Mission :: Sunday School Leaders

Jan

What Harvest?

By Ken Hemphill · Comments (0)

Why we are experiencing such poor evangelistic results when today’s church has more resources, tools, and technological toys than at any time in history. Our lack of harvest stands out in bold relief when placed against the context of Jesus’ promise that “the harvest is plentiful” (Matt. 9:37a). While this promise was directed to the first century disciples, I believe it still rings true today. The second half of the verse points to the essential problem we are facing concerning the harvest—“but the workers are few” (9:37b).

So here is the critical question—what needs to be done to mobilize believers to share the good news? This question takes precedence over other questions such as strategies or methods of evangelism for the twenty-first century. The issue is not a failure of programs but a lack of passion. We have grown indifferent or uncertain about the condition of the lost. We no longer have the concern that once drove believers onto their knees and into the streets.

I work from one simple truth that defines all I do and write—“nothing changes anyone’s heart and mind but the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God. Let me make four simple declarations.

Prayer is the foundation for all evangelistic activity.
Evangelism must be the climatic of the church before a strategy will be embraced by the people.
A biblical foundation for reaching the lost is essential to creating an evangelistic climate.
Each church must establish an intentional and personalized strategy based on its unique context.

If we go back to Matthew 9 we will find that Jesus not only gave the reason for such a lean harvest, He gave the solution—“Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (38). Evangelistic praying must focus on both the laborers and the potential harvest field. Develop a strategy to pray regularly that God will give people a passion for the lost. Create lists of persons who need Christ and pray for them by name in every small group setting.

Since God’s Word changes a person’s heart and mind, we must develop a sound theological foundation for evangelism. Here are a few doctrinal non-negotiables.

The lost person will be eternally separated from God in hell.
Christ provides the only access to the Father.
The fields are ripe for the harvest.
The Great Commission is a mandate.
Witness is who we are before it is what we do.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to witness.
God produces the results through us.

Each church must have a personalized and intentional strategy that includes building relationships with lost people, equipping everyone to present the gospel, taking the Good News to the streets, inviting people to accept Christ, and assimilating and nurturing new believers.

Here are a couple of new resources from Auxano Press you may find helpful—Splash and V.E.L.C.R.O. Church.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Ministry, Mission, Outreach/Evangelism

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Jan

Basic Home Group Space Principles

By David Bond · Comments (0)

My family has relocated several times over the past fifteen years. While numerous tasks accompany this experience, one of the most important is finding a new home. Factors such as location, cost, proximity to school, work, and church, neighborhood, must all be considered. Deciding on the best home is the result of careful evaluation, establishing priorities, and wise management of resources.

What about finding a home for your small group family? For many churches, accelerated growth and limited space may require new groups to meet away from the church building. When churches seek to find off-campus locations for groups, many factors must also be considered.

The Purpose of the Group

For this post, assume the home group is an extension of the Sunday School and is designed to function as an open group. Assist the group members in identifying their target people group whether it is families in the neighborhood or already identified acquaintances from the social circles of group members. Some groups may not choose to meet in a home at all but rather a more neutral location such as a coffee shop in order to engage those who are completely unreached. Home groups should be able to clearly identify their people group.

The Environment of the Home

The host home should be warm and welcoming. While every host wants to be ready for guests, the message should be that real people still live in the house. No one wants to have a small group meeting in a museum. Furnishings, décor, and overall atmosphere should invite group participants to feel at home and in the company of others to whom they can relate. Space should be sufficient for a seating arrangement that allows group members to view each other’s faces. Other considerations such as ease of locating, access, and parking should also be kept in mind.

Participants in the Group

Who will attend the group meeting? Ten single people will arrive in a different number of vehicles than five married couples. If children will be present at the meeting, teenagers will require different space than preschoolers. If the group has children of all ages, the variety of space needs increases again. Access for disabled group members may also need to be considered.

Proximity to the Church

In some cases, groups may meet in a home while their children participate in a program at church. This solution may work, but travel time between the host home and church must be factored into the overall time allotted. Also, consider the strategy you will use to eventually connect small group members to worship and service in and through your church.

Elements of the Meeting

If a meal is a part of the meeting, preparation and serving space should be considered. If the Bible study content is video driven, quality picture and sound is a must. Should the group desire to break off into smaller groups for prayer/accountability, this also may need to be thought through.

