Darryl Wilson :: Sunday School Leaders

Feb

Sunday School Growth = Evangelism + Ministry + Discipleship

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (1)

We can easily make a case for the value of Sunday School helping the church carry out all five purposes: evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and worship. Worship would be included not because of a worship service following Sunday School. Worship would be included because when we open God’s Word, He speaks. And that is an open invitation to worship.

I can also make a case for fellowship due to the relationships and the importance of assimilation. But for this post, I am including fellowship as a natural part of ministry. We cannot effectively minister to people and care for their needs without a relationship. I am going to assume fellowship in order to narrow the focus of this conversation.

Here is the equation for this blog post:

Sunday School Growth = Evangelism + Ministry + Discipleship

EVANGELISM. Growing Sunday School cannot exist when any one of these ingredients is missing. Many Sunday Schools are trying to operate without evangelism. They are not focused on reaching out to new people. They are not prepared when new people show up. They do not follow up. They may care about each other. They may minister to one another’s needs. But they don’t really care whether new people come to class or not. They don’t care enough about lost people to invite them to Sunday School or Jesus.

MINISTRY. Growing Sunday School cannot exist without ministry. We may be inviting new people all the time. We may have guests show up every Sunday. But if we are not ministering to the needs of members, they won’t stay connected. We will miss some of the prospects if we fail to reach out in their times of stress and need. Our caring connects. But when our back door (people leaving) is as big or bigger than our front door (new people), we cannot grow.

DISCIPLESHIP. Finally, growing Sunday School cannot exist without discipleship. If the group is inviting and ministering but is not teaching God’s Word, the group is nothing more than a social club. If the group is reaching out and meeting needs but not “making disciples,” then the members are not personally growing. We are to equip the saints for works of service (Ephesians 4:11-12). Even if the numbers for the Sunday School are increasing but the lives are not becoming more like Jesus, the Sunday School is unbalanced in its growth and is likely destined to decline.

How is your Sunday School doing on this equation? If you had to identify one area in which your Sunday School is weakest, which would it be? What needs to be done to shore up that weakness? What steps can you take this month to begin to address that area? Sunday School growth equals evangelism, ministry, AND discipleship. Pray. Evaluate. Address. Grow. Make disciples. For more ideas about growing your Sunday School, check out these blog posts:

_____________________________________________

Darryl Wilson has served as Director of the Sunday School Department for the Kentucky Baptist Convention since 1997. He served as Minister of Education in five churches in Kentucky and South Carolina. He is the author of The Sunday School Revolutionary!, a blog about life-changing Sunday School and small groups.

Categories : Growing your Group, Ministry, Outreach/Evangelism, Sunday School

Comments (1)

Jan

Provide Space and Equipment for Sunday School Growth

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (0)

This month, we have been sharing five areas of Sunday School growth that have become known as Flake’s Formula: (1) know the possibilities, (2) enlarge the organization, (3) provide space and equipment, (4) enlist the leaders, and (5) go after the people. In today’s post, we will examine how important it is to “provide space and equipment” in order to allow Sunday School growth to take place. Consider these ways and reasons to provide space and equipment:

ENOUGH ROOMS. In Is the Size of Your Sunday School POT Keeping You Small, Part 1 and Is the Size of Your Sunday School POT Keeping You Small, Part 2, I shared this idea from Ken Hemphill in The Bonsai Theory of Church Growth: “You must keep the pot small to keep a bonsai small, and in a similar way many churches keep the church and Sunday School small because they keep the facilities small.” In order for your Sunday School to grow, you must have space available in which to start new classes. This can include using the space more than once and even using off-site space.
ENOUGH SPACE. Adults and teens need about 12-15 square foot per person. Children need 25 square foot. Preschoolers (due to activity level) need 35 square foot. When attendance approaches 80% of capacity of the room, growth will slow or stop. Moving classes to rooms of appropriate size to allow for growth is essential. Also, when a class reaches or exceeds the space’s capacity, it is time to start a new class.
ADEQUATE SPACE. There are many issues to consider in making sure that the space you provide for classes is adequate, such as appearance, location, usefulness, safety, cleanliness, noise, and more. Check out Conduct an Adult & Student Sunday School Space Walk for a set of questions from which you can evaluate your adult and youth space. When possible, locate preschool and senior adult space close to worship space.
ADEQUATE EQUIPMENT. What is needed by each age group is appropriately different. Certainly chairs and tables (if needed) should be of the right size for the assigned age group(s). It is important to provide the equipment and furnishings needed while taking into account the space available and potential attendance. As attendance begins to approach 80% of capacity, as much equipment and furnishings as possible should be removed making more room for people.
TOO MUCH EQUIPMENT. Too often classrooms fill earlier than necessary due to too much equipment and furnishings in the space. Tables are often the biggest culprit. People are more important than tables. Removing tables to have space for more people is more important that coddling people’s preferences (to hold coffee and Bibles and cover short skirts). Sometimes more chairs are in the room than are necessary. Only one or two more than expected attendance should be kept in the room. In fact, it can be depressing to enter a room with 20 chairs and only 3 attenders, while it can be exciting to have to set up one or two more chairs.

