Archive for Mission – Page 2

Sunday School in a Transformational Church

This is article five of a ten part series. Click here to view the previous article.

Word Driven

Read Luke 10:25-27 and listen for Jesus’ teaching method…

Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus.  ‘Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?’

Jesus answered, ‘What’s written in God’s Law?  How do you interpret it?’

He said, ‘That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence – and that you love your neighbor as you do yourself.’  ‘Good answer!’ said Jesus. ‘“Do it and you’ll live.’  Looking for a loophole,  he asked, ‘And just how would you define neighbor?’    Jesus answered by telling a story and encourages the scholar to listen for the answer to his question.

(Jesus tells The Good Samaritan story)

Jesus asked, ‘What do you think?  Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?’  ‘The one who treated him kindly,’ the religion scholar responded.  Jesus said, ‘Go and do the same.’

Jesus began by pointing the scholar to the scriptures, The Law and asked for his interpretation.

Jesus didn’t tell the scholar anything.  He involved the scholar in discovering for himself the biblical truth that could transform his life.

Then he sent him on a mission!  Jesus knew that knowledge was not enough; the truth must be appropriated into life for it to be transformational.

Principle:  A Word-Driven Small Community ‘begins with, returns to, and ends with God’s Word which is relevant to any challenge or discussion.’ Stetzer/Rainer

We Baptist fume and fuss about the Bible, but I’ve discovered that we will do anything to keep from studying it and when we do, we make it the most inane hour of the week.  As I have traveled across NC over the past 30 years, I’ve asked this question to a multitude of churches:  How long do you spend in actual Bible study every Sunday? The average answer is about 30 minutes.  Sunday School classes practice the “Three Baptist’s B’s” quite well  15 minutes of shooting the Bull; 15 minutes of talking about the Ball game, and maybe 30 minutes of Bible study.  We also spend an inordinate amount of time on announcement and prayer requests, plus we must wait until everyone is there before we do these, because it would be a tragedy for anyone to miss the announcement/prayer requests, but Bible study can go out the window!  You can tell that I have a bit of passion around this subject.  We must remember that announcements do not make disciples; that we’re praying ourselves into biblical illiteracy (and I believe in fervent prayer); and that hour on Sunday morning is sacred unto God for Bible study.  We’re fooling ourselves if we think that people are getting it anywhere else.  They’re not.  So, what does it mean to be Word-Driven?

A Word-Driven Sunday School…

  • Has the Word of God as its anchor.
  • Is not an emotional support group.   Members are always brought back to God’s word as the source for every need.
  • Shares stories and experiences when the biblical passage and life experiences intersect
  • Teaches with DEPTH …less about covering the content and more about engaging the content.

Regarding depth, Adults indicated that only 14 percent of a possible study time should be dedicated to teacher explanation or lecture as opposed to 40 percent for discussion and hands on learning. The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them, Stetzer, Hayes

I have the joy of teaching a small group of adults on Sunday mornings.  I’ve discovered that they really do want                   a ‘word-driven’ Bible study that ‘begins, returns, and ends with God’s word’; one that doesn’t waste time but uses the full hour for Bible study.  I’ve also discovered that they enjoy learning in creative ways and that transformation has no age limit; even senior adults.  Paul wrote in his letters that transformation comes by the “renewing of your minds”.  This renewing work of God’s Spirit is a life-long activity.  All adults continue to be transformed into the likeness of Christ by God through the renewing of their minds and attitudes.  We do not change the way we learn as we mature.  Our learning style doesn’t shift so much as does our reticence to change.  If we have been used to learning only by lecture, then this is the way we expect to learn when we come to Bible study.  It may not meet our primary learning style, but it’s the way “ we’ve always done it.”

That doesn’t mean, however, that adults don’t enjoy learning in creative ways; even senior adults.  Simply check out the programs that are offered at adult centers and YMCAs, and you’ll discover that adults are some of the most involved, creative people around.  Why should Bible study be different?  Church is often the only place that adults are asked to come sit, soak, and sour.  This should not be!