Be thorough when selecting a home for your small group family.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Growing your Group, Mission, New Groups, Small Groups, Space and Facilities, Sunday School

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Jan

Know Your Mission

By Bob Mayfield · Comments (0)

What is the purpose of your group?

I ask this question or something similar to it at almost every leadership conference I have the privilege to lead. The answers almost always fall in one of these three areas:

Bible study
Fellowship
Ministry

Although Sunday School or small groups certainly has these elements to it, these are three functions of the Sunday School. But your group has a mission!

The mission of Sunday School is to make disciples. In fact, Sunday School should be your church’s primary discipleship strategy.

To put it another way…

The mission of Sunday School is to make missionaries.

For the most part, many groups do not know their purpose, their mission. And when you do not know your true mission, then any old mission will do. In fact, when an organization has no mission, people project whatever mission they want onto the organization. As a result, our churches are full of people who somehow think that their mission is to show up!

As a group, it is vital that you connect your group to your church’s mission of making disciples. Groups that are focused on their true biblical mission are less self-serving and more other centered.

Consider asking your group what they believe the group’s mission is the next time that you meet. Have them read Matthew 28:18-20 or Acts 1:8 for comparison.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Mission

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Dec

Come Learn with Us!

By Phil Stone · Comments (0)

We’re finally taking seriously our great Co-Mission from Jesus to Go, make disciples. It seemed that the church had forgotten these final words of the Lord, but making disciples is on the lips of every speaker, leader, and preacher you hear today. Frankly, it’s about time! That is what He told us to do, but what does making disciples mean in today’s world. The word, disciple, is not a normal, 21^st century term used in business or corporate ventures. It’s a church word that had largely been eclipsed except in programmatic language for what you do on Sunday nights or if you’re really creative, Wednesdays in place of the old Prayer Meeting format – Discipleship Training. I’m glad we’re rediscovering this good word and putting it in the right context of an intentionally relational lifestyle of making disciples.

However, I fear that those of us in church leadership are won’t to define a disciple in such glowing terms that our average layperson’s reaction is, “I can’t make one of those! I’m not one of those, yet.” What we’re asking our people to do is more than Jesus asked. He said Go, make disciple not Go, make super Christians!

What, exactly, did He mean by disciple? What is a disciple? Let’s look at what Jesus did when he made disciples. In Matthew 4 when he called his disciples, He simply invited them to come learn from Him. After all, he was a rabbi, a teacher; and it was common for rabbis to attract pupils, learners to study his way. It’s evident that Jesus had already built a meaningful relationship with these men or they would never have left their livelihood or their father to follow Him. He promised to teach them how to transform their fishing. What Jesus did was to make learners; He called for them to “Come, learn with me.” When Peter and Andrew, James and John left with Him, they were not believers, they were learners. Transformation came later.

I see, in Jesus’ Great Commission a simple, three step transformation process for making disciples:

Step 1. Go, make disciples – Learner Disciple: Making super Christians is not our job. Jesus asks us simply to make learners. The best way to do this is by building meaningful relationships with people who are in “our world”. Research shows that 85% of people are willing to have an honest conversation about spiritual things these days, so in conversations, introduce them to the One you follow. This can be done over a cup of coffee at work or a bowl of ice cream at your home. Then eventually connect them with a small community of fellow followers at a cook out with your care group, or a class or small group fellowship. As the relationship deepens, introduce them to your practice of gathering as a small group each Sunday morning or weeknight to discuss spiritual things using the Bible as the basis for conversations. Invite them to Come learn with us. A learner disciple is not perfect; s/he’s rough around the edges, unfinished, a work in progress; s/he’s not a Bible scholar or a spiritual giant, but a learner. Sounds like Peter, doesn’t it? But it took some time for him to be able to say, Thou art the Christ!

Step 2. Baptizing them… – Believer Disciple: I truly believe that the gospel is so winsome that if a learner disciple hears the Word and experiences it lived out in you and the small group, he cannot help but become a believer disciple; one who makes the conscious choice to be a follower of Jesus. For this to happen, however, the group of fellow followers must experience community, that closeness of relationships seen in Acts 2. It must be Word driven, beginning with, returning to, and ending with God’s Word. It has to be small enough for personal discovery and interaction where personal experiences and the biblical passage intersect. It needs to be a “safe-zone” where the hard questions can be asked without threat. Just as Barnabas was to Paul, the mature believer’s job is to be a spiritual friend and mentor to this new believer.

