Leadership :: Sunday School Leaders

Jan

The Impact of One Leader

By Belinda Jolley · Comments (0)

My grandson has always been amazed by heavy farm machinery. Garrett has had many toy tractors and knows the names of all the farm machinery. As a first grader he now wants to ride with his dad or grandfather on the big tractors. However, he also understands these large machines can be dangerous, as well as helpful.

A bulldozer, for example, may be used to clear out an area on which to build a home—or maybe a barn. The same machine can be used to tear down something—maybe a building that is no longer safe to dwell in or that has been severely damaged by fire or storms. The same piece of powerful machinery can either build up or tear down.

I’m convinced Sunday School leaders hold the same influence—either positively or negatively. One Sunday School leader can have tremendous impact or influence. Whether you are talking about the entire organization or one Sunday School class or group, the truth applies to both.

Imagine Sunday School teachers who are so fearful that “they will split my class” that they deliberately undermine any efforts to start new classes. Their tactics may be open and bold or they may be subtle. The subtle may be more dangerous because people may not see what is happening. You know what I mean. “I just can’t imagine not having any of you in my class any more. I just love our sweet fellowship. “

On the other hand, imagine Sunday School teachers that know starting new classes are effective in the church’s mission to make and grow disciples. These teachers are constantly planting seeds that promote starting new classes. They constantly make note of peoples’ gifts or abilities and may encourage them in ways such as, “I’ve noticed how well you relate to our preschoolers when we have class fellowships. Have you ever prayed about how God might use you in a ministry with preschoolers?” These teachers will love everyone, but they keep forging toward the mission. These teachers will tell stories of changed lives and remind classes they would not have met or heard these stories without the folks who once came into their class as newcomers. These teachers celebrate growing and sending out leaders. They probably have photos on the wall of the “class missionaries” who are serving in other age groups on Sunday morning—people for whom they pray often.

The choice is yours. Will you lead in a way that builds up people and, most importantly, builds up the church? Will you keep your eyes on the mission and help others do the same? Or will you choose to lead in ways that tear down people and/or tear down God’s church? Again, the choice is yours. I pray you lead out of a heart that yearns for people to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and then come to grow in their lifelong journey of becoming more like Christ.

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Belinda Jolley serves as the Director of the Adult Ministry Office of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Belinda and her husband, Steve, enjoy starting new classes at First Baptist Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Flake's Formula, Growing your Group, Leadership, New Groups, Sunday School

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Jan

Leadership Meetings That Work

By Allan Taylor · Comments (0)

As a former high school football coach I would never think about putting my players on the game field until we had spent adequate time on the practice field. Yet, too often we put our Sunday School leaders in the game on Sunday morning when they have not been on the practice field preparing. Understand that ministry, like football, is 80% preparation and 20% performance!

Corporate Leadership Meetings That Work

Plan your corporate meetings around three approaches to the meeting.

1. A Practical Approach: You need to select a day and time that is most conducive to have your leaders in attendance. Make your meetings as convenient as possible for them to attend. Provide refreshments and select a room that is comfortable, convenient, and equipped with appropriate light and media needs.

2. A Philosophical Approach: Your meetings should be intentionally arranged by your Sunday School philosophy. In my case, I arrange Leadership Meetings under five headings. Each of these headings can be addressed generally and specifically.

Reaching People addresses outreach, discovering prospects, visitation, contacting, follow-up, witness training, VBS, etc.
Teaching People addresses curriculum, lesson planning, teaching styles, doctrine, room set-up, etc.
Ministering to People addresses the Care Group ministry, chronic absentees, benevolence, life issues, deaths, sicknesses, etc.
Leadership speaks to developing your leaders, enlisting and equipping new leaders, teamwork, appreciation, etc.
Administration covers things like records, room assignments, logistics for high attendance days, adding another Sunday School hour, ordering curriculum, etc.

3. A Purposeful Approach: Plan several meetings in advance so that you cover various aspects of Sunday School. Then, plan each individual meeting with the end in mind. Be able to fill in this statement: “At the conclusion of this meeting we will have accomplished…” Remember, it is better not to have a meeting as to have a useless one.

At the end of each meeting your Sunday School should move closer to accomplishing the purpose of her existence.