Andragogy is the art and science of adult learning and it assumes that adults come with experiences to share and if they do not share, then little or no learning takes place.  Many adults have had years of biblical study and many wonderful stories.  The leader can set up an environment in which the members can feel safe and unthreatened to share what they know or some of their experiences.  Remember, the statement, “Where there is no involvement, there is no learning” was written by Gaines Dobbins when he was in his eighties!  As an educator of adults he recognized the benefit of involving people, at all ages.

So, teach like Jesus.  Ask your class, What’s written in God’s Word?  How do you interpret it?  What do you think? Then sit back and let them get involved in discovering for themselves biblical truths that can transform their lives.

____________________________
Phil Stone is the State Sunday School Director for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Sunday School in a Transformational Church

This is article four of a ten part series. Click here to view the previous article.

Mission Oriented

 

If Sunday School is to become a transformational ministry, its mission must be to make disciples that become more like Jesus.

But I believe that in many of our churches Sunday School has lost its purpose.   It has become simply a program that exists to sustain itself.  Today, we have a lot of people that diss a program.  There is nothing wrong with a program; it’s simply an organized way of doing something.  We’re reminded in TC:  If structure is not added to what God starts, the powerful momentum can be short lived. Tri Robinson, Revolutionary Leadership

However, when a program is not mission-oriented it quickly loses its reason for being.  The focus is on keeping the program spinning, and consequently on Sunday morning the Sunday School Director goes to the secretary’s office and helps her count nickels and noses and if there is a vacant hole, he grabs a round person and stuffs him into that square hole just to keep the program spinning.  It exists to sustain itself, not to accomplish the mission.  Sunday School must re-discover its true identity and purpose; not as a program or a church growth strategy but a mission-oriented ministry for making disciples and transforming lives through Transformational Small Communities.

Read Acts 8:30-35 and Listen for God’s Mission…

Later God’s angel spoke to Philip:  ‘At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.’

He got up and went.  He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit told Philip, ‘Climb into the chariot.’  Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, ‘Do you understand what you’re reading?’ He answered, ‘How can I without some to help?’ and invited Philip into the chariot with him.  The eunuch said, ‘Tell me who is the prophet talking about:  himself or some other?’  Philip grabbed his chance.  Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.

The Message

What was God’s Mission? For Philip…For the church…For Sunday School…For your class or small group…For you…

The Mission has not changed! Principle:  A Mission oriented Sunday School is outwardly focused and intentionally evangelistic.

What is needed to develop a Mission-Oriented Transformational Small Communities ministry?

A Mission-Oriented Pastor

  • To lead the church to discover its Mission.
  • To Empower the Sunday School to accomplish its purpose of making disciples.

A Mission-Oriented Sunday School Ministry Team – Without a team, the SS Director’s hands are tied.  He can’t do this by him/herself.  With a team, a mission-oriented, transformational, disciple-making strategy can be planned.

  • Sunday School Director
  • Outreach Coordinator – Works with Class Outreach Leaders
  • Ministry Coordinator – Works with Class Care Group Leaders
  • Adult Representative – One of the Adult Teachers
  • Student/Youth Representative – One of the Youth Teachers
  • Children’s Representative – One of the Children’s Teachers
  • Preschool Representative – One of the Preschool Teachers

Functions of the Sunday School Ministry Team:

  1. Annual Planning: to accomplish the mission of the church.  Each spring the team meets for an extended planning time to plan the year of Sunday School Ministry.  Example:  Meet Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon.  Divide the year into seasonal quarters and plan each quarters work.
  2. Monthly Coordination: Keeping track and measuring progress of Transformational Ministry.
    1. Evaluate past ministries
    2. Coordinate current ministry
    3. Plan Ahead for future ministries

The team meets for one hour monthly to keep the ministry coordinated around the mission. 

