This document provides information about the requirements to become an authorized youth minister in the Sheffield Diocese. It states that to be authorized, one must belong to an Anglican church in the diocese, complete the Aurora Course to at least level 2 with a full portfolio, complete a lay ministry agreement with their incumbent, have an up-to-date DBS check no more than 5 years old, and have completed suitable safeguarding training in the last 3 years. Authorization lasts 3 years and can be renewed by completing a new agreement and staying up-to-date with requirements.

1. Welcome to
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2. You may be authorised as a
Youth Minister if…
• You belong to an Anglican church in Sheffield Diocese
• You complete the Aurora Course to at least level 2 (with full portfolio)
• You complete a Lay Ministry Agreement form with your incumbent (or warden or
someone else in authority over your work if there is no incumbent)
• You have an up to date DBS check (no more than 5 years old if done online, or 3
years if you’ve done a paper DBS)
• You have completed suitable Safeguarding training in the last 3 years. (To level
C2)
Authorisation lasts 3 years, after which, if you have continued to show learning and development in
youth ministry, you may be reauthorised by completing a new Lay Ministry Agreement with your
incumbent and continue to be up to date with DBS check and safeguarding training.

3. Why do we volunteer?
What are your motivations for
volunteering as youth workers? (For
paid youth workers, as volunteers in
other spheres)
What do you think are the
motivations of the other volunteers in
your teams?
3f Managing a team of volunteers

4. Motivations
1) Seeing a need and feeling they can help meet it
2) Strong personal drivers – ‘I’ve always volunteered’
3) Family example
4) Desire to serve – ‘I want to give something back...’
5) A need to be needed
6) Personal commitment to the cause - Two relatives passed away from cancer in
the past 12 months…
7) Friendship / social reasons
8) Personal – even selfish – motives – ‘To get out of the house’
9) Guilt – ‘If I don’t no-one else will and it’ll close down’
10)Gaining fulfilment
11)Spiritual drive / religious faith
12)Desire to be part of a team
13)Simply because they’ve been asked
Does recognising our
motivations for volunteering
help? If so, how?
3f Managing a team of volunteers

5. Daniel Goleman: ‘The
fundamental task of
leaders...is to prime good
feeling in those they
lead...the primal job of
leadership is emotional.’
If that is true, then recognising our
volunteers motivations for volunteering
at your youth group will help us to
‘prime good feeling in them.’
3f Managing a team of volunteers
Richard Steel: ‘Many
recognise, and are quite
open about, the good that
volunteering does to them,
as well as the good done by
them.’

6. ‘The Volunteer Paradox’
• Churches recognise their need for
more volunteers or paid workers
• Where a paid youth worker is in post,
they will need more – not less –
volunteers.
• Aging volunteer pool to choose from
The role of our
volunteers and how
we manage them
well is therefore
crucial to help them
– and our work with
young people -
flourish
3f Managing a team of volunteers

7. How were you ‘recruited’ into
your youth work?
How are you managed in your
current position?
How do you recruit volunteers
in your current context?
How do you manage your
volunteers?
Emlyn Williams: ‘Research has found that short-term volunteers are
often recruited by a friend or colleague, and that long-term
volunteers tend to become so through having a close link with
existing volunteers or the organisation over time.’
If someone’s in charge of you… If you’re in charge of other
volunteers…
3f Managing a team of volunteers

8. Recruitment
• Job or role description
• References
• Interview
• DBS
• Probationary period
• Decision to appoint
• Induction & Training
Should we have a formal recruitment
process for our volunteer youth
workers in Church? Why / why not?
3f Managing a team of volunteers

9. 1) Good Induction. What did you want to know when you
started?
• The vision and aims
• Key people they need to meet
• Relevant policies – child protection, health and safety etc
• Relevant procedures – how things are done, team
meetings, other people’s roles etc
• Practical issues of where things are kept, how equipment
works
2) Clear expectations
• Two-way expectations: what are your expectations of
your volunteer and what are their expectations of you
and what they’ll be doing?
3f Managing a team of volunteers

10. 3) Tasks and Roles which, wherever possible, are tailored to the
volunteer
4) Training and Development both formal and informal.
5) Rewards – Jesus spoke about reward for service (Matt 5:12, 6:4,
10:41, 16:27, 19:29).
6) Ownership – talking about ‘us’ rather than ‘you.’ Good chance that
other volunteers will out last you, especially if you’re a paid worker.
Williams: ‘Ownership is grown through the involvement of volunteers in
planning processes, decision making and evaluation and through regular
consultation.’
7) Support and Supervision
3f Managing a team of volunteers

11. Supervision & Management
• Making good use of your supervision
• Accountability
• Mentor
• Your responsibilities over others
• Review sheets
• Appraisals
• Aims and Goals to encourage growth
• Keeping a team on board
• Model what you want to see your leaders
doing with your young people.
3f Managing a team of volunteers

12. Your leaders / helpers should know
• your aims and goals (overall and specific)
• what you expect of them (behaviour and role)
• good safeguarding practice
• how to head up safely if you’re not there
• what to do if a young person discloses information of a
safeguarding matter
• what the theme for the week/term is all about
• how to relate to the young people (what is appropriate)
• the boundaries of the group and how to discipline
• other areas of training covered by Aurora…
3f Managing a team of volunteers

13. Changing face of volunteering
Silent Generation (1920s-1945): Commitment to a cause = duty
Boomers (1945 to 1960’s): More selfish but still large place for
deferred gratification
Gen X (Mid 1960’s to early 1980’s): ‘What suits me – now.’
Generation Y (Mid 1980’s to early 21st Century): ‘Whatever!’
This can and does affect how people volunteer
3f Managing a team of volunteers

14. Gen X needs:
-Options and flexibility
-Dislike close supervision
-Love change so much they actually need it
-They work to have a life; they don’t live to work.
Gen Y:
Expect more intense reaction more immediately than previous
generations
Want community, fun, enjoyment, and high ‘take-home value’.
Socially-networked generation – and shows in volunteering.
3f Managing a team of volunteers

15. ‘Volunteers today demand, whether explicitly or
not, more time from those who lead them. They
respond to appraisals (formal or not),
mentoring, regular reviews, volunteer
agreements. Gen X and Y are used to them in
their working life and they expect their leaders,
even in voluntary situations, to be professional.’
3f Managing a team of volunteers

16. Other issues around volunteering today:
Younger volunteers tend to volunteer for one-off events (e.g. Holiday clubs,
Spring Harvest etc) rather than week in week out
Many younger people can’t afford to volunteer – need to work instead
Larger commitments in other areas of their life
Families spread out – weekends often spent visiting family
University students need to work during holidays
Are there any other issues around volunteering today?
3f Managing a team of volunteers

17. Opportunities:
We are here to serve our volunteers as well as our young
people – so how can you serve yours?
Enabling people to volunteer on a one-off basis might help secure
them in the long term.
Volunteering opportunities provide people with different experiences to
their work and family life
Provides a sense of community and ownership for volunteers
3f Managing a team of volunteers

18. Everybody can be great. Because anybody can
serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to
serve. You don’t have to make your subject and
your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know
about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have
to know about Einstein’s theory of relativity to
serve. You don’t need to know about the second
theory of thermo-dynamics in physics to serve. You
only need a heart full of grace and a soul
generated by love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
3f Managing a team of volunteers

19. Welcome to
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