Make sure you plan ahead. Don’t get to a place where you need to start a class but lack the space, furnishings, and equipment needed. Anticipate needs. Plan ahead. Expect to grow.

For more ideas about Sunday School space, check out these blog posts:

_____________________________________________

Categories : Flake's Formula, Space, Space and Facilities, Sunday School

Comments (0)

Jan

Enlist and Train Leaders for Sunday School Growth

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (1)

This month, we are focusing upon five areas of Sunday School growth that have become known as Flake’s Formula: (1) know the possibilities, (2) enlarge the organization, (3) provide space and equipment, (4) enlist and train leaders, and (5) go after the people. It is important to “know the possibilities” in five contexts: spiritual, church body, church facility, community, and century (see Flake’s Formula for Sunday School Growth: Know the Possibilities). Prior to enlisting and training workers, we should enlarge the organization in these ways: pray and dream big, organize for the next stage, add more workers, start new classes, and reduce the span of care.

For those we enlist, we should provide appropriate space and equipment for Sunday School growth in five areas: enough rooms, enough space, adequate space, adequate equipment, and avoiding too much equipment. In this post, I will focus on ways to enlist and train leaders needed in a growing Sunday School:

DO PREVIOUS STEPS FIRST. Without knowing the possibilities, enlarging the organization, and providing space and equipment first, you can enlist frustrated leaders. They can be placed without prayer, without a need, in the wrong place, or without a room that is ready. The previous steps seek God’s leadership to accomplish the purpose of reaching, teaching, and caring for people in the church and community. The previous steps seek to add direction and intentionality to enlisting leaders.
ENLIST PROPERLY. There are many wrong reasons for enlisting leaders, such as guilt, pressure, and low expectations. There are also many wrong methods for enlistment, such as hallway, too little information, fast decision, and more. Ideal enlistment seeks God’s leadership from the beginning and seeks God-called leaders for specific areas of responsibility and need. Enlist prayerfully. Enlist leaders personally, face-to-face. Enlist with job descriptions. Communicate expectations and available resources. Commit to provide help and support.
PROVIDE TRAINING. Provide training for every Sunday School leader enlisted–from teacher to class leaders. Provide training prior to service (or immediately after enlistment) and during the year. Provide training resources to encourage ongoing training. Lift up essentials for effectiveness. Training should also be provided at regularly-scheduled planning meetings.
COACH TO SUCCESS. The ideal person to enlist a leader is the person who will be coaching them. In a medium-sized Sunday School, the Sunday School director would enlist and coach department/age group directions who would enlist and coach teachers who would enlist and coach class leaders. For effective coaching, the coach should be responsible for no more than 3-5 leaders. When there are more persons to coach than that, then another coach should be enlisted. As an example, the adult department director will meet with his/her five teachers individually each month. When a new teacher is enlisted, the coach will meet briefly weekly with the teacher (in person or by phone) during the first six weeks and then every other week for the next six weeks and then monthly thereafter. The coach will ask what is going well and what they would like to go differently. The coach will listen, encourage, and assist. In a small Sunday School, the pastor and Sunday School director may serve as the coaches.
APPRENTICE TO STAY AHEAD. Every leader in a growing Sunday School (from director to teacher to class leaders) should spend time each year praying for, observing, assigning, officially enlisting, and training an apprentice. An apprentice is not a substitute. An apprentice is a person who will be released into service. A growing Sunday School will depend on having leaders ready and available at various times throughout the year.

In order to grow in the best possible way, follow the steps. Prayerfully enlist properly. Provide training and coach to success. Invest annually in apprentices. Expect, enlist for, and train for growth.

For more ideas about Sunday School enlistment, check out these blog posts:

_____________________________________________

Categories : Enlistment, Flake's Formula, Training

Comments (1)

Dec

Increase the Impact of Your Sunday School Christmas Party

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (1)

I have mentioned Christmas in previous blog entries on The Sunday School Revolutionary!. They have ranged from Christmas Invitation to Sunday School to a more humorous approach in As a Sunday School Teacher, You Might Be Unprepared for Christmas If . . . and from Sunday School Fellowship: More Than Food and Fun to Ways Sunday School Can Help Increase Baptisms and from Ideas for Sunday School’s Ministry to Homebound Adults to Launch New Sunday School Classes on Special Occasions Like Father’s Day.