A Mission-Oriented Sunday School Organization with a Missionary Mentality in which each group can answer the question:  Who is your ‘People Group’?

  • Age Grading
  • Life-Stage
  • Generational Group
  • Affinity Group
  • Inter-generational
  • Ethnicity

Organize your Sunday School based on who needs to be reached in your community. Create small groups so that each has a people group to reach.  Example:  People in a small group for 25-35 year old adults will focus on the 25-35 age group as their people group to reach.  This is a missionary mentality for developing a disciple-making culture.

Mission – Oriented Care Groups in Adult/Student Classes

  • One Care Group Leader for every 4-6 members
  • Function:  Contact Every Member and Prospect Every Week.

Next week’s blog post( number five of ten) will on Word Driven

____________________________
Phil Stone is the State Sunday School Director for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.


Sunday School in a Transformational Church

This is article three of a ten part series. Click here to view the previous article.

How Small is Small?

Jeremiah prophesied thusly, For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13) Well, I’m no Jeremiah, but I believe that Baptist have committed a sin or two when it comes to Sunday School. Just yesterday, I had a Sunday School Director call me about her Sunday School. She shared with me some information about several of the classes and asked, Why aren’t we growing? Enrollment in these classes had topped 40+ and they had either plateaued or declined. When I suggested that these classes needed to reproduce, she immediately shot back, Oh, we can’t split those classes. The members would stop coming; we’d have anarchy, for sure. This Sunday School had dug cisterns which had become broken, and the fountain of living water had been replaced by the Dead Sea. Our role as Sunday School leaders is to keep the fountain flowing; to remove as many barriers as we can to making disciples and transformation and to create an environment in which the Holy Spirit can do His work.

In the Simple Church Rainer and Geiger encourages the church to develop a simple disciple-making process that connects people to God, to other people, to the lost in the community. Sunday School is that second step that connects people to other people in a transformational small community. Any barrier that keeps the Sunday School from connecting people with people should be removed.

My favorite quote in Transformational Church is, We’ve got to move from sitting in rows to sitting in circles to going out and changing the world. Ed Stetzer. Next Sunday in worship try looking at the backs of the heads of people in front of you to see if you can tell who they are. Can you learn anything about a person by looking at the back of his head? Not very much! But when you look him in the eyes, you can see expression, emotion, and response to you. The eyes are indeed the windows to the soul. Stetzer contends that transformation takes place best in small communities among friends both old and new. Therefore, for transformation we’ve got to move from the sanctuary, sitting in rows to a small group, sitting in circles where we can connect with others and provoke one another to love and good deeds and then to going out to change the world. In fact, I take it a step further. In our Sunday School classes we need to move to even smaller learning groups where interaction takes place around the Bible study. In my Sunday School class of around 9-12 people, we are usually in three learning groups of 3-4 each. Sadly, too many of our Sunday School classes are still sitting in rows or either in large semi-circles where people must communicate across a crowded room. Try it. Next Sunday, move out of those rows or that semi-circle and arrange your class in small learning groups of 3-4 each. Let them connect, share stories, and interact with the biblical truth. Create an environment for connection and transformation. For more information see Transformational Bible Study.

I shared with the Sunday School Director on the phone the following principles that help to eliminate barriers and create an environment for making disciples:

  1. When a class reaches maximum enrollment/attendance the class is less motivated to reach potential disciples, ministry diminishes, and growth subsides. Solution: Reproduce – start a new class.
  2. When member / leader ratio exceeds recommended limits ministry and class interaction diminishes; Solution: Reproduce or enlist leaders.
  3. When space is filled to 80% capacity members are less motivated to make disciples – Solution: Reproduce

