It’s not enough to just fill spots with willing volunteers; how do you ensure volunteers are teaching theological truth? Follow these 5 steps.

#1. Require church membership.

Churches that require their volunteer teachers to be church members help ensure that their teachers truly believe what the church teaches.

If you don’t want to require membership of your teachers, you could simply require that teachers attend the membership class. This will help them understand the beliefs of your church and will help them discover whether they believe the same things.

#2. Talk with volunteers.

Have a discussion with potential volunteers after they’ve attended the membership class to see if they are in agreement with the teachings of your church. Before you meet with them, decide what you and other leaders in your church consider the basic beliefs that all potential volunteers must align with in order to serve.

#3. Have volunteer review your church’s statement of faith.

In lieu of either of these suggestions, include your church’s statement of faith with your teacher-information materials. In the volunteer’s interview, discuss the statement of faith to see if there are any questions or areas of disagreement with it. Ask volunteers to sign the statement of faith as part of the application process.

#4. Choose curriculum well.

Choose a curriculum that’s theologically sound and aligned with your church’s teachings. If a volunteer teacher sticks with the lessons in the curriculum, there should be no problem. However, if you’re worried about some teachers veering from the suggested lesson, spend some time observing those classes and talking with teachers about what they intend to teach.

#5. Train your team.

Spend time in teacher-training meetings talking about the beliefs of your church. Invite a pastor to talk to your volunteers about what your church believes. Allow time for questions. If you notice a teacher having a problem with a certain basic truth, talk privately to that teacher about it. If it’s too difficult to conduct training at your church, consider taking your team to a training.

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