Winston Churchill remarked  concerning the rebuilding of England on October 23 1945, “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.”  As Sunday School Specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention, one of my favorites opportunities is to consult with churches about space.  Space really does shape a church’s ministries and can determine their growth

Recently, I have consulted with two different churches. One of these churches averages 800 in worship and 500 in Sunday School and the other averages 100 in worship and 82 in Sunday School. Both of these churches have buildings that were built in the last 10 years.  When shaping their buildings, they opted for a maximum number of classrooms and built classrooms for children of approximately 200 square feet.  Their building has shaped their ministry and as families have been reached put a squeeze on the space.  Praise the Lord that both of these churches are growing and are determined to not let space determine their growth.

Some Sunday School classes get satisfied because they have a full classroom.  When every classroom isutilized, organizations can become stagnant and new classes are no longerconsidered.  Both should be unacceptable when it keeps the church from fulfilling God’s purpose of reaching their communities for Christ.  Three types of space have to be balance: Parking, Education, and Worship.

All space problems can be solved.  Yes it might mean reorganizing, rethinking, or relocating, but they can be solved. Examine your space by answering the following questions:

1. What traditional classrooms are available?
2. Are there rooms such as closets, kitchens,
   offices that could be adapted for use temporarily or permanently?
3. Could you swap smaller classes in larger rooms
   with larger classes in smaller rooms?
4. Are their adjacent community buildings, schools,
   or houses?
5. Have you considered utilizing the existing space
   twice by starting a second or third Sunday School hour?
6. Is it time to build additional space for
   growth?
7. Would starting off campus or weekdays groups provide
   a legitimate alternative to Sunday morning
   Sunday School and worship?

Remember the building simply houses the programs that allow the people to accomplish the purpose of God.   Don’t let space keep your church from fulfilling God’s purpose.

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Dr. Mark Miller, Sunday School Specialist, Tennessee Baptist Convention. Mark also has his own blog at http://drmarkmiller.wordpress.com/

We all love to hear stories about a person enduring a tough season of life, but eventually overcomes the difficulty. Behind almost all of the stories of people who overcome is a parent, friend, teacher, or mentor that never gave up on them. A person that kept on encouraging them through trial and difficulty until they emerged victorious on the other side of the trial. We love stories like this.

I wish our churches and small groups would learn this lesson!

What am I referring to? I’m talking about the people who belong to your Sunday School class or small group. Especially those people who have been inactive for a period of time and are simply removed from belonging to the group! Often it is called cleaning or purging the roll.

What are we really saying when we take that yellow highlighter and draw a line through someone’s name and ask the church office to remove them our roll? We are saying:

• We give up
• This person isn’t worth my time
• Unredeemable
• Hopeless
• Lost

Hmmmm… that’s just the kind of hopeless situation that God likes to get involved in.

Let’s change our attitude toward the non-attenders on our roll!

Let’s call it what it is. It’s not a “roll”, it’s a ministry list. You could even call it your “redemption list”.

Let’s care enough to call.

Let’s hope enough to minister.

Let’s have faith that God redeems people in hopeless situations.

We need to learn from our competition. The gambling industry doesn’t ever give up. When they get a person’s name and contact information, they pour all sorts of time, energy, and money into luring them to a casino. Ditto the porn industry, and a dozen others.

Your Sunday School class is in the business of turning people around. By extending grace through Jesus Christ to people who have given up, we are part of the restoration and redemption process.

Now lose that highlighter and pick up the phone…

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Bob Mayfield serves as the Sunday School/small groups specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. He also has his own blog at bobmayfield.com

We all want to see and experience excellence in Bible teaching in all of our Sunday School classes and small group Bible studies. Yes indeed.  I heard one Associational Missions Director in Mississippi say to a group of his leaders. “There is nothing that can empty a Sunday School faster than a dry, boring teacher.” And he was right.

But, recently I have learned a hard lesson from a great Sunday School teacher. His class is strong and large.  It is really too large for the small group dynamics of a growing Sunday School class.  AND, they have stopped growing. All the seats are full and they are happy. It is a co-ed class.

A few recent widows in the class approached me with the possibility of starting a new class for widows.  I approached the teacher with the possibility.  He said we ought to talk to the class about the idea.  They were not in favor of that idea at all. “We want to keep everyone in OUR class.”  It is a great class, but now it is a closed class, no room to grow and they want no one to leave.

