Tag: Sunday School

Being a Missional Class

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Allen Taylor mentions that while our Sunday School classes are great places to catch up with friends each week, there is a greater purpose:

Sunday School leaders believe that Sunday School is about Bible study and fellowship. While this is true, it is shortsighted. Sunday School is a great place to visit friends and socialize with those who share a similar worldview that is Bible based. It is also a place where the saints of God are mobilized to carry out the commission of Christ.

You see, Sunday School is social and relational, but she is also missional! We must embrace evangelism if we are to be a Great Commission Sunday School, and we must accept the responsibility of ministering to people’s needs. We often relegate Sunday School to Bible study and fellowship because that is mostly what takes place in the classroom on Sunday morning. Evangelism and ministry are often overlooked because they function outside of the Sunday morning classroom.

We naturally gravitate toward that which is easier and more convenient. We naturally drift away from that which takes more effort and labor.

Let’s remember that we have a purpose in meeting together each week. So, just what is that purpose?

In my book The Six Core Values of Sunday School, I state,”My philosophy of a Sunday School class is: The class is a miniature congregation, and the teacher is a miniature pastor.” That being the case, a “miniature pastor” must meet criteria that exceed just having a pulse. We must have godly, committed people leading and shepherding our classes.

When you drive the success of Sunday School down to the lowest common denominator, you find it one class at a time. A Sunday School organization is only as good as the contribution of each individual class.

When we take that one step further, we find that the success of the class is the teacher. Therefore, we need teachers who will toe the leadership line if we are to have a healthy, growing Sunday School ministry.

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Being a Bible Teacher

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One thing I have emphasized in our discipleship ministry is that we are not just to be teachers of the Bible in our classes; we are to be shepherds of people. Besides, we don’t really teach the Bible anyway, we teach people the Bible. Josh Hunt sent this article out this week (by Elmer Towns) and it captures what I have emphasized over the years:

A Sunday School teacher is not just an instructor, like a saved public school teacher who is teaching the Bible. A Sunday School teacher has a much broader task than just communicating biblical truth.

[ Here is a video series on Shepherding God’s People ]

A Teacher Teaches People
There are two expressions of the spiritual gift of teaching.

  1. The first is the gift of teaching where the person has a desire to study, to discover new truth, then communicate it in the instructing process. This is not the gift that best describes the Sunday School teacher, though many Sunday School teachers have this gift.
  2. The second gift is the “pastor-teacher” described in Ephesians 4:11, “And He Himself gave . . . some pastors and teachers.” The pastor-teacher uses instruction to nurture his pupils. Even though the King James Version separates the two words, “pastors, and teachers,” the Greek language joins them as one function. The pastor is a teacher.

That brings us to the next step.

A Teacher Shepherds People
A Sunday School teacher is a shepherd. A woman who has four small children around a table in a church basement should be doing a lot more than telling Bible stories about baby Moses in the bushes, or Noah’s ark. She should be giving spiritual care to her students, which involves telling Bible stories. Just as a pastor shepherds his flock in more ways than preaching, so a Sunday School teacher cares for the Sunday School flock in more ways than teaching.

Everything the pastor is to his flock, the teacher is to his Sunday School class. The same Greek word is used for pastor and shepherd, suggesting their work is similar.

A Teacher is the Pastor’s Extension
The Sunday School teacher is the extension of pastoral ministry into the life of the class. Just as an extension helps you get to hard-to-reach places, so a Sunday School teacher helps the pastor reach hard-to-reach people (at least hard for him to reach). A pastor can’t always reach down to a three-year-old boy, but a Sunday School teacher can. Classes need to be more than content centers, they need to be shepherding centers.

The Apostle Paul’s advice to the pastors of the church at Ephesus is also a challenge to Sunday School teachers today. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing-the flock. . . . Therefore watch” (Acts 20:28-31). Notice the three words that are emphasized in these verses. These words contain the threefold job description of a pastor or Sunday School teacher.

  1. First, he is to oversee the flock, which is leading sheep.
  2. Second, he shepherds or feeds the flock, which is giving instruction.
  3. Third, he protects the flock by watching over them.

A Teacher is a Leader
How does the Sunday School teacher “shepherd” the flock in his care? He does so by fulfilling the three primary functions of the shepherd. First, a shepherd leads the flock. The greatest influence of many Sunday School teachers has been the result of their leading by example.

A Teacher is a Feeder
Second, a shepherd feeds the flock. While good Bible teaching will not guarantee your class will grow, poor teaching will hinder its growth

A Teacher is a Protector
Finally, a shepherd protects the flock. Jesus told Peter to ‘tend My sheep” (John 21:16). A Sunday School teacher visits the students who are absent to protect them from falling away. One of the best known and loved passages in all Scripture is the Twenty-third Psalm. In this passage, David describes the care he received at the hand of his Shepherd, the Lord. The example of the Lord who is our Shepherd is a constant challenge to the Sunday School teacher who is trying to be to his class what the Lord is to him.

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Great Reasons to Volunteer

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The church is an organization that is nothing without volunteers. While Jesus calls us to be good stewards of the talents and gifts he has giving to us, that alone does not get people out of the chair and into action.

As a staff member, I have a hard time recruiting volunteers, partly because people are busy enough with everyday life, and partly because I must ask whether their volunteering is in the best interest of THEM or the best interest of ME.

In the back of my mind, I think, “I know how busy people are! How can I expect them to add one more thing to their busy schedules?” I also understand that I am supposed to “equip the saints for the work of service” (Ephesians 4:12) but how can I do this when they are already maxed out?

The last thing I ever want to do is put pressure on someone or make them feel guilty because they don’t serve somewhere in the discipleship ministry. I wonder, though, if we all could look at service differently? What if instead of thinking we are putting a burden on someone, we are giving them the opportunity to enjoy their lives more?

Consider the following: According to a recent survey of people who volunteer *

  • 68% say it makes them feel physically healthier
  • 73% say it lowers their stress level
  • 92% say it enriches their sense of purpose in life

This gives me three great reasons people should volunteer; even with its frustrations and challenges, serving others is fulfilling! This is what we all need to remember. This is what will give us courage when it comes time for recruiting church volunteers, and it’s what gives us endurance when things get stressful.

Nearly all people who serve will feel “enriched in their sense of purpose in life.” That’s a great deal. When you add to that the spiritual rewards that come from serving, we are offering people an amazing opportunity.

*from Success Magazine, 9/10 [print_link] [email_link]

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Sunday School Growth

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Josh Hunt is a church and Sunday School growth consultant based in New Mexico (www.joshhunt.com). He recently wrote an article in which he asked whether there is a place for the “normal” church. In a landscape populated by the purpose driven, missional, seeker-driven, or church du jour, can the “normal” church still be used by God? His conclusion, “Yes, if …..” church leaders give attention to