Author Archive for Mark Donnell – Page 2

What About the Babies?

By Mark Donnell · Comments (1)
Saturday, August 18th, 2012

This is day 18 of 31 Days of Missionary Sunday School.

I’m about to be a grandfather!  Our daughter is just a few weeks away from giving us our first grandchild.  Needless to say, my wife is busy dragging me around to every store that has anything to do with babies.  I have noticed a couple of things while looking at cute little baby socks and rattles.  First, baby stuff is expensive!  And second, there are a lot of pregnant women and babies with mommy’s and daddy’s out there!  This got me to thinking.  Wouldn’t it be great if all of those babies were coming to church with their mommy’s and daddy’s?  What are we doing to reach those parents and babies?

In my role as a state Sunday School Director, I visit many churches that have a strong preschool ministry.  However, I also have seen many bed baby rooms that are being used for storage.  Many of these churches don’t even have any bed baby teachers enlisted.  Their excuse is, “We don’t have any babies in our church right now, so we don’t need to prepare the room or enlist any teachers.”  What a shame!  Every community probably has a few expectant parents and babies that aren’t enrolled in Bible study.  If we aren’t prepared and actively seeking them how will we ever reach them?

Years ago we had a great program called the Cradle Roll Department.  It ministered to parents and families with young preschoolers.  A few years ago the name was changed to “First Contact”.  It is designed to provide an ongoing emphasis for outreach and ministry through the Preschool Sunday School.  It does this by helping your church discover, locate, and minister to expectant parents and families with babies up to 12 months of age, like those young parents I see in the baby stores.  It provides support through prayer, encouragement, and ministry on a regular basis.  If parents agree, a child may be enrolled in Sunday School.

If your church does not already have a First Contact ministry, you may want to consider starting one.  The first step will be for your church to enlist someone to coordinate the First Contact ministry.  Then you will want to enlist a core group of people who will visit prospects.  Visitors may be:

  • Adults with a love for young families
  • Couples from Young Adult Sunday School classes
  • Preschool Sunday School teachers

You will want to develop plans for locating prospects such as:

  • Birth announcements from newspapers
  • VBS prospects who have siblings 12 months or younger
  • Names given by church members
  • Expectant parents class offered by your church
  • Families who visit during a holiday church event

You will want to develop a plan for ministering to and cultivating relationships with prospects such as Bible studies for new parents; Young Adult Sunday School fellowships; Parent/Baby Dedication services that include church members and prospects.  Many churches provide a copy of BabyLife magazine to new parents.  This is a monthly magazine from LifeWay Christian Resources.  The next step is to develop a budget, train your visitors to make contacts and start the ministry!

David Francis states in “Missionary Sunday School”: “The missionary Sunday School is satisfied only when everyone within its reach has access to a Bible study group appropriate for his/her age, stage of life, and ability to learn (click here to go back to David’s blog post).   Until that happens, there is always more work to do.” This includes expectant parents and parents with babies 12 months and younger.  The question is, “Do we have expectant mothers and parents with babies in our community?”  “Are we doing our best to reach out to these families?”

I’m grateful that my kids and my future grandchild will be enrolled in a loving Southern Baptist Church where they will be loved and cared for.  But my heart breaks every time my wife takes me to another baby department and I see so many babies and expectant mothers that may or may not be enrolled in a Bible study ministry.  I encourage you to seek God’s will about what He would have your church to do.

For more detailed ideas and help in starting a First Contact ministry in your church, contact your Associational Office or State Convention Sunday School Department.
_________________________
Mark Donnell serves as the Sunday School/Discipleship Specialist for the Missouri Baptist Convention

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Categories : 31 Days of Missionary Sunday School, Bible Study, Group Life, Growing your Group, Leadership, Learning, Ministry, Mission, New Groups, Organization, Outreach/Evangelism, Small Groups, Space, Sunday School, Teaching, Training

Sunday School – The Heart of Teaching and Reaching

By Mark Donnell · Comments (1)
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Recently I have been asked by several churches about having Discipleship Classes (or Closed Group classes) during the Sunday School hour on Sunday mornings.  Is it OK to do that?  Will it work?  Should we offer just Discipleship Classes or a mixture of Sunday School Classes and
Discipleship Classes?

With the cost of gasoline increasing almost daily and family time becoming more and more precious, it is getting harder and harder to get people to come back to church on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.  But Sunday evening has been the traditional time for Discipleship Training.  So, is Sunday morning the right time to offer Discipleship Training classes?

 

To answer that question, let me ask another question, then give some explanation.  The question is – What is the purpose of your Sunday School?

