The task of recruiting care receivers for your men’s team ministry to their widowed and single parents in your church can at times be delicate and challenging. A few missteps can lead to hurt feelings, unmet expectations and general confusion. Here are some suggestions for making recruiting care receivers easier for all involved.
- Make a list of potential care receivers before your orientation. Work with your pastor and church leadership. Have them help you prioritize the list according to need. (See my post, “Some Guidelines to Consider for Choosing Care Receivers.”)
- Do NOT make a general appeal for care receivers to sign up for a team. Some people who sign up will not be qualified for a team and you may have more sign up than you have teams available.
- Wait until AFTER your orientation to begin contacting potential care receivers. You will know how many teams you have after your orientation and this will dictate how many care receivers you can recruit.
- Contact your care receivers privately and one at a time. All potential care receivers are unique and need to be addressed individually.
- Be aware of potential issues your prospective care receivers may have. They may have concerns about strangers coming into their home or feel that others are more “worthy” of the ministry than they are.
- Explain your men’s team ministry clearly and succinctly to your prospective care receivers. Make sure they understand exactly what a team will do for them.
- When promoting the orientation meeting for your men’s team ministry, NEVER use condescending language when referencing your widowed and single parents.
- When promoting the orientation meeting, explain to their widowed and single parents in your church that you probably won’t be able to immediately cover everyone with a team who needs and wants one. Ask them to be patient and tell them that you will make every effort to eventually cover everyone so that your church can say, “There is not a needy person among us.”
Keeping these few suggestions in mind will help your men’s team ministry get off to a smooth start.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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