Author Archive for Tom Belew – Page 2

Day 5-Teacher Recruiting

By Tom Belew · Comments (0)
Tuesday, August 5th, 2014

recruit1Many churches are struggling to recruit the teachers and leaders needed to staff their groups today. Yet, they have often not taken the simplest and most important steps to recruit leaders. We are commanded to “pray to the Lord of harvest to send out workers” in Matthew 9:35 (HCSB).

Every effort to recruit people to serve in the teaching ministry should be bathed in prayer. The teacher should pray and ask the class to pray, as an apprentice and other leaders are recruited. When we pray we should be specific about the needs and God’s leading to the people He is calling out to serve. Teachers should recognize the opportunity their role positions them in equipping and calling out new leaders. The teachers, apprentices, and other leaders needed come from the ranks of the adults actively involved in our churches.

Image what it would be like if every teacher and leader in our groups had an apprentice. This approach should not be limited to adult groups, it should be expected of every person teaching to identify and recruit an apprentice. When teachers are responsible for having an apprentice, future leaders are always in the process of being developed. The biblical basis for apprenticing is grounded in the ministry of Jesus and His disciples. Jesus used this method to recruit and equip the Apostles (Mark 3:14-15). In Acts 11:25-26 we find Barnabas using apprenticing to equip Saul. Then, we find Paul apprenticing Timothy in 1 Corinthians 4:16-17.

The education model of leader development used by many churches is a (train – assign – do) model. Apprenticing is an (assign – do – train) model of leader development. The resulting shift is training comes as a result of teaching or leading experiences. The apprentice being confronted with teaching or leading issues is given training to meet the needs. The needs drive the speed of learning. The apprentice has a person they relate to for training, guidance, and encouragement resulting in accountability. Many people think “just in time learning” is a preferred learning method among adults and the learning sticks more often because of the immediate application for what was learned. Jesus had several disciples who did not end up in his final twelve disciples and even then he had one who was serving for the wrong motive. Teachers are likely to have similar experiences as they apprentice leaders. Not every person you recruit will develop into the leader you intended. Even with losses, it is a great blessing to a teacher to see the people you have apprenticed serving.

In one of the churches where I served, there was a children’s teacher who took apprenticing serious. Over the seven years I served at the church she apprenticed eight or nine different people and four of them took teaching positions in our children’s ministry. If most teachers took apprenticing serious, we would begin to see a significant increase in our teaching ministry team.

A number of years ago at Glorieta Conference Center, I heard a testimony that has stuck with me over the years. An adult teacher shared about being recruited by the pastor to start a new class. After launching the class the pastor asked if he could apprentice someone to take the class at the end of the year. At the point the teacher was sharing this testimony; the teacher had started a new class for 12 years in a row and handed each class off to an apprentice. The teacher had been directly involved in over 220 people being added the church. The church had doubled in size in 12 years.

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tom-Belew

 

Tom Belew is the Small Groups and Childhood specialist for the California Southern Baptist Convention.

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Categories : 31 Days of 3 Roles for Guiding Groups

Is Anytime, Anywhere in your Future?

By Tom Belew · Comments (0)
Friday, August 30th, 2013

A few years ago, the church I was serving decided to offer Bible study anytime, anywhere. The year prior saw us steadily developing new leaders. Now the time felt right to step out in faith. We offered to provide Bible study anytime, anywhere a group wanted to meet. Our insert in Sunday’s bulletin projected a variety of times and locations for Bible studies, with a place for suggestions. Since a Tuesday night group met including preschool teachers and those working on Sundays, the possibility of other untapped opportunities surfaced.

Following our worship service, a member approached me asking “Are you serious about offering Bible study anytime and anywhere?” When I replied, “We would not have offered the opportunity had we not thought we could do it,” he proceeded to explain he wanted to start a 4:30 A.M. Bible study at a Denny’s restaurant near his house, excitedly adding, “I already have five construction workers interested!” Ultimately he became the teacher. The first Tuesday they met, he spotted a senior adult from church eating breakfast and asked him to join the group.

There are numerous reasons why someone might not be able to attend Bible study on a Sunday morning or, in the case of small groups, on a weeknight. We must see the big picture. More Bible study involvement could happen if church schedules were not so restricting. Over the years, I have seen classes offered on a rotating shift for mineworkers working rotating shifts and telephone Bible study classes for shut-ins. Classes have been on Sunday afternoon, at lunch during the week, before work in the morning and on a week night evening – meeting in mobile home parks, apartments, homes, offices, assisted living facilities, hotel rooms and work break rooms. I have been in churches with internet Bible study classes.

Here are a few tips to help you think through going Anytime, Anywhere:

 1.    Identify your opportunities – Broaden your focus by stepping back and taking in the whole picture. Who is in your church but not in a Bible study group? Why? What are people doing in your community when your Bible study groups are meeting? When and where might they be willing to meet?

