Kiely Young :: Sunday School Leaders

Nov

Who do you know who needs to know Who you know?

By Kiely Young · Comments (1)

This is a simple question with profound possibilities.

Think about the people you know who do not know our Savior, Jesus.

Think about what will happen to them if they leave this life without Him.

Think about what can happen when they do get to know Him.

Think about how they life can be changed by His love and grace.

Think about how your Small Group/Sunday School Class can bless their life with love, compassion, and community.

AND, think about how their life can bless, enrich, and encourage your Small Group/Sunday School Class.

When we consider these thoughts about those we know, are we motivated to do something more than just think? Are we not motivated to take positive actions to include them in our community we call Small Group/Sunday School Class?

We should be. If not, why are we there? What have we learned?

If we are, then let’s get busy. Our friends are waiting for us to invite, encourage, and seek to involve them in our activities. We really have a great thing going. AND, believe it or not, they are really ready for us to include them. So go for it. Pick up the phone and invite them. Go to your computer and send them an email invitation. Send the a Facebook message, or Tweet them, Twitter them, invite them to coffee, bake some cookies……just do it!

Remember, we KNOW Jesus and they NEED to KNOW HIM too!

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

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Oct

Pastor, Leader, Sunday School Leader

By Kiely Young · Comments (0)

What do these men have in common…Johnny Hunt, Adrian Rogers, P J Scott, Ralph Smith, Wayne Marshall, and Larry LaBlanc? You may recognize some of them, but maybe not all. They all have been strong Sunday School champions in their churches. They all have exemplified wonderful abilities in the pulpit, but would each tell you quickly the strength of their respective churches has been the Sunday School. Some of these have gone to be with the Lord or are no longer active in the pastorate, BUT their churches are still strong in Sunday School.

When pastors realize they can be strong pulpiteers and strong Sunday School leaders, they will see their churches grow strong. But, I have often said there are not as many strong pulpiteers as those who “think” they are strong pulpiteers. They can still be Sunday School champions.

What are some of the keys of a Sunday School champion?

He is the Head Cheerleader for Sunday School. He uses the pulpit to promote Sunday School.
He is the CEO of the Sunday School, the “Chief Encouragement Officer”.
He needs to work closely with the Sunday School Director or Minister of Education in the enlisting and equipping of workers to give encouragement.
He needs to participate in regular Sunday School Worker Meetings.
He needs to celebrate victories of individual Sunday School classes.
He needs to promote Small Group Bible studies at times other than the Sunday School hour to reach folks who can’t/won’t come to Sunday School.
He needs to attend Sunday School himself.
Pray, Pray, Pray for your Sunday School.

Every pastor can be a Sunday School Champion. Great shall be the blessing to him and his church.

________________

Kiely Young is the Sunday School Director for the Mississippi Southern Baptist Convention

Categories : Sunday School

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Oct

Preparation for Teaching…A Personal Prayer Approach

By Kiely Young · Comments (0)

This is a repost of one of sundayschoolleader.com’s most popular posts. Written by Kiely Young published on January 25, 2011.

I stood before our Adult Sunday School Class leaders in a recent workers meeting I asked what they considered their greatest needs in Sunday School. Without question, the greatest need was prayer. Yes, we need to be adequately prepared to teach, but that must begin with prayer. How true this is.

We need to prayerfully in tune with God seeking daily wisdom.
We must make sure our hearts are clean and pure as we prepare to teach.
We must seek God’s daily direction in preparation.
We must be prayerfully in tune with the needs of our class and pray daily for them.
We must be aware of needs in our community and seek wisdom in ways to meet those needs.
We must ask God He wants us to challenge our class to reach friends, neighbors, and relatives.
We must pray for the leaders of our church, including pastor, staff, and other Sunday School leaders.
We must realize that the enemy does not like us to pray in this fashion and seek daily strength from God to deal with the enemy.
As we pray, God will reveal truths and insights into ways He wants to transform us and our class to be spiritual multipliers. We must be willing to follow His leadership.
We must ask God to continually help us to be effective spiritual multipliers of His truth as we seek grow leaders for the future.

Remember James 5:16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (NKJV)

____________________

Kiely Young-Director, Sunday School; Mississippi Baptist Convention Board

Categories : 31 Days to a Better Teacher, Prayer, Sunday School, Teaching

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Sep

The Power of One…

By Kiely Young · Comments (0)

I recall the words of Dr. Joe Davis Heacock, my Education Administration professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He said “Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to grow your Sunday School and reach people for Christ, you have to ask the Lord for souls. I keep a prayer list of five people in my Bible all the time. I pray to get them enrolled in Sunday School and come to Jesus. When one comes to Christ, God adds another to the list. God just keeps busy.” The practice still works.

I recently visited Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas while on my way to a Mid-South Strategy meeting. They are people friendly from the parking lot to the Sunday School class and into worship. But, I remember one power statement at the end of worship. The final words, “Remember the ONE, the one you will reach this week for Christ.” I asked about that statement. They told me that was their outreach motto. “Remember the One”. It is working for them.

One of our local churches has been experiencing steady growth over the past five years. As they prepared to move into a new Multi-purpose building, also providing fourteen new class rooms, they challenged each of their Sunday school classes to enroll at least two new people. Their goal was 70 new members in 40 days. They got excited when they learned they had enrolled 129 new members!

Reaching people is not hard. They want to be reached. It takes prayer, intentionality, and persistence. God will reward our efforts.
__________________________
Kiely Young
Director, Sunday School
Mississippi Baptist Convention Board

Categories : Sunday School

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Sep

Evangelism and Large Classes

By Kiely Young · Comments (1)

Every Sunday School “expert” knows that new classes reach more people than existing classes, AND that the optimum
size for adult classes is 15-25 in attendance, and then start a new class. Well, recently I learned of a church that discovered a new twist.

They are committed to starting new classes and new small groups to reach more people, especially their unchurched, non-Christian friends. They have a large class that needed more space, and the only space large enough to accommodate them was their Fellowship Hall.

The class asked permission to use the Fellowship Hall with the condition that they would start new small groups. Their plan is as follows:

A Master Teacher will teach the lesson for 20-25 minutes.
The class will be organized in small groups around tables, beginning with six in each group to have discussion of
the lesson.
Each table would have a discussion facilitator to lead discussion.
Each table would have a Ministry leader to keep in contact with every member every week.
Each table would be challenged to enroll their friends who are not in church.
When table attendance reaches ten, they will automatically start another group with at least four at each table.
The Class will have additional leaders including Prayer Leader (with a Prayer Leader for each table as well),
Service Leader to coordinate ministry projects outside of the Class, and an Administrative Leader to keep the Class organized and on track.

All of these suggestions came from class discussion with a commitment to reach out to their community, and building Community in their class.

This could be the beginning of a great new opportunity.
___________________________

Kiely Young, Director of Sunday School, Mississippi Baptist Convention Board

Categories : Outreach/Evangelism, Sunday School

Comments (1)

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