These principles are based on ideals and of course we must work with what we have and make progress toward the ideal. These principles can help eliminate barriers to transformation and will assist in developing a culture of disciple-making through the Sunday School ministry. They have the potential for changing those broken cisterns we’ve developed and transforming them to fountains of living water for the renewing of minds. Can we follow these principles, eliminate barriers, and still not be a disciple-making, transformational ministry? Absolutely! Everything depends on how transformed and mission-oriented our hearts are. But, you can bet that life will not flow into a dead organization unless we do follow time-tested principles that remove the obstacles to transformational ministry. We can’t just talk about it; we’ve got to do something about it under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Use the chart below to evaluate your small group ministry:



 

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Phil Stone is the State Sunday School Director for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Sunday School in a Transformational Church

This is article two of a ten part series. Click here to view the previous article.

Making Disciples

(a repost but essential to this series)

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, 21st 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 – Disciple-ship 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 want 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 students, learners to follow him and 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 fathers to follow Him.  He promised to teach them how to transform their fishing.  What Jesus did was to make students, learners; He called for them to “Come, learn with me.”  When Peter and Andrew, James and John left with Him, they were not believers, but they were disciples; learner disciples. 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.

____________________________
Phil Stone is the State Sunday School Director for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Sunday School in a Transformational Church

This is article one of a ten part series.

Transformation

 

There’s a little praise chorus that has almost become the “Amazing Grace” for a new generation. Nearly everyone, young and old knows the words. Let’s sing it together

 

Lord, I lift your name on high.

Lord, I love to sing your praises.

I’m so glad you’re in my life.

I’m so glad you came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth

To show the way.

From the earth to the cross,

My debt to pay.

From the cross to the grave;

From the grave to the sky;

Lord, I lift your name on high.

 

What did we just sing? The transforming gospel of Jesus! Those of us who have experienced this transformation understand its power; we’re different people than we were or would have been had we not heard and accepted this gospel. Now, look outside of your four walls. Just beyond them are people who have not yet experienced this transformation. It is for them that Sunday School exists; not for us. Our job is to make disciples of them so they, too, can experience transformation. What is transformation?

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word Transformation? The answer most people give is Change. Some use the term Metamorphosis as in the change from caterpillar to butterfly. Change is a good word; it means fixing the past. A colleague of mind recently shared with me a new definition of transformation. It’s more than change; it’s creating a new path for the future. I like that!

What Scripture passages come to mind when you think about Transformation? The two most quoted are:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Transformation: change; creating a new path for the future; from old to new… by the renewing of your mind. The word mind implies learning as a pre-requisite for transformation. Sunday School is a learning place; a place for the renewing of your mind; a place where transformation can happen. That’s why I think that Sunday School ministry is well suited for Transformational Ministry.

In their book, Transformational Church, Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer use the acronym B.A.R. to describe a transformational ministry.

BAR is a little unusual term for a Baptist church, but I’d like for us to think of it as a transformational church raises the BAR of what it means to be church. LifeWay research discovered that in a Transformational Church:

  • People Become more like Jesus.
  • Churches Act more like the Body of Christ.
  • Communities Reflect more of the Kingdom of God.

If Sunday School is to become a transformational ministry, its mission must be to make disciples that become more like Jesus.

I have a friend that exemplifies this mission. She lived a hard life of alcohol, drugs, and biker-bars. To look at her you can still see the effects of her past, but what a sweet and gentle person she has become. She came to know Christ because someone dared to build a relationship with her and invite her to come learn with them at church. Her life was not just changed or fixed; it was transformed with a new path for her future. Usually, when you ask her on Sunday how her week has gone, she humbly shares about

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how she was able to meet someone’s need that week, even though she is a woman of limited means. She’s a regular participant in the small group/Sunday School class and is constantly helping out at the church and on mission trips. For her, old things have passed away, behold all things are become new; and she keeps the transformation going by the renewing of her mind weekly in small group Bible study with fellow believers. She has become and is becoming more and more like Jesus.

____________________________
Phil Stone is the State Sunday School Director for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.