Teaching :: Sunday School Leaders

Oct

Maximizing Ministry Through Team Leadership

By David Bond · Comments (0)

This post is part one of three.

Heading to Sunday School, I met my teacher walking toward the building. He carried his Bible and lesson notes in one hand and the box of guest cards and other supplies in the other. His wife accompanied him with a tray of homemade cinnamon rolls.

In class, Eddie passed out sign-up sheets for upcoming church events and service opportunities. He distributed the prayer list created from the emails he had collected during the week. He mentioned that he had seen the Johnson’s at the hospital the night before and that they would be going home with their new baby soon. At this point, his wife announced that she was bringing a ham to the Johnson’s house and encouraged others to supply food as well.

Eddie taught his lesson, asked (and answered) a few questions, reminded everyone about the fellowship at his home on Saturday night, and dismissed in prayer. A guest couple was present in the back, but Eddie was too busy filling out the attendance sheet to notice.

Does a similar scenario play out in the Sunday School of your church? Far too often, the pieces of a class ministry fall under the responsibility of one willing but overwhelmed soul. The result is a group that means well but consistently falls short of impacting people for real life change.

Perhaps a better way is to employ a team leadership approach to Sunday School. When more people are involved in real leadership of key ministry areas, Sunday School classes will be in the best position to thrive. For the next three posts, please consider these Six “T’s” of Team Leadership.

1. Testimony: Why Should You Bother With Team Leadership?

Some may immediately object that recruiting even one leader for a Sunday School class is difficult, much less an entire team. But the testimony of shared leadership is that the impact is worth the effort.

First, team leadership is biblical. Passages such as 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 and 1 Peter 4:10 teach us that God has gifted all believers and arranged them to work together for the purpose of serving others. Certainly Sunday School provides a natural environment for developing and using these gifts.

Second, team leadership has proven to be effective. In his book, Make Your Group Grow, Josh Hunt found a direct correlation between the number of leaders in a class and the likelihood that their classes were growing. When you expand your leadership team, you increase the number of people who are intentionally working to make sure your class stays on mission.

Third, team leadership is strategic. In The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, John Maxwell notes that great teams have great depth. When you multiply leaders in your Sunday School ministry, you allow gifted individuals to gain maturity and experience. When the time comes to create new classes, there will be a pool of leaders from which to draw.

In the next post, we’ll look at two more “T’s” of team leadership.

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David Bond is the Adult Sunday School Strategist for the Evangelism and Church Growth Team of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

Categories : Leadership, Ministry, Organization, Sunday School, Teaching

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Oct

Preparation for Teaching…A Personal Prayer Approach

By Kiely Young · Comments (0)

This is a repost of one of sundayschoolleader.com’s most popular posts. Written by Kiely Young published on January 25, 2011.

I stood before our Adult Sunday School Class leaders in a recent workers meeting I asked what they considered their greatest needs in Sunday School. Without question, the greatest need was prayer. Yes, we need to be adequately prepared to teach, but that must begin with prayer. How true this is.

We need to prayerfully in tune with God seeking daily wisdom.
We must make sure our hearts are clean and pure as we prepare to teach.
We must seek God’s daily direction in preparation.
We must be prayerfully in tune with the needs of our class and pray daily for them.
We must be aware of needs in our community and seek wisdom in ways to meet those needs.
We must ask God He wants us to challenge our class to reach friends, neighbors, and relatives.
We must pray for the leaders of our church, including pastor, staff, and other Sunday School leaders.
We must realize that the enemy does not like us to pray in this fashion and seek daily strength from God to deal with the enemy.
As we pray, God will reveal truths and insights into ways He wants to transform us and our class to be spiritual multipliers. We must be willing to follow His leadership.
We must ask God to continually help us to be effective spiritual multipliers of His truth as we seek grow leaders for the future.