Now, let me tell you what I see as the purpose of the Sunday School.  I believe the purpose of Sunday School is to lead people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to develop mature Christians through open Bible study groups that engage people in evangelism, discipleship, ministry, fellowship and worship.  I underlined “leading people to faith” to emphasize that we should be bringing our lost friends, relatives and co-workers to Sunday School so that they can be exposed to God’s Word through a simple, easy to understand Bible lesson and hopefully respond to it by receiving Christ as their Savior.  I also underlined “open Bible study groups”.  An Open Bible study is a lesson that stands alone and is open for anyone to attend.  It expects new people every week.  Our LifeWay Sunday School literature is designed as an Open Bible study because each lesson is simple, and easy enough for even a lost person to understand.

On the other hand, a “Closed Bible study group” is usually referred to as a Discipleship Class.  These are classes designed for Christians who want to mature in their relationship and walk with the Lord.  As Southern Baptists we have lots of great Discipleship courses and I believe that every Christian believer needs to be involved in them and that churches should offer them, understanding the closed group concept.  Closed groups are just that…they usually are designed to last from 6 to 13 weeks and each lesson builds on what was learned and experienced by the group the week before.  After just two weeks or so, a new comer would be hard pressed to understand and enjoy the class because they have not experienced the first few lessons.  Thus the name “closed group”.  Once the class begins, new members are usually not accepted.  The lessons are designed for those who already have experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ and may be too deep in theology and doctrine for a lost person to understand.

So, I go back to my question – What is the purpose of your Sunday School? If you want your Sunday School to be an evangelistic tool to reach lost people for Christ, then I would be against making any of your classes into a Closed Group.  Instead, I would encourage all of your classes to catch the vision of the purpose that I have stated above and start reaching out to lost people and inviting them to Sunday School.  As your classes start growing, then you will have the pleasure of starting more and more new classes.  (Perhaps some home Bible study groups meeting at different times of the week!)  As people start getting excited about seeing lost people coming and responding to God’s Word, they will want to grow in their own faith and they will be willing to attend Discipleship Classes at other times than on Sunday morning.

There are many churches that offer Discipleship classes during the Sunday School.  But, to my knowledge, I do not know of any that are really growing using that approach.  Many times it draws away people that are badly needed in places of leadership in the Sunday School classes.  Plus, once you allow closed groups to get started during Sunday School, it will be hard to stop.  I acknowledge that this is becoming an important issue in the life of our churches.  If you do allow some classes to become closed groups, then you must make sure that you offer Sunday School classes for lost and unchurched visitors to attend since they cannot attend the closed group class.

Do we really want to glorify the Father this year with our Sunday School and Small Group Bible Studies?  It won’t happen unless we see Sunday School classes getting serious about reaching new people.  And that will mean some new classes and units will need to be started!  Let’s make a commitment to quality teaching and outreach in all of our classes.

_______________________

Mark Donnell, Sunday School Specialist

Missouri Baptist Convention

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Categories : Outreach/Evangelism, Sunday School

The Three R’s of a Missional Group

By Mark Donnell · Comments (0)
Saturday, August 27th, 2011

Have you ever heard the old saying, “Good Things Come in Threes”? Consider these:

Small/medium/large

Past/present/future

Tic-Tac-Toe

Auto Industry: The Big Three (well, for a long time)

ABC/NBC/CBS (Three networks, three letters each)

Baseball: three strikes, three bases, three outfielders

Yada, yada, yada…blah, blah, blah.

You get the idea. In the context of an on-mission Sunday School class, good things come when we practice the three Rs: Release, Reproduce and Reach.

Release:
Sometimes Adult Sunday School classes seem to forget where new leaders for the preschool, children, and student classes come from. They come from Adult Sunday School classes! As your Sunday School grows, you will need many more workers. Rather than be upset about losing class members to serve in these important areas of the church, you should celebrate them as missionaries from your class. Call them Associate Members or Members-in-Service. And make sure to keep them involved in the life of the class by keeping in touch with them and inviting them to all class functions. By doing this, more members will be willing to serve in the church.

Reproduce:
Every living thing needs to reproduce. Otherwise it will slowly die away. The same is true for a Sunday School class. If you truly want to grow, then each class must reproduce itself! When is a class ready to reproduce? When the room is too full, when the teacher cannot keep track of all the member’s names, or when your apprentice teacher is ready to lead. Instead of “splitting the class” or “dividing the class”, try “birthing” a new class. Make it as exciting as having a new child or grandchild being born. Enjoy the pregnancy period as you prepare the class, and then celebrate the birth with a party!

Reach
If your Sunday School class is going to grow and reach new people, it will take all the members being on mission. Encourage your class members to share the names of lost people they know who need to be involved in Bible study. List these names on a poster in the class and pray regularly for them. Celebrate when one comes to know Christ and when they are enrolled in a Bible study class. Challenge your members to enroll at least one person in the class over the next quarter. Lead the class to become missional by finding a need in your community and plan a ministry project to address it.

Yes, good things can come in three’s. When a class practices the three Rs, it becomes a class that’s willing to empty itself in missional activity.

_____________________

Mark Donnell is the State Sunday School Specialist for the Missouri Baptist Convention.

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Categories : 31 Days of Transformational Class, Sunday School
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