As someone who has been leading several ministries, the hardest part is not finding the money or space to host events, or the ability to market so people will attend. The hardest and most valuable resource your ministry will have is volunteers and the time they put into your ministry to reach people for Christ. As your church looks to grow your mental health inclusion ministry, a huge choke point will be with the volunteers joining you and the dedication they have to serve.
The Barna Group recently put out a study on Millennials—ages 18 - 35—as the upcoming generation, what Millennials are experiencing and what that means for Christianity. The study is titled, The Connected Generation and covers areas about faith, how anxiety has impacted young adults, the resiliency of faith in young adults and the implications for the Church, and how to build young adults up into leadership roles.
The statistic that inspired this article comes from a section that talks about Millennials and their strong tie to social justice.
According to many Christians in this study, caring for the poor and vulnerable is a defining characteristic of being a Christ-follower (43%). If this is a primary sign that someone is a Christian, what kind of impression are faithful 18-35 year olds leaving around the world?
The article notes that young adults want to work within the Church to do something amazing. But unlike the previous generation—Gen Xers—which sees leadership as an individual taking life by the horns to do something great, Millennials see leadership instead as a partnership or collaboration, where people with wisdom, experience, and time can invest in younger people and work together to serve others. This disconnect between the two generations has led to many Millennials not serving.
Let me paint a scenario: your church has several people with hidden disabilities. We know it takes time, energy, and manpower to serve this population. We also know that all the great volunteers in your church are already serving somewhere else. But if you want to develop a mental health inclusion ministry, you need to do it well. Where will you find more volunteers?
I'm going to suggest that you not wait for someone to come to you to volunteer. Instead, go out and find volunteers by specifically talking to Millennials.
How To Find Millennial Volunteers And Train Them
The graphic below shows the survey results of how Millennials were able to get connected and also be encouraged towards compassion and activism in ministry.
This is our field and we need to speak the language of Millennials as we collaborate to serve. The best part about the study is that the Church probably has a whole group of untapped volunteer potential, we just have to cultivate it.
Christians who engage meaningfully with their faith and church tend to report that their church has already helped them understand the needs of the poor (45%) and marginalized (36%) and provided opportunities to serve those in need in their community (38%).
But how do we do that? Here are some things you need to do.
Just Ask If this generation of young adults wants to serve and needs a mentor, go be that for them. You make the first move. Personally ask if they would like to join in the work of the church.
Teach Them Sharing your expertise is the most meaningful thing to do, whether you share what you have learned as a parent of someone with a developmental disability, to the techniques you might have gained from formal education with mental health, or the experience you have had from serving in this ministry. Let them walk alongside you.
Let Them Try and Fail Give them a chance to help serve. Even if they don't know everything, that's okay. Take the risk, let them serve and allow them to grow into themselves.
Connect It To Christ Volunteer management 101 in the church says we need to not only help new volunteers into leadership roles, but shepherd them in their faith, too. Connect their service with their commitment to Christ. Lead them in worship, discipleship, and prayer. Allow them to grow as a Christian.
Give Them The Reins As some point, allow them to lead. Challenge them, push them, and let them go free. Leadership may not be possible be immediately, but it can likely be sooner than you realize.
I want to leave you with a quote shared in the study by one of the people surveyed. Barna conducted a qualitative followup survey, where it was said
if churches claim to value the presence of young people but they have no Millennials in leadership, that church is not truly committed to young people.
The top complaint from millennials—nearly half of them—stated "everyone is too busy and distracted." Churches will benefit by focusing on mentoring Millennials and putting the time aside to grow them into leaders.
If you want volunteers, Millennials are a great place to look. But once this group finds their niche, if it isn't with your ministry, you may lose out on a great resource. David Kinnaman, President at Barna Group, sums it up well: who from your church and community could be worth asking to join your team?
Jeremy Smith is a clinical mental health counselor in Ohio and founder of www.churchandmentalhealth.com.