Class Leadership Meetings That Work

Sunday School needs corporate planning, but she also needs individual class planning. I have found that many classes need a structure from which to work in order to have a productive meeting. We provide a sheet for each class as follows.

Five Major Categories in an Effective Planning Meeting

Outreach Planning, Lesson Planning, Ministry Planning, Administrative Planning, & Prayer Time.

Instructions

Arrange the five categories in your preferred sequence.
Indicate the amount of minutes to be used for each category.
Indicate the person(s) responsible to lead each individual category.
List the items (person, place, thing, etc.) needing discussion in each category.
List items to pray about.

Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Category	Minutes	Person(s) Leading	Items to Discuss
#1 Outreach	15	Outreach Leader	Visitation Teams
			Follow-up on Visitors
#2 Lesson	15	Teacher	Intentional Group Discussion
			Apprentice Teacher this week
#3 Ministry	10	Care Group Leaders	Death in Smith Family
			Paying electric bill for Jones Family
#4 Admin.	10	Secretary	Help with Name Tags
			Need Greeter at the door
#5 Prayer	10	Teacher	God to raise up more Care Groups
			When to birth a new class

Like a train, most people need a track to run on. This chart allows the leader to fill in items to address as things come up from week-to-week in the class. Therefore, the class leadership meeting will be productive in making the class operate more effectively.

____________________________

Allan Taylor is the Minister of Education at First Baptist Church Woodstock, GA.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Flake's Formula, Leadership, Ministry, Small Groups, Sunday School, Teaching

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Jan

Enlisting Group Members to Serve

By Bob Wood · Comments (0)

Lack of leaders is the number one concern I hear as I talk with church leaders. Adult groups (Sunday School classes) are one of the best place to develop leaders. When you enlist your group members to serve, you are developing new leaders. Following are some ideas to help you encourage your members to serve. These ideas focus on adult groups, but apply also to students (youth) and kids (with adaption).

Enlist an Apprentice

Every leader should have an apprentice. An apprentice is not a substitute. An apprentice is someone whom you are training on the job to do ministry. He or she watches what you do, learns from you, practices ministry while you watch, and eventually goes out to serve by himself or herself. For example, an apprentice teacher would teach once a month until he or she felt comfortable teaching a group of his or her own. Whatever your place of leadership, enlist an apprentice.

Provide Places to Serve

Does your group provide places for members to serve? Some leaders try to do it all alone and leave no place for others to serve. Sometime we communicate that the only way to serve is as a “teacher.” Organize your group with places for others to serve. For example, organize your group with outreach leaders, ministry/care group leaders, prayer leaders, and fellowship leaders. (You can think of other ideas for ministry leaders also.) When you organize your group for ministry, you give others opportunities to find fulfillment through ministry and at the same time accomplish more than you could ever do by yourself.

Know Your Members’ Giftedness

How well do you know your group members? Do you know how God has gifted them? Have you helped them discover their gifts? People don’t find fulfillment by filling a slot; they find fulfillment when they use their gifts to serve God and others. Help your members discover how God has gifted them. Then help them find a place to use that giftedness in service.

Ask Members to Serve

Most persons won’t volunteer to serve; you have to ask them. Don’t be afraid to ask person to serve. People will appreciate being asked (even if they say, “No”). Sometimes when you ask someone to serve in one area, he or she will decline that offer but volunteer to serve in another. Often it helps to ask members to try out a place of service serve for a short time or to let them know they can resign at any time. Remember, most persons won’t serve unless they are personally enlisted.

Encourage Members to Serve

As you lead your group, continually encourage your members to serve others. Model service for them. Help them find opportunities to serve. Help them deal with issues that arise as they serve. Celebrate service. Make service to others a clear expectation for members in your group. Ask them to serve and encourage them to serve.

What can you do to enhance the level of service among your members?

_______________________
Bob Wood serves the Baptist State Convention of Michigan in the areas of church strengthening and leadership development.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Enlistment, Flake's Formula, Leadership, Sunday School

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Jan

Know Your Church

By David Bond · Comments (0)

Flake’s Formula for Sunday School growth is all about proven principles that have stood the test of time. But knowing the right principles is only the first step. The next and perhaps even more important step is taking the time to understand how to implement these principles in your unique church context. Consider how the following ten aspects of your church can provide helpful information for designing an effective Sunday School strategy.