Remember James 5:16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (NKJV)

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Kiely Young-Director, Sunday School; Mississippi Baptist Convention Board

Categories : 31 Days to a Better Teacher, Prayer, Sunday School, Teaching

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Aug

More Than a Meeting: Obedience

By Darryl Wilson · Comments (0)

Over the years, I have challenged Sunday School leaders to consider what they are to accomplish through their efforts to teach the Bible. I lead them not only to examine the target for their teaching (attenders and God) but what should happen as a result of the Bible study encounter. When we lead attenders to meet God in Bible study, lives should be different as a result.

Furthermore, Jesus commanded us as we are going to “make disciples of all nations baptizing…and teaching them to obey.” He did not command us to teach them only to “know.” And that failure is impacting the work of the church around the world. There is much difference between head knowledge and obedience, between knowing and doing.

I read an article by Larry Peers entitled Bridging the Gap Between Knowing and Doing. In the article, Peers focuses on congregations who “make plans for change but don’t seem to get anywhere.” The first four practices he shares have application to the Sunday School Bible teaching-learning session and the hours between. Consider Peers’ following four practices in all capitals followed by my commentary:

ENCOURAGE DISCOVERY. Our job on Sunday morning is to lead attenders to meet God in Bible study. He has the power to change lives when we do. We must lead them to open His Word and examine the truth and its application to their lives. As a result, lecture is not enough because lecture is primarily a testimony of the teacher’s encounter. A life-changing experience must be first-hand. Questions are great tools for leading attenders to discover the truth and God Himself. Have attenders read and reflect on His Word. Break large groups into smaller groups so every person present can be involved.
IMAGINE POSSIBILITIES. Too often attempts to impart knowledge take up all of the time. Almost no time is dedicated to application and obedience. Do we simply make attenders more guilty as we help them to know more while not leading them to put it into practice? Instead, we must focus time on leading individuals to listen to God, to apply the truth to their lives. Help them see the truth’s impact upon their daily interactions at home, school, work, and beyond. Help them understand the difference that the impact of the truth of His Word will make in daily life. Help them consider ways they may practice the truth. Then help them commit–choose one or more ways to implement the truth.
DESIGN FUTURES. Stretch attenders to see the big picture. What would happen if we did obey? What would be the ramifications for the individual and the gospel? That can motivate attenders to consider the design or steps needed to make that future a reality. What small actions could ensure the accomplishment of the larger desire in response to the truth? What steps are needed in order to become fully obedient? How can we design the successful accomplishment of obedience? What obstacles should be expected and how can they be handled?
ENSURE DELIVERY. This is about accountability. What can be done to ensure the commitment to obey is kept? What deadlines need to be set and checked? Who could encourage attenders along the way? Ideally the teacher will ask the class next week how they did in obeying last week’s truth. The class may pair off and call each other during the week. Journaling may help here. A caring class will encourage obedience without badgering.

What are you doing to encourage obedience as a result of class sessions? Lead them to imagine possibilities in order to motivate them to take action. Allow them time to consider the steps needed to obey. How can you ensure the successful completion of their commitment? Which of these four areas needs strengthening in your teaching plan? What step do you need to take this week to help your class become more obedient? Pray. Take a step. Be transformational!

For more ideas about moving toward obedience, 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 : 31 Days of Transformational Class, Sunday School, Teaching

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Aug

Transformational Church Goes to Sunday School

By David Francis · Comments (2)

In the twelve months since the release of the book by Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer reporting its findings, the Transformational Church research project has already begun to create a buzz within

the Sunday School and Small Group movements. A lot of leaders are asking this question: “What might it our Sunday School class or small group looklike if it reflected the seven elements found in the Transformational Churches?” I’ve attempted to answer that question in a little book, Transformational Class: Transformational Church Goes to Sunday School.

