Sunday School :: Sunday School Leaders

Feb

Sunday School Growth = Evangelism + Ministry + Discipleship

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (0)

We can easily make a case for the value of Sunday School helping the church carry out all five purposes: evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and worship. Worship would be included not because of a worship service following Sunday School. Worship would be included because when we open God’s Word, He speaks. And that is an open invitation to worship.

I can also make a case for fellowship due to the relationships and the importance of assimilation. But for this post, I am including fellowship as a natural part of ministry. We cannot effectively minister to people and care for their needs without a relationship. I am going to assume fellowship in order to narrow the focus of this conversation.

Here is the equation for this blog post:

Sunday School Growth = Evangelism + Ministry + Discipleship

EVANGELISM. Growing Sunday School cannot exist when any one of these ingredients is missing. Many Sunday Schools are trying to operate without evangelism. They are not focused on reaching out to new people. They are not prepared when new people show up. They do not follow up. They may care about each other. They may minister to one another’s needs. But they don’t really care whether new people come to class or not. They don’t care enough about lost people to invite them to Sunday School or Jesus.

MINISTRY. Growing Sunday School cannot exist without ministry. We may be inviting new people all the time. We may have guests show up every Sunday. But if we are not ministering to the needs of members, they won’t stay connected. We will miss some of the prospects if we fail to reach out in their times of stress and need. Our caring connects. But when our back door (people leaving) is as big or bigger than our front door (new people), we cannot grow.

DISCIPLESHIP. Finally, growing Sunday School cannot exist without discipleship. If the group is inviting and ministering but is not teaching God’s Word, the group is nothing more than a social club. If the group is reaching out and meeting needs but not “making disciples,” then the members are not personally growing. We are to equip the saints for works of service (Ephesians 4:11-12). Even if the numbers for the Sunday School are increasing but the lives are not becoming more like Jesus, the Sunday School is unbalanced in its growth and is likely destined to decline.

How is your Sunday School doing on this equation? If you had to identify one area in which your Sunday School is weakest, which would it be? What needs to be done to shore up that weakness? What steps can you take this month to begin to address that area? Sunday School growth equals evangelism, ministry, AND discipleship. Pray. Evaluate. Address. Grow. Make disciples. For more ideas about growing your Sunday School, check out these blog posts:

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Darryl Wilson has served as Director of the Sunday School Department for the Kentucky Baptist Convention since 1997. He served as Minister of Education in five churches in Kentucky and South Carolina. He is the author of The Sunday School Revolutionary!, a blog about life-changing Sunday School and small groups.

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

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Jan

How to Effectively Group People in Sunday School/Small Groups

By Kenneth Priest · Comments (0)

There are several primary considerations for effectively organizing groups for Sunday School/Small Groups. Before developing your structure, account for the total active church membership. Second, determine whether the groups will be offered on-campus, off-campus, or both. Finally, evaluate community and church demographics. Once the primary considerations are determined, you can begin grouping people for effective community.

Grouping people effectively requires intentionality. Whether using on-campus or off-campus groups, focus should be given to creating genuine community. This is accomplished by modeling the biblical principles of Acts 2:42; “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.” (HCSB). When a group focuses on studying God’s Word, praying for one another, spending quality time getting to know one another, and meeting together consistently, an environment is cultivated for community. Once community is created, there is a natural attraction for persons to connect with the group. The genuine community which exists is a warm, inviting atmosphere.

Simple group dynamics state persons connect with others persons of affinity. Effective grouping, therefore, works best through these considerations. There are several options to group persons.

Age-grade

This category groups persons who are at the same age. Smaller churches typically have larger age-spans in these groups which creates part of the challenge in dynamics to grow a particular group. Twenties typically do not have much in common with forties, yet the smaller the congregation, a young adult class may span the ages of 20-49 year old. Whereas critical mass is important, a healthier balance may need to be considered with emphasis given to the group-size:age-graded ratio., (ratio is philosophical, most off-campus groups will be below 15, on-campus groups will vary in size based on leadership abilities).

Life-Stage

This category groups persons who are at a similar life-stage. This may be determined by age of the children, grandchildren, retirement, the fact of being a boomer, etc. An example is a group may be for parents of elementary age children. The effectiveness of this model is most persons are going through similar experiences whether professionally in the marketplace or personally in home life.

Note: when using the age of the children to group parents, you may have older 40s in the class as persons who married and had children later in life compared to couples in their 20s or early thirties with the same age children. Using the age of children may disregard couples without children which are an ever-increasing portion of the population.