The solution: Time, patience, prayer, and persistence.  We may have to plow new ground.  We may have to approach the idea from a different direction so no one will have their feelings hurt, but at the same time, the ministry need can be met.

How can we meet the needs and reach the desired end result?

1. We have to prayerfully develop a plan.
2. We must prayerfully enlist the needed workers.
3. We must make sure they are properly equipped.
4. We must make certain they have a good place and time to meet.
5. We must assist them in accomplishing the purpose of their group, in this case, minister to widows in need through God’s Word for them.

God wants us to grow strong New Testament multiplying disciples who have a heart for reaching others and teaching them to do likewise.  We must be careful to build these principles into the DNA of every group we begin.  That takes careful, prayerful planning.  But God rejoices when we follow His directions.

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Kiely Young is the Director of Sunday School for the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board.

I believe in evangelism training.  It’s personal for me.  For years I struggled to share my faith and was frustrated with the lack of results.  Then a pastor trained me in personal evangelism (using Evangelism Explosion) and it made all the difference how often I shared my faith and how effective I was.

As I served churches, I found the same to be true.  When we mobilized persons to share their faith through personal evangelism training, we saw many people come to faith in Jesus.  I found that that evangelism training leads to a growing church with a growing Sunday School.  Let me mention some resources I’ve found useful to disciple persons in personal evangelism.

FAITH Evangelism Strategy (LifeWay Christian Resources, www.lifeway.com/faith)

FAITH uses a memorized gospel presentation and on-the-job training with an experienced team leader and two learners.  It requires commitment, but produces persons who are serious about sharing their faith.  Someone has said that evangelism is more caught than taught.  I’ve found that to be true; evangelism training that includes on-the-job training makes the difference.  FAITH not only strengthens evangelism, it builds Sunday School.  It is designed to tie evangelism training closely to Sunday School outreach and ministry. We used FAITH in a church of 500 with good results; one semester we saw at least one profession of faith among our teams each week.

The NET (North American Mission Board, www.namb.net/thenet)

The NET is built around using one’s personal testimony with selected Scriptures.  It is simpler than FAITH, but still provides on-the-job training with a trained mentor and two apprentices.  We used the NET in a smaller church (about 50) and saw a greater percentage of conversions (converts per member) than in the larger church mentioned above.

Becoming a Contagious Christian (Willow Creek, www.contagiouschristian.com)

This is basic evangelism training for every member.  It doesn’t require going out and sharing one’s faith.  It doesn’t require memorization.  There are a number of basic evangelism training resources, but this is my favorite.  I’ve found you can use this to equip all your members with tools for personal evangelism and identify those who are ready to take the next step through on-the-job evangelism training.

Growth that makes a difference for eternity is conversion growth.  Do you want to grow your church and class by conversion?  Use evangelism training.
___________________________
Bob Wood serves the Baptist State Convention of Michigan assisting churches to fulfill their potential in making disciples.

I serve as Interim Pastor for a medium size church in Northeast Mississippi. This is a rural, deep south, traditional Southern Baptist church on the outskirts of a mid-size Mississippi town of about 25,000. But within two miles of the church, demographics revealed there are more than two thousand unchurched families. There is also a concentration of single Moms with two or more children.

A couple of our ladies took it upon themselves to prayer drive the roads and streets in this two mile radius. They soon became so burdened they stopped their car in one neighborhood and began going door to door prayer walking, meeting people. They discovered several families at home with multiple needs. They also discovered a willingness of folks to open up and share needs. They were burdened for the spiritual well-being of their children, but did not know what to do for them. When the ladies from our church asked them if they would be willing for someone to have a Bible study with them and/or with their children, they responded positively.

It was not very long before these two ladies shared this with a Wednesday night Bible study/Prayer Meeting and asked permission to pick these children up for Bible Study and help enlist leaders for the new Bible study groups. Another lady got a burden for the Moms to have a Bible study as well.

Results:

• One team picks the children up on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights for children activities and Bible Study.
• Another group of ladies have been enlisted to teach two new classes for these children.
• Another group of ladies have volunteered to teach the Mothers of the children at a time convenient for these working Moms.

Three new classes came as a result of a prayer burden of two ladies driving the streets around the church, because they had been told there were hundreds of unreached people within two miles of their church.

It is amazing what happens when we put feet to our prayers followed by steps of faith. God will always reward our faith.

Kiely Young
Mississippi

Consider buying a pack of Easter cards (they usually come with 6 or 8 cards) that celebrate Christ’s resurrection and distribute to class members three weeks before Easter.