2.    Train the leaders – A church cannot go after the people until it is ready to provide the ministry. To start more Bible study groups a church will need a pool of trained leaders including teachers, outreach/ministry leaders, and prayer leaders. Usually, new groups are started with a team of leaders, not just a teacher.

3.    Set goals to start groups – Set specific locations and times with your target group in mind for starting new groups. Campaigns are often more successful everyone in the church is working together to start new groups for a few weeks.

4.    Go after the people – You’re ready launch your new groups or start your campaign! Success is having new groups launched and new people reached.

For additional insight into Anytime, Anywhere read pages 36-42 of Extreme Sunday School Challenge: Engaging Our World Through New Groups by Bruce Raley and David Francis.

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Tom Belew has served as Small Groups and Childhood Specialist for the California Southern Baptist Convention since 2002. He previously served as Minister of Education in churches in Arizona and California.

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Categories : 31 Days of Extreme Sunday School

Save the Kids!

By Tom Belew · Comments (0)
Monday, August 13th, 2012

Reaching kids for Christ has been at the front of the Sunday school movement from the beginning. Around 1870 in England, Robert Raikes recognized an opportunity where others saw a problem. The streets were filled with unruly poor, uneducated children. Robert’s vision was to educate the children using the Bible to do it. The result was kids coming to know Christ, getting an education and solving a domestic problem in England.

In 2000, I received a call from a church planter in the Los Angeles area. He wanted me to see and hear about what a church in Los Angeles was doing to change their community. In a period of just a few months, the church had reached over 50 children in the community. Almost all of the children had never been to church and they came from homes riddled with dysfunction, drugs, neglect and poverty. Soon the worship service and Sunday school became unruly. To meet the challenge, families were asked to serve as adopted grandparents for the children. The relational approach worked and the children begin to growing in their understanding of the Bible, many accepting Christ.

David Francis, in Missionary Sunday School, points out the parent’s responsibility for the growth and development of their children. For children whose parents are Christian, the Bible indicates the parent has the primary responsible for the spiritual growth and development of their children. Thus, the church and Sunday school are support supplementing the work of the parents. Churches need to equip parents with the tools and skills to be most effective in this important role. A parent will have no greater joy than to lead their child to know Christ as personal Savior. For all the other children in our communities, the Sunday school and other children’s ministries are the only lifelines.

Today, many churches are sitting on golden opportunities to reach children for Christ. Sunday school, Vacation Bible School and many other great ministries are powerful tools for reaching kids. Churches need to survey to opportunities in their communities using demographics, prayer walks, information obtained from community leaders and community assessments. Our world is constantly changing,  what was needed in the past may be different today?

In the past two months, I have worked with churches in two communities where the single parent population was high, 40 percent in one community and 31 percent in the other. Both of these churches have set goals to start Sunday school classes for single parents and to focus their preschool and children’s Sunday school ministry on reaching the children of single parents.

A few years ago, I consulted a small church in central California that had almost totally lost their ability to reach children, or so they said. A demographic study revealed 27 percent of the population within a mile of the church was children six to 10 years of age. The Anglo congregation was not considering the potential of the Hispanic children living around them. In reality, almost all the children spoke English, English being the language of choice in over 45 percent their homes. By launching a new weeknight children’s ministry and establishing a new Sunday school time for children, the church quickly reached over 50 children from around the church and increased their Sunday school attendance by 30 percent. By moving to create a new time for children’s Sunday school the small church was able to have access to more rooms. The change made it possible for more adults to serve as workers too.

A missionary Sunday school recognized the advantages to reaching children. Children are open to the Gospel story and eager to accept Christ. When we reach a child, we put a person into God’s service for a lifetime. Many times children are the open door to reaching families. Just like Robert Raikes, many kids will be saved from poverty and dysfunction as a result of coming to know Christ and their person growth in Sunday school.

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Tom Belew has served as Small Groups and Childhood Specialist for the California Southern Baptist Convention since 2002. He previously served as Minister of Education in churches in Arizona and California.

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Categories : 31 Days of Missionary Sunday School, Evangelism, Growing your Group, Ministry, Outreach/Evangelism, Unreached people groups

Open and Ongoing Groups

By Tom Belew · Comments (0)
Sunday, August 12th, 2012

A missionary Sunday school class or small group is focused on reaching new people and ministering to people it has already reached. Today many Sunday school classes and small groups have lost their way. What is the purpose for your small group or Sunday school class?

On several occasions during my local church ministry, concerned teachers and members approached me about providing a marriage enrichment class during Sunday school. Beyond their own felt need, they wondered how many more people could be involved if the class were offered on Sunday. In most cases, the suggestion was to offer the marriage enrichment class for a quarter in place of the regular Sunday school class. On the surface, this sounds and looks like a great idea. While I never doubted the need for the marriage enrichment and was eager to respond to the request; I realized it would take the class away from its purpose and focus.