Seven Elements

In the Spring of 2009, a team of LifeWay consultants fanned out across the country to conduct interviews with pastors from multiple denominations whose churches scored in the top ten percent of the initial quantitative research phase of the Transformational Church project. It is my privilege to lead that team, which assembled in Nashville to debrief this qualitative phase with LifeWay Research VP Ed Stetzer. It was amazing to hear that what I had recorded in my interviews with pastors in New England was also observed by our consultants across the country and across denominational lines. Want to know what the seven elements are? Visit www.transformationalchurch.com!

Missional small communities

If you’ve ever heard Dr. Stetzer speak, you’ve likely heard him exhort church leaders to get people out of rows, into circles, and from those circles to engage them in missional activity in their communities and beyond. I believe that a group that intentionally pursues the seven TC elements will likely become that kind of class: a Transformational Class!

The Power of One Class

If you’ve ever heard me speak, you’ve likely heard me exhort Sunday School and small group leaders about the power of each and every class to choose to become a group that practices the 3 R’s of a Great Commission group: reaching people for Christ, releasing people to serve, and reproducing itself for Kingdom impact. The seven elements can help guide such intentionality in every one of the 400,000-plus Sunday School classes in Southern Baptist churches, as well as small groups and classes beyond the SBC.

From seven elements to thirty topics

I am so grateful for my friends who serve as the champion for Sunday School in the 42 state conventions that serve Southern Baptist churches. While most of them wear multiple hats, I think of them first of all as State Sunday School Directors. It is in that role that these outstanding men and women sponsor this blog. They have identified thirty topics that relate to a transformational class. Each day this month, they will tackle one of these topics. By the time you’ve read them all, you should have a pretty good grasp on the kinds of attitudes and actions it will take to turn your Sunday school class into a transformational small community. I’m looking forward to reading every one. Hope you are, too!

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David Francis, Director
Sunday School, Discipleship,
Church & Network Partnerships
LifeWay Church Resources

Categories : Teaching, Transformation

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Apr

How NOT to Enlist Sunday School Workers

By Bob Wood · Comments (0)

Let me suggest ways not to enlist Sunday School workers.

Make announcements. I hear announcements from the pulpit such as, ”We need preschool teachers. Let us know if you want to teach.” People rarely respond to an announcement. When someone does respond, it is usually not the right person for the ministry, placing us in an awkward situation. Rather than making an announcement, personally enlist Sunday School workers.

Say, “There’s nothing to it.” If there’s nothing to it, then why would I want to do it? People respond to meaningful challenges. Rather than saying that there’s nothing to it, enlist the potential teacher with a challenge and vision for what can be accomplished as he or she serves.

Enlist in the church hallway. As we walk down the hall, we see a potential teacher and corner him or her right there, asking them to serve. What are the results? We don’t have time to adequately explain the expectations. We also devalue the ministry when we enlist on the fly. Rather than enlisting in the hallway; make an appointment and meet personally with the potential worker.

Expect an answer immediately. Often we ask someone to serve and expect an immediate answer. Most often that answer will be, “No.” Expecting an immediate answer puts the person under pressure and doesn’t allow time for prayerful consideration. Rather than expecting an immediate answer, give a person time to pray about it.

Say, “Nobody else will do it.” We say this when we’re more concerned about filling a position than about prayerfully helping persons find the right place of ministry. Rather than saying that nobody else will do it, we should be able to say, “I’ve prayed about this and I think you are the right person for the job.”

Use guilt as a motivator. I watched a man squirm in his seat as his pastor laid a guilt trip on him about filling a Sunday School position. He did agree to serve, but did very little from then on. Guilt can give us filled positions, but not effective long-term service. Rather than using guilt, ask a person to serve and let the Lord bring motivation to serve.

I’ve found that when we prayerfully and personally enlist persons to serve in Sunday School, we will see satisfied and effective Sunday School workers. What have you found that works well in enlisting Sunday School workers?

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Bob Wood serves the Baptist State Convention of Michigan in Church Strengthening Ministries.

Categories : Enlistment, Leadership, Ministry, Sunday School, Teaching

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