In Christmas Invitation to Sunday School, the emphasis was on inviting guests to Jesus’ birthday party. I encouraged inviting guests to your home, to your class fellowship, to class, to a special program, and to worship during this season. I encourage you to check out that blog entry as we approach Christmas. I concluded that post by writing:

I think Jesus would be happy that you invited people for whom He died to His party! Jesus always seemed to enjoy a party with tax collectors and sinners.

I want to add to the thoughts in that post. I want to challenge you to be a Sunday School class who multiplies the impact of what you do. What do I mean? Here is a good example: stop planning your Christmas party for only your regular attenders. A lot of planning and effort goes into preparing for a great class party. Why not add a little to the efforts with the potential for great additional impact. Here are some beginning suggestions:

“require” your members to invite guests to your Christmas party; if possible, pay their way; tell the Christmas story; get to know them; love them to worship and class attendance; and love them to Jesus;
invite absentees to your Christmas party; some need an excuse to re-enter the relationships of your class;
invite church members not enrolled in Sunday School to your Christmas party; help them to see how fun your group is; and invite them to continue the relationship in class;
invite in-service members to your Christmas party; invite those who are serving in other places in your Sunday School (preschool, children, youth teachers/workers and general Sunday School leaders) who would be in your class if they were not serving elsewhere; their ministry is important; love on and encourage them;
change your party into an outreach project; reach out to daycare workers, school teachers/administration, nursing home workers, policemen, firemen, or other group; throw a party for them and watch as your group has even more fun than if it was for themselves;
change your party into a ministry project; bring in needy children and families and provide food and gifts for them;
ask your class to bring gifts to your Christmas party to be given to an organization which will help needy people.

What else have you done to multiply the potential impact of your Christmas party or activity? Share your experiences by pressing the Comments button above. This is a special season of the year, but every day is a special day for caring for others with Jesus’ love. Invite. Care. Give. Laugh. Celebrate. Multiply the impact of your party this year!

_____________________________________________

Categories : Group Life, Outreach/Evangelism

Comments (1)

Nov

Expanding Group Life in Sunday School

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (0)

Sunday School class attendance is impacted by several factors. One is the amount of care for the needs of members. Another is the number of invitations to prospects. Yet others are efforts to deepen connections and relationships through participatory teaching methods, icebreakers, class fellowships and projects, and prayer. Another factor is life-changing encounters with God in His Word. Attraction and connection occur as a result.

Another often-overlooked factor in efforts to enlarge class attendance is increasing class enrollment. I have seen this in classes all over the country. Back in the 1950s, there was a clearer understanding of the value of enrollment and its impact on attendance. Today, few pastors, directors, or teachers lead class leaders and members to pursue increasing enrollment. The simple fact is that increasing class enrollment accompanied by prayer and care for those enrolled leads to increased class attendance.

How do we give enrollment more visibility as a significant factor in enlarging class attendance? What can we do to help classes focus on enrolling more people? What if we offered some incentives? What incentives could we offer that would motivate?

A great ideas is offered in an article on Baptist Press by David Francis who is the director of Sunday School for LifeWay Christian Resources. The article is entitled Counting Active Enrollment. In the article, David suggests counting your active enrollment and using it to motivate and encourage leaders through five steps:

Count the names of each member who attended at least once during the month.
Do not count the names of visitors (unless you enrolled them).
In adult groups, count the names of all associate/service members.
Report the results.
Reward the results.

Now, there are several ways to reward the results. You can display monthly results on a bulletin board and offer a party for all classes that increase enrollment. You can monthly recognize from the pulpit all classes which increase enrollment (helps the whole church to see the value of enrollment). You can print it monthly in your church newsletter or bulletin. You can conduct a contest between two balanced halves of the Sunday School which awards points for enrollment increase.

But one incentive for increasing class enrollment had not occurred to me until I read David’s article. He suggests as a reward this idea:

Some of you will be turned off by this idea, but I actually implemented it very successfully among adults. Each group had a fellowship budget that they…”earned”…based on their active enrollment….Every month, active enrollment is calculated as above. Then an amount is credited to the group’s fellowship fund — say, 10 cents for each active member and 20 cents for each associate/service member. Most groups saved up their funds to help with a big Christmas party, but they could spend the funds on other fellowship or ministry needs as well. You might imagine how anxious the leaders were to see their active enrollment figures each month. What’s more important was the increased attention to enrolling new members, contacting absentees and caring for associate/service members.

Do what you can to help your teachers and classes to understand the value of enrollment. Help them to set goals. Help them to track it and care for the people. I like David’s reminder at the end of the article, “You get what you measure — and reward.” So measure enrollment and reward your classes for doing good work!

Keep in mind that increasing enrollment and caring for those enrolled leads to expanded group life. Members are mobilized, new leaders are discovered, and connections are made. Make Sunday School richer, group life expanded, and Kingdom impact greater!

_____________________________________________

Categories : Group Life

Comments (0)