How is your commitment to staring new groups doing?  Still making progress I pray!  Don’t give up.  Stay faithful and God will bless you and those that reached through the new groups you start.

You’ve made the commitment to start new groups, you’ve got your friends praying about stating new groups, you’ve talked up starting new groups in your church, and you’ve even got some folks interesting in leading new groups.  So what’s next?  EQUIPPING/TRAINING!

There are several options in providing training today and lots of resources.

1. Online articles and resources.  This blog and others like it provide wonderful resources and ideas for Sunday School leaders.  Another good resource is each state convention website.  Most of the articles are free and can be printed and shared with the leaders of the new groups.
2. Online training.  Each month our team provides a free online Sunday School/Small Groups training experience for the churches in our state convention and you can check it out by visiting www.gabaptistsundayschool.org/training-videos.  One pastor gave every Sunday School leader a bottled coke and a bag of microwave popcorn with the above website with instruction to watch the training at home.  They followed up with their leaders by asking them to complete a quick 5 question card that they returned to the pastor.
3. Printed materials.  In every LifeWay Sunday School leader guide there are some helpful insights and ideas for leaders.  Use the content from those articles to train your leaders.  Another printed resource is books that address issues related to Sunday School.  The most recent resource I’ve contributed to is Sunday School that Really Excels from Kergel Publishers.  Visit our website and click on e-store to order a copy for $10.
4. Associational Training Events.  I’m sure that your association has a training planned for Sunday School leaders.  If your association has not planned training why don’t you plan one for your association and invite other churches in your association to participate.
5. State Convention Training Events.  These events are high quality and low cost!  Contact your state convention’s Sunday School office to get a calendar of these training opportunities and the host locations.
6. RIDGECREST.  I love Ridgecrest!  I met my wife at Ridgecrest!  I’ve gained so many ideas and resources from the Sunday School training events at Ridgecrest.  My family and I have many wonderful memories of the times we’ve been to Ridgecrest for Sunday School training events.  If you’ve never been to a Sunday School training event at Ridgecrest, you’ve got to go!  If you’ve been before then you need to go back.  The Sunday School training at Ridgecrest this summer was great and I’m already looking forward to next year.  Go ahead and put July 18-21, 2014 on your calendar.

Do you see the life of the church through eyes of addition or multiplication?  What is the difference and how can you tell what this looks like?  Avery Willis once explained it this way.  He asked a group of people what they saw when they looked at an apple tree.  He said, “do you see a tree with apples in it, or do you see a bunch of apples with trees in them?”

The first view, seeing only apples in trees is a view of addition.  When you can see the greater potential and maximized possibilities of seeing trees in an apple then you are seeing with eyes of multiplication.

How do you see your Sunday School?  Do you just see people in a class, or do you see new units coming out of the people in the class.  Do you see people who will become leaders in your Sunday School?  Our people have potential.  They need equipping and training and opportunities to be turned loose to start new units and grow new leaders for more new units.

2 Timothy 2:2 says “and the things that you have heard from me in the presence of faithful men, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  Multiplication takes place when we train our leaders to train leaders who will serve alongside of them and one day take over that unit or go on to take a new unit and continue the multiplication process.

When your Sunday School begins to see through the lens of multiplication then you will begin to live in God’s plan for your Sunday School.

There is a great section in the book “Extreme Sunday School Challenge” by David Francis and Bruce Raley on God’s Plan for Multiplying Leaders.  You will want to read that and see how to accomplish this vital aspect of a healthy Sunday School.

Remember! Are you seeing apples in trees, or trees in apples?