Encourage class members to send an Easter card to one or more friends or family member and include their own Easter story. The personal Easter story should be no more than a half-page (about 200 typed words). Members simply need to sign the card and insert their half-page Easter story. Here is an example, originally written for my grandchildren, that has been adapted by
adding an invitation to Sunday School.

Marie’s Easter Story

Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, our church held Sunday night worship outside on the parking lot during the summer. We sat on long wooden benches outside, because the church was not air-conditioned. I grew up going to church and knew many Bible stories, including Jesus’ death on the cross to provide forgiveness for the sins of people. But that night, as
a 9-year-old, I suddenly understood that meant me.

I didn’t understand why I began to cry, but my wise mother knew—I had suddenly realized I was sinful. She helped me pray to tell Jesus that I was sorry for my sin and wanted to accept His offer of forgiveness.

That night in 1951, I became a Christian. That means Jesus became my personal Savior, and I allowed Him to take charge of my life.

For 60 years now, Jesus has given me strength, a sense of peace, encouragement, and direction in both good times and
not-so-good.  Though I’m not perfect, I know He loves me and stands ready to forgive me.

That’s my personal “Easter story”… Awesome!

P.S. Sunday School has been important in my becoming a Christian and learning to follow Him. I’d love to introduce you to
my Sunday School at Nall Avenue Baptist Church.

______________________________

Marie Clark has served as Bible Teaching & Discipling Team Leader for the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists since 1996. She is passionate about Sunday School and enjoys serving as a volunteer in her church’s Sunday School.

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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.

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.

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.

1. Prayer is the foundation for all evangelistic activity.
2. Evangelism must be the climatic of the church before a strategy will be embraced by the people.
3. A biblical foundation for reaching the lost is essential to creating an evangelistic climate.
4. 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.

1. The lost person will be eternally separated from God in hell.
2. Christ provides the only access to the Father.
3. The fields are ripe for the harvest.
4. The Great Commission is a mandate.
5. Witness is who we are before it is what we do.
6. The Holy Spirit empowers us to witness.
7. 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.

When it comes to outreach, the advertising slogan, “Just Do It” comes to my mind. Consider these principles and ideas for outreach.  Identifying potential class members and securing contact information is essential. But unless you actually do some kind of outreach, all you have is a list of names.

• Plan for Outreach – Outreach will never happen consistently unless you lead your group to plan for it. Planning should include who, when and the specific outreach activity.
• Variety is the Spice of Outreach – The who, when and what of outreach should rotate regularly to keep outreach fresh. Contacts made  in person are most effective, but also learn to make good use of phone calls, e-mails, texting, mail, or even Facebook and Twitter. (See some suggestions below.)
• Involve as Many Members as Possible – Harry Piland, a former Director of Sunday School for the Baptist Sunday School Board, stressed this approach by explaining, “Divide the work of a Sunday School class into do-able hunks, then
  give each person one hunk.” There is no better area to apply this principle that in outreach.

Invite them to Bible Study – This is the simplest and most direct form of outreach. The ideas below can help you develop a relationship with potential members and make ongoing contacts that are “non-nagging.”

• Vacation Bible School Follow-up – Always make a follow-up contact with boys and girls and their parents that are prospects who attended VBS. Idea: during VBS planning schedule a VBS outreach evening or Saturday morning the week after VBS. Go in teams of 2-3 to make a quick doorstep visit and leave a memento of VBS (a VBS Music for Kids CD or deliver a picture made during the week). Be sure to include information about your church and Sunday School.
• Be Part of a Church-wide Community Event – Block party, Easter Egg Hunt, Parents Night Out, etc.
• Time Change Reminder – Make quick phone calls, to both prospects and members, to remind them to change their clocks in the spring and fall. Leave a voice mail if no one answers, identifying yourself and your church.
• Happy Birthday Wishes – If you have a birthdate, send a “Happy Birthday” card, text, or phone call.
• Party Invitation – Invite the prospective member to your class social. Offer to pick them up or meet them at the event so you can go in together and introduce them to others.
• Work Invitation – That’s right! Invite them to join your class in a work project, such as serving meals at a shelter or raking the yard of an elderly person.  Many of today’s adults and teens are attracted to helping a worthy cause. While working, they also get to know others in the group and feel more comfortable with them.

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Marie Clark has served as team leader for the Bible Teaching & Discipling Team of the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists since 1996.