure that they receive a background check prior to the retreat)  I try to put the new volunteer with a group of girls that may be growing and needs to be multiplied into a new group.  If the volunteer connects with the girls, guess which group she’ll be interested in serving with on a weekly basis—VOILA!

• At the beginning of a new year, take some time to look at the size of your groups.  If one group is hovering around the 10-15 mark, it’s time to begin moving a new “apprentice” leader into that group.  Once you move a new apprentice leader into that group, it gives the group time to get to know that person before you multiply the group into 2.  It also allows you time to “train” that new leader and they begin to feel comfortable with the girls before they have to officially teach the class.  When the new school rolls around, you have already built in a leader that knows the girls, and “voila” you are ready to birth a new group :).