How I Started Working With Volunteers ♥

Working with volunteers has been one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and has also forced me to face some of my deepest issues. It all started in the spring of 2014. I was transitioning from leading a faith community to directing Holy Language Institute and was overwhelmed with the workload. I even switched to a polyphasic sleeping schedule in which I slept three hours at night and took three short powernaps throughout the day, just to give myself extra time. Polyphasic sleeping actually worked really well for me and I ended up doing it for over a year but I was still maxed out so I sent an SOS email asking for help. To my relief a few students heroically stepped forward and began taking over tasks like emails and administration, freeing me to teach and do the things that only I could do. I'll never forget how deeply touching it was to be supported like that. It was a defining moment to realize I couldn't accomplish my mission alone and to discover just how much I enjoyed working with friends. I was reminded of the Scripture, "God is for me through my helpers!"

I decided to create a volunteer system so I spent the next year reading dozens of the most forward-thinking books about organizational theory, complex systems, self-management, remote work, and hot groups. I'm afraid of nerding out on you right now because I actually get really excited about systems but I'll control myself and just share one thing. I came across this one idea of patterning organizations after organisms so that your people work together the way the body works. It made sense, considering the human body is the most advanced system in the universe. Why wouldn't its simple yet sophisticated principles work in multi-bodied organisms too? For instance, the body is a network of interdependent organs that each do a job. This theory recommended breaking down everything that needed doing into individual roles or "ministries" as we went on to call them, and then putting the people who filled related ministries into circles or "groups". Or think about how the body grows from a genetic code and how all its processes are rooted in its DNA. In our case that meant putting each ministry into writing. Notice also how nerves and veins run throughout the body and back to the head and the heart. Likewise, it needed to be easy to get around on our system and communicate so that information and inspiration could flow freely.

It was with these principles in mind that I designed the first iteration of our system. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. Then in the fall of 2014 I sent an email asking our tribe to take over running HLI so I could focus on teaching. Over the course of the next year we took on over 50 volunteers, whom we called Stewards. I admit, it was rather chaotic. Some people thrived in our open system which encouraged creative initiative and self-management, but for those who just wanted to be told what to do it was too much. I compared it to throwing people into a pool. The swimmers had a great time but the other half just sank to the bottom and did nothing. We continued this way for the next several years with a core group of stewards that ran the Institute and pulled off some remarkable projects while on the periphery people came and went. All the while I continued to read, experiment, and make improvements. It really was an exciting time.

I already told you the story of how we started Yeshua Groups in the fall of 2017. After we got the network off the ground I created another volunteer system to keep it running, similar to what we'd already developed but as simple and light as possible. Then early 2018 we took on 30 volunteers, whom we dubbed Legends. I was working on Yeshua Groups on the side so I didn't have time to write out detailed instructions for each ministry and was hoping that these new Legends would develop their own ministries and that the whole thing would just materialize. As it turns out, the opposite happened and by the fall of 2019 no one was doing anything except our sturdy administrator who kept the most critical ministries going.

The long, cold winter of 2018/2019 was our lowest point. The Legends had gone inactive, some of our best Stewards had left, and my health was so broken that I could only work a few hours a day before blacking out. We were just barely keeping the lights on. I took a Sabbatical to recover, review our history, and search my own heart as a leader. I'll share the personal side of that in my next story and tell you about the systemic side here. I realized that it was unrealistic to expect our volunteers to come up with everything on their own. They were willing to help, but had limited time and no development experience. What most of them wanted was just to be given something to do and told how to do it. I had idealized about being manager-free, imagining that everyone would manage themselves and follow the written processes for everything, but what ended up happening is that processes got skipped and management devolved to me. And I suck as a manager.

With these insights I began rebuilding from rock bottom. First, I stopped cutting corners and spent every Friday for the next year writing detailed instructions for all twenty-four Yeshua Groups ministries. Second, I created managers groups for both organizations to carry the load that up until then had fallen on my shoulders. One ministry reviewed volunteer applications, onboarded the newbies, and removed retirees. Another followed up with non-reporting volunteers. There was a ministry that oversaw volunteers taking on and discontinuing ministries, and I put another ministry in charge of recruiting when a ministry needed to be filled. Not long into this I was struck with a dilemna. There's a hard side and a soft side to management - you're not just taking care of business, you're also taking care of people. The ministries I just listed would run our operations, but I also had several more relational ministries in mind. How were we going to stuff all that into one group? I solved the problem by forming a second group dedicated to volunteer care. The pastoral ministry built relationships and offered prayer and counselling. The encouragement ministry kept our eyes on the vision and cheered us on. Another ministry announced birthdays and celebrated workaversaries, while yet another hosted our volunteer groups and made them warm and welcoming places.

I worked on this for the rest of the winter and on into the summer. We were still barely keeping the lights on and I was still sick and going through several heavy tragedies including the suicide of my best friend, but I felt hope. I thought about God crafting the body of Adam before he came alive and wondered if this was how it felt. Finally, in the summer of 2019 I invited our tribe to fill these new ministries and they responded beautifully. I started by filling the ministry that would review applications and onboard new stewards, and then stepped back and let them take over. What a relief to feel the burden of management lifting from my shoulders and what a joy to watch these new groups come to life and revitalize everything! The long months were worth it.

It wasn't until the spring of 2020 that I finished the new Yeshua Groups system and was ready to take on a new generation of volunteers. Again our community responded enthusiastically, I started by putting managers in charge, and suddenly we had fifteen legends ready to run the network! I thought about how God must have felt when Adam finally came alive, and I smiled.

It's been over a year now and things are stable and growing. We have almost fifty volunteers and I love them so much. There's more I could share but this story is getting long. I especially wish I could tell you more about the processes we've innovated and how our circles of Stewards and Legends have developed their own cultures over time! But we both know how excited I get about systems so I'll control myself and just say this - if you would like to nerd out with me, some of our processes are mapped out in the volunteer orientation documents I wrote and you're welcome to read them here: https://holylanguage.com/volunteer.html and here: https://yeshuagroups.com/volunteer.html And as for the culture, you'll just have to volunteer and experience it firsthand. ;)

In our next story I'll share my personal reflections on working with volunteers and how it's forced me to face some of my deepest issues. Sincerely, thank you for spending this time. And if you're one of our volunteers, this story's for you!