First, Sunday school classes are purposed to be an “open group.” An open group provides a class for anyone to attend anytime and be accepted. You might say, “The marriage enrichment class is open to anyone.” Your response would be partially true. On the other hand, the class would not meet the definition of an “open group.” The class would be “open” for a couple of weeks as it was getting started, but “closed” for the remainder of the 13 weeks.

So, what will happen to guests and those who do not attend regularly once the class begins? The answer is, “there is no place for them.” Providing this class during Sunday school could ultimately exclude up to two-thirds of the class members and most of the guests for an 11-week period. In contrast, a missionary class always has a place for people.

Over the years, I have discovered we have “closed” classes for another reason. Some classes become so strongly bonded they appear to repel guests. I have observed a guest enter a room where all the chairs were taken and have to go hunt a chair on their own. Many of these classes say guests are welcome, but you can feel the resistance in the air when you enter the room. An open group has empty seats and acts as if they are expecting guests.

Secondly, Sunday school classes are purposed to be an “ongoing group.” An ongoing group is available every Sunday in the case of the Sunday school or every week if a weekday small group. To reach new people, churches need ongoing missionary classes or groups. Hence, the marriage enrichment class request also leads the Sunday
school away from its ongoing missionary strategy. This subject-oriented study, marriage enrichment, is not “ongoing” for all. A true “ongoing” class is open-ended,  including openness to everyone week after week unendingly.

I have noticed three disturbing trends impacting “ongoing groups,” including closed groups, a lack of accountability for members and periodic schedule reaks. Many churches have not clearly identified the need for ongoing groups nd have allowed many “closed group” topics to fill the year’s schedule. This roduces times when there are not places for everyone. These closed group topics lead to the second trend, a lack of accountability. If I join a Sunday school class, the leaders become accountable for connecting, communicating and ministering to me. In the case of short-term topics, teachers often change after 13-weeks and in many cases members get to pick a different class and teacher. The accountability for the members is weak or not existent. Thirdly, some churches are intentionally taking breaks in their schedule. The most common of these is not providing a Sunday school over the summer. This is done with the intention of giving people a break, but it leaves a missionary vacuum in its wake. The church does not have an ongoing opportunity for members and guests to participate in Bible study. An ongoing missionary-minded Sunday school or small group is available every week and guests are welcome.

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Tom Belew has served as Small Groups and Childhood Specialist for the California Southern Baptist Convention since 2002. He previously served as Minister of Education in churches in Arizona and California.

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Categories : 31 Days of Missionary Sunday School, Evangelism, Group Life, Growing your Group, Ministry, Mission, Outreach/Evangelism, Sunday School

Basic Classroom Space Principles

By Tom Belew · Comments (0)
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

The kind and quality of space for a class or department has a significant impact on overall success of the class. At a minimum space should be clean, attractive and large enough for the current attendance plus a few guests. Age-appropriate furniture and equipment should be in the room depending on the classes or departments using the space. The following chart provides some basic guidelines for the amount of space needed per person by groups:

Access to space is another important concern. Parents with preschoolers and older adult need the space to be convenient to parking, with ground level access.

Adult and student rooms are best painted in soft, neutral colors with a color accent wall or trim. Carpet is the preferred floor covering. The room needs a focal wall with a whiteboard or chalkboard, as well as, chairs for participants and table(s) if there is adequate space. The focal wall needs open space for posters. There should be a cabinet or open shelf for basic supplies. It is a good idea to have a few extra Bibles in the room.

Preschool and children’s rooms are best painted in soft, neutral colors with a color accent wall or trim. The furniture should be age-appropriate. There should be a focal wall or bulletin board for displays with the exception of younger preschoolers. Preschool rooms are set up by activity areas with the exception of babies and 1’s. Preschool rooms need a water source and restroom in the room or nearby. The preferred floor covering is carpet with the exception of vinyl floors for babies-1’s.

Caring for preschoolers includes providing a clean environment where the child can explore, create, learn and play. That means toys, teaching materials, equipment, walls and floors need to be clean and ready for the child. It is important to be aware of cleaning procedures and hygiene practices to ensure a safe and clean environment for the child. For recommended hygiene practices visit http://www.lifeway.com/Article/childhood-ministry-basics.

In conclusion, I want to share some common shortfalls I find when consulting with churches. Entrances and doors are not clearly marked. Today, it is highly important to have a visible registration/check-in process for preschoolers. Preschool rooms often have too many and inappropriate toys (they can produce

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a safety hazard or might be unrelated to teaching). It is common to find outdated displays and posters on walls and bulletin boards. I find furniture with sharp edges or broken tables and chairs still in use. Often, I find rooms filled with lots of equipment and other items unrelated to its use(s). Learn to think like a guest; look around your room to see if anything would catch a guest’s attention. When we are expecting guests at home we clean house. Why don’t we do that at church? Maybe we are not expecting guests?
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Tom Belew has served as Small Groups and Childhood Specialist for the California Southern Baptist Convention since 2002. He previously served as Minister of Education in churches in Arizona and California.

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Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Organization, Space, Space and Facilities, Sunday School
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