{"id":848173,"date":"2025-04-10T05:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=848173"},"modified":"2025-04-09T11:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T16:25:24","slug":"15-ways-to-recognize-and-honor-church-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/15-ways-to-recognize-and-honor-church-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Ways to Recognize and Honor Church Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over my years of studying churches, I\u2019ve watched for ways they recognize and honor volunteers \u2013 the folks who faithfully serve the Lord through serving in their churches. Here are some of those ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Commission them at the beginning of the year.<\/b> Make a big deal about praying over and supporting volunteers, and you\u2019ll likely have more folks ready to sign up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Write thank you notes.<\/b> Few church members expect a handwritten thank you note from another church leader. Surprise your volunteers by sending a few thank you notes each week.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Give them a coffee gift certificate.<\/b> This gift isn\u2019t that expensive, and even non-coffee drinkers can find something to drink or eat.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Provide childcare for a \u201cdate night.\u201d<\/b> Most volunteers will appreciate the opportunity to spend a night out with their spouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Cater a volunteer appreciation meal.<\/b> The payoff will be worth the expense if you do it well.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Pray for a \u201cvolunteer of the week\u201d each week.<\/b> Introduce a different volunteer weekly, and pray for him or her publicly.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Send birthday cards to the volunteers.<\/b> I\u2019m almost certain the card will be a pleasant surprise, as not many churches do this option.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Send a \u201cthank you\u201d note from the church staff to the volunteer\u2019s spouse.<\/b> Most of us could not do all we do were it not for spouses who support us, walk beside us, and sacrifice for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Celebrate with a \u201cvolunteer family picnic.\u201d <\/b>Give your volunteers\u2019 families a day of fun and relaxation, and your volunteers will feel affirmed.<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Enlist a photographer to take a family photo for each volunteer.<\/b> Many families never take the time to take pictures together. Encourage them to do so with this gift.<\/span><\/p>\n

11. Sponsor a \u201cChristmas in ________\u201d stocking stuffer event.<\/b> You decide the month. What\u2019s different is that the stocking is electronic, and the stocking stuffers are emails and texts of appreciation.<\/span><\/p>\n

12. Call 2-3 volunteers a week.<\/b> A handwritten note is great, but a phone call could be even better \u2013 especially in today\u2019s world where few people use their phone to actually talk! A few verbalized words of appreciation can go a long way.<\/span><\/p>\n

13. Have children create \u201cthank you\u201d pictures for their teachers and leaders.<\/b> There\u2019s nothing quite like getting a picture from a child in the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

These latter two ideas might surprise you, but I hope they\u2019re helpful, too:<\/span><\/p>\n

14. Enlist a \u201cvolunteer appreciation team\u201d who continually think about ways to say \u201cthanks\u201d to volunteers.<\/b> Let this work become part of the DNA of your congregation, and I\u2019ll suspect you\u2019ll get more volunteers.<\/span><\/p>\n

15. Always, always be praying for more laborers (Matt 9:37-38).<\/b> That\u2019s what Jesus taught us to do \u2013 and simply knowing that (1) the church has prayed for them and (2) is praying for them to have more co-laborers can be affirming.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over my years of studying churches, I\u2019ve watched for ways they recognize and honor volunteers \u2013 the folks who faithfully serve the Lord through serving in their churches. Here are some of those ways. 1. Commission them at the beginning of the year. Make a big deal about praying over and supporting volunteers, and you\u2019ll…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":848176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,183,195,184,175,192,177,14796,180,18470,194,196],"tags":[20437,20438,20441,20439,20440],"class_list":["post-848173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-communications","category-conflict-and-people-problems","category-discipleship","category-grow","category-how-to","category-lead","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-prayer-grow","category-preaching","category-staff-and-organizational-issues","tag-15-ways-to-recognize-and-honor-church-volunteers","tag-church-volunteers","tag-how-to-thank-volunteers","tag-volunteer","tag-volunteer-appreciation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n15 Ways to Recognize and Honor Church Volunteers | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over my years of studying churches, I\u2019ve watched for ways they recognize and honor volunteers \u2013 the folks who faithfully serve the Lord through serving in their churches. 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