1. Worship Attendees: Who is attending Sunday morning worship but not Sunday School? Is there a certain age group, family make-up, or other characteristic that stands out? A new group or two may be identified from this population.

2. Sunday School Rolls: Careful examination of your rolls can reveal what people groups are attending and not attending, where “groups within the group” may be hiding, and what classes have matured beyond the listed description.

3. Class Structure: Take a fresh look at what groups are available at your church. Are there noticeable gaps in the line-up? Are there people groups who would have trouble easily understanding what group to attend if they visited your church?

4. Leadership Roster: How long have your current leaders been serving in their respective positions? When was the last time that new leaders were placed into service and what training have any of them received in the last year?

5. Longtime Leaders: Great insight can be obtained by talking with those who have proven their love for Sunday School through years of dedicated service. What would they say is the mission of the Sunday School in your church? What do they see as its strengths and needs?

6. Church Calendar and Attendance Patterns: What are some of the historic “big days” in your church? What do the typical attendance patterns look like? Are there unique local factors that contribute? This information will help you plan emphases and training opportunities.

7. Current Church Schedule: How many hours per week does your church hold services or other functions at which everyone is expected to attend? What freedom exists within your current schedule to allow for leader training and possibly alternative class meeting times?

8. Current Church Ministries: Does your church have ministries organized for prayer, outreach, member care, or ministry service? Consider how these may be incorporated into the Sunday School in order to maximize involvement and use of time.

9. Church Member Work Schedules: Is there a portion of your congregation who is required to work on Sunday morning? They might attend a group offered at another time. Are Sunday School leaders also working in other ministries on Sunday or Wednesday nights? This will affect their availability for training.

10. Pastor: What is the pastor’s view on the use of Sunday School as the disciple-making strategy for the church? His understanding of the work of the Sunday School and his public support is essential to its success.

Know your church so that your Sunday School can reach its fullest potential.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Flake's Formula, Leadership, Ministry, Organization, Sunday School, Training

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Jan

Know Your People Group

By Mark Miller · Comments (0)

During a recent hair cut appointment, the lady who styles my hair shared that her and her husband had found a Sunday School class. They had just started visiting my church and I inquired what made you choose this class. The class was a class that my wife had attended for a while. She shared that the class was made of bikers and that her husband love to ride. Consequently, one reason my wife chose not to stay in the class is because too much time was spent talking and planning for Bike rides. The Bikers loved the class and the non-biker didn’t. This group was great at reaching people who loved to ride.

For years before God started opening the door for me to preach in various churches, I taught a Sunday School class. Through the years, we had many guests to the Sunday School class. Despite my excellent teaching (ha), not every guest chose to remain in the class. I noticed through the years that the guests that chose to remain usually had three main characteristics: First, they had children of the same ages as my regular attenders. Second, they enjoyed an interactive teaching style. Third, the husband loved to hunt and fish. As a class, we began to target guests and prospects that made up this people group.

Both of these classes took advantage of the church growth principles of homogeneity and receptivity. Through the years, I have heard people argue against these two principles, but in reality, human beings largely associate with people that are like them. Facebook recognizes these principles and even recommends friends based on common characteristics. Such as this person might be a friend because they grew up in your hometown, graduated from your college, or have the same hobbies or interests.

“Targeting” is a key component of growing a Sunday School. Classes must understand who they are seeking to reach and make a strong commitment to reach that group. Create new classes or groups to reach unreached groups or groups that the current organization has not proven to be effective in reaching. A Sunday School director should develop a directory that clearly identifies the people groups, age groups, or life stages that serve as the primary target for each class.

Teachers, know your people group. Pastors and Sunday School Leaders, know the people groups that your church currently reaches, easily could reach, and those groups that might require Kingdom partnerships with other churches and ministries to effectively reach your community. The goal is to proclaim Christ to every people group, so that every man, woman, and child may be presented perfect in Christ.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Flake's Formula, Leadership, Ministry, Sunday School, Teaching

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