It was the first day off for me in several weeks.  The “honey-do” list was a mile long so I made my way to Lowe’s to get all that I needed for the day.  As I walked down one aisle came across someone I had not seen in years.  We greeted each other and I began a conversation with him just like we all do, “how’s it going?”  I was not ready for the response!

He startled me by saying, “life stinks!” and he was serious.  I’m glad I was paying attention or I may have said “good”.  I asked what was happening and he began to tell me everything that had gone wrong in his life.  He told about his marriage ending, his health failing, his children turning out all wrong, losing his job and much more.  I tried to minister to him and remind him that God still loves him.  He then gave me another shock when he said, “I’ve given up on God!”

This was coming from a guy that had been very active in church and Sunday School.  (Please remember I had not seen him in years)  He had been a leader in the youth ministry and served as an usher at the church. But now he is saying he has given up on God.  I blurted out, “Man, what has happened to make you give up on God?”

The first sign of trouble was his marriage.  He and his wife began to have problems and became irregular in their church attendance.  They dropped out of Sunday School and, in his words, “no one called, sent a card or came by our house”.  When their problems went public and divorce was final, “no one called or even said to me that we are praying for you.”  When other problems began to happen no one showed care and in his words, “no one cared for me.”  He said to me, “I found better friends at the bars than at church and that’s why I gave up on God.”

It was not God that failed but rather His representatives.  As we finished up our conversation, he did allow me to pray for him so right there in the aisle of the Lowe’s I prayed for him.  He hugged me and said, “Thanks, it has been years since I’ve heard my name in a prayer.”  We said goodbyes and I went back to my truck and cried over my failure and all of our failures to represent God’s love.

What could have changed the situation I just described?  I don’t know if anything could have helped to change the direction of his life but I do know that we (all of us) failed to reach out in a time of need.  He was in Sunday School class.  He was a member of a Sunday School class with an organizational chart on the wall informing everyone who were the care group leaders of the class.  Everything on the surface looked good but the problem was that the care group leaders may have had the job but they were not doing their job!

How do we get the care group leaders to work?  How can we make sure that this does not happen again?  How can we make sure that ministry is taking place?  The good news is that there is a way to improve the ministry of care groups but the bad news is that there is no perfect system.  We are sinful creatures and we are selfish by nature and we will always have leaders volunteer or enlisted for being a care group leader and fail at the task.  We can train and provide resources and still have someone say, “Your church does not care for people!” because a care group leader failed to minister.  The truth is that we must do our best and leave the results to God.

There is a system that can help your care group leaders but you must remember to keep any system you use EASY and SIMPLE!  Do not make it too complicated.  Below you will see a form that every care group leader needs to turn in every week or at least every month.  When the form is given to the care group leader, the names should be already filled in.  If you leave it blank, they will only write in those that they contact not all the members of their care group.  If the care group leader does not turn in the report at the determined time, then you contact the care group leader.

Train the care group leaders to use the script at the bottom of the page.  The key is that we are calling to find out how we can pray for them.  Every member should be contacted every week or at least every month and asked, “How can I pray for you?”  When the care group leaders discover a ministry opportunity then the class should respond.

This approach may have not been able to change anything for my friend but at least he would have known that he was cared for and that God loves him.

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In my 35 years of working with Sunday Schools, one of the hardest things to do is to take a church that has not age graded their adult Sunday School classes and move them into an age graded organization.  I can remember in one church I served being cussed-out by a lady for simply posting the age grouping for her class on the door.  (No it was not my mother nor my wife!)  For some reason people respond in a negative way to the topic of age grading.

One of the reasons why our members respond in such negative ways is because we have failed to help them understand why we need age graded adult classes.  Age grading helps to simplify the organization.  When we have age graded adult classes it really does assist our guests in finding a place that fits them.  Did you know that age grading also helps us to close the back door; age grading helps us to assimilate new members into the family of God.

The adult age graded class also has an enhanced educational/developmental environment; the needs of an eighteen year old are different from an eighty year old!  Remember that age grading simplifies but it also helps in providing a system of accountability for outreach and ministry.  When there is no age grading we all assume that everyone is doing the outreach and ministry.  When communicating the need for age grading always remind your members that we do not age grade based on who attend, but rather on whom we want to reach!

I like to use a board age grading approach.  What does it look like?  Classes will be labeled like this…

• Young Adults (College – Early 20s)
• Young Adults (Singles Mid 20’s – Early 30’s)
• Nearly or Newly Weds (Couples Early 20’s – Mid 30’s)
• Young Families w/ Preschoolers (Coed Mid 20s – Early 30s)
• Young Families w/ Preschoolers & Children (Coed Late 20s – Mid 30s)
• Young Families w/ Children (Coed Late 20’s – Late 30’s)
• Ladies (20s & 30s)
• Men (20’s & 30’s)
• Median Adults w/ Children & Teens (Coed Mid 30’s – Early 40’s)
• Median Adults w/ Teens (Coed Late 30’s – Mid 40’s)
• Median Adults 1 (Coed Early 40’s – Late 40’s)
• Median Adults 2 (Coed Mid 40’s – Mid 50’s)
• Ladies (40s & 50s)
• Men (40’s & 50’s)
• Empty Nesters 1 (Coed Early 50’s – Late 50’s)
• Empty Nesters 2 (Coed Mid 50’s – Early 60’s)
• Senior Adults 1 (Coed Early 60’s – Late 60’s)
• Senior Adults 2 (Coed Mid 60’s – Late 70’s)
• Senior Adults 3 (Coed Mid 70’s & Up)
• Senior Adult Ladies 1 (60s)
• Senior Adult Ladies 2 (70s & Up)
• Senior Adult Men 1 (60’s)
• Senior Adult Men 2 (70’s & Up)

There will be some that say, “I don’t want to organize based on age!”  Well, my question is how do you want to be organized?  Let’s group our adult classes by weight so when you walk in the church you step on a scale to see what class you will attend.  Better yet let’s group our classes by I.Q.  When you join the church you have to take a test to determine what class you will attend.  Or how about shoe size or hair color?  Wait a minute, if its based on hair color some will not have a class!  There will be some who say, “Let’s just allow everyone go where they feel comfortable.”  With that approach you will not grow!

The above organizational structure was the adult Sunday School organization in one church that I recently served.  It was nowhere near this when we first started.  How did we get there?

The first thing you need to do is a study of the ages of those presently attending, enrolled and those on the prospect file.  One simple way to do it is get the ages, then a legal pad.  Write 18 through 99 on the left side and for each person place a tally mark next to their age.  After completing the study circle groups of 20-30 tally marks this will identify what age groupings you need for your Sunday School.

You will also be able to identify gaps where your church is presently not reaching adults.  Start a new class for those age groups.  Use a loose age grading system similar to that in the example church.  Begin to communicate these changes to Sunday School Planning Team members first, teachers second, and then finally to the entire membership.  Don’t forget to change the signs on the classroom doors!  Conduct a realignment Sunday for adults.  This is nothing more than a good old-fashioned promotion day for churches that have not done it in several years, decades, or centuries!  In the future assign all prospects and new members to the age appropriate class.  Make sure to do a realignment/promotion day every year!

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