Step 3. Teaching them to observe… Fully Devoted, Reproducing Disciple: When something is observed, it is being demonstrated which means change or transformation has occurred. The work of transformation is not complete when learner disciples become believers. It is the job of the mature believers to continue to be mentors and coach them to become fully devoted, reproducing disciples. The small community is at its best when even smaller groups are formed. Care Groups can introduce the idea of ministry and outreach to new believers. Small triads and one-on-one mentoring groups can be formed within the small community to strengthen the devotion of the new believer. The communities’ job is not just making disciples but also maturing them.

So, when you hear someone pontificating about our great Co-mission of making disciples, think process: From Learner to Believer to Fully Devoted-Reproducing Disciple. All of this starts with the simple act of intentionally building a meaningful relationship, developing a new friend, introducing him/her to a small community of friends, and saying, Come learn with us.

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

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Aug

Praying for Unreached People Groups

By Bob Mayfield · Comments (0)

What kind of Sunday School class or small group do you want to belong to? A group of people who are centered around their own needs, or a group of people who want to make a difference in their community and across the world? If you are not interested in sharing the Gospel with others and impacting lost people around the world, well… you might want to come back tomorrow, because this post is NOT for you!

I firmly believe that many Sunday School classes have not discovered their mission. Your group’s mission comes straight from God’s Word – “Go, therefore, and make disciples of every nation…” The actual Greek word for “nation” is pante ta ethnos. We get our word “ethnic” from it, but this word means people groups. Your Sunday School class is how your church is organized for its mission. Notice the verse again ”make disciple of every nation (ethnos)”. You are falling short of the Great Commission if you think reaching your neighborhood is enough.

I believe that most of our members are more than happy to give their time and treasure to a worthwhile cause. Let me connect you with one… your class should Adopt an Unreached People Group. Approximately 28% of the world’s population (2.1 billion people) have no access to the Gospel – none! Your Sunday School class can have an impact on thousands of people by simply adopting and praying for an unreached people group.

This year in Oklahoma, we began challenging Sunday School classes to adopt an unreached people group for one year. To date, over 2,200 classes have stepped forward to adopt and pray for their adopted group. At right is a pic from a worship service at Northwest Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, whose Sunday School classes have adopted 32 unreached people groups. In fact, this week one of our smallest churches (they have one adult class) sent a mission team to Africa. They are meeting and discovering the needs of the group they adopted just a few months ago so that they can share the Gospel and begin a church among the people they have adopted.

Here are some things your group can do to adopt and pray for your people group:

Visit www.joshuaproject.net and do some research on people groups;
Go to www.bgco.org/6426project or www.imb.net and register to adopt a people group;
Those registering for the 6426 Project through the Oklahoma Convention will receive an email with information about their new adopted group;
Share information about your people group with your class. Take time during every meeting to lift your group up in prayer;
Ask group members to go online to learn more about your group;
Pray for opportunities to bring the Gospel to your unreached people group.

There are a number of resources to help you and your group share the Gospel with your group:

Order Operation World, which will help you pray daily for people groups all over the world and will also probably have some information about your group;
Visit www.bobmayfield.com/6426project to order materials such as bookmarks, bulletin inserts, and posters;
Put the name of your adopted people group on the sign outside your classroom door;
Plan a time during your worship service to actually pray for unreached people groups that classes in your church have adopted;

There are some definite benefits to adopting an unreached people group:

Any age-group can adopt an unreached people group;
By asking every class to adopt an unreached people group, more church members become involved in prayer and ministry. More doors open as a result;
By praying for those who have yet to hear the Gospel, we deepen and expand the prayer lives of our members;
Our members become more aware of lostness when they research their people group and discover the needs of those for whom they pray;
By praying for unreached people groups, we challenge our members to put the Gospel on display and expect God to move in their adopted group.

First Baptist Church of Sapulpa, Oklahoma adopted an unreached, unengaged people group. A woman in the church realized that a lady that clerked in a local business might be from the area her people group was located. She was, and she was even a member her adopted people group! After some time of developing a relationship with this lady and contacts she has back home, the church has made several mission trips to this people group. They are starting the first church ever for their adopted unreached people group.

A major reason for decline in many of our churches is that we have disconnected the purpose of Sunday School from the mission of the church. A group with no purpose belongs in a bingo hall, not in a body of believers who have a mission to carry the Gospel to every people group on our planet.

Be a leader. Lead your group to adopt an unreached people group and make a difference.

Categories : 31 Days of Transformational Class, Mission, Outreach/Evangelism, Prayer

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