Interest

This category groups persons around interest. Categories may include men only, women only, sportsmen, outdoors men, marketplace women, etc. The effectiveness of this model is inherent in the “interest” itself. The challenge of this model is using the “interest” group to connect while keeping the study focused on God’s Word.

Proximity

There are two options in using off-campus groups. You may choose a similar structure as the on-campus for creating community groups centered around age, life-stages, and/or interest. The other option is proximity groups. If your demographics draw from all over the community, an off-campus group may be organized with persons who live in the same neighborhood or proximity. This option may bring together varied generations into community groups. This multi-generational approach creates inherent mentor-mentee relationship opportunities. A challenge to this approach is the participants do not have a common-bond of going through similar “life-stage” milestones together. A positive is an older person in the group has “been there, done that” and can share from his/her life experiences.

Effectiveness for either group, on-campus or off-campus, weighs on intentionality of the leadership team. Leadership development is core to either option succeeding. Leaders must be prepared and equipped to reproduce themselves as the group connects and grows. Effective groups have an outward focus. As group leaders insure all persons are connecting, caring environments are created and ministry occurs.

More information regarding this topic can be found in Missionary Sunday School by David Francis.

Categories : 5 Weeks of Flake, Flake's Formula, Growing your Group, Leadership, Ministry, Organization, Space and Facilities, Sunday School

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Jan

Everyone Needs a Class!

By Mark Miller · Comments (0)

Bad Lessons run off more people than good outreach programs can bring in. You will literally kill your church visiting if all you ever visit is Chronic Absentees. If you’re not enrolled in Sunday School, you ain’t got no class! Enrollment is the most important statistic in the church.

These were just a few of the snappy little sayings by Andy Anderson. Everyone needs a class, but If you’re not enrolled in Sunday School, you ain’t got no class! It is so powerful to hear someone share how a class of people ministered to them in their time of need and brought them to Jesus. In September of 2006, I arrived at my classroom to find a message from the pastor on the marker board: Pray for Beth Smith. I had no clue that Beth was sick. On Saturday, I had chaperoned the High School Band to a Band Contest and we returned at 2:00 in the morning. Both of Beth’s daughters were in the band. When they arrived home, Beth had responded to them. Beth’s husband, Chuck, was accompanying a terminally ill boy on a Elk hunt as a part of an organization like Make a Wish. The next morning Beth was very lethargic and was rushed to the hospital. The majority of the members of Sunday School class spent that day and Monday morning with Chuck, Jordan and Jessica at the hospital. Beth never came out of the diabetic coma that she was in and died on Monday afternoon. During the next few days, our class took the lead and ministered to the family and continued to do so to this day. That experience led me to the conclusion: That my desire is that every Tennessean would have a Sunday School class like mine to minister to them in a time of need.

Andy is shouting from the grave: If you’re not enrolled in Sunday School, you ain’t got no class! Sunday School leader do you understand the importance of enrolling people in Sunday School? In my opinion, every church member should be a member of a Sunday School class. After someone has been won the easiest and most efficient way to assimilate them is a Sunday School class. In fact, Thom Rainer’s, President of LifeWay Christian Resources, research indicates that if we get someone connected to a Sunday School class or small group that 85% of these people will still be connected to your church 5 years later, compared with only 15% of those who only attend worship. Join me in believing that every person needs a class.

As a young minister of education, Andy convinced me that enrollment is more important than baptisms, church membership, and attendance. He would declare, “Enrollment is the most important statistic in the church.” In fact, I agree with my friend Bob Mayfield who says, enrollment is the forgotten factor in evangelism today. Churches are dropping people from the rolls instead of adding people to the roll. When your enrollment increases, your attendance increases. When you enroll lost people, your baptisms increase. When your enrollment increases, your offerings increase. When your enrollment increases, your membership increases. A pastor from West TN recently took the Power Up Your Sunday School Challenge and his church enrolled 41 new members in 7 weeks and the attendance grew from 80 to 120.

Daniel Edmonds, the State Sunday School Director in Alabama, has a great definition for enrollment. He says that enrollment is a covenant making, attendance increasing, relationship building, evangelistic opportunity. Everyone needs a class that will enter a covenant to pray for them, to love them, to minister to them, to challenge them in their spiritual journey. But if they’re not enrolled in Sunday School, they ain’t got no class.
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Mark Miller, State Sunday School Director, Tennessee Baptist Convention

Categories : Flake's Formula, Ministry, Outreach/Evangelism, Prayer, Small Groups, Sunday School

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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

Basic Classroom Space Principles

By Tom Belew · Comments (0)

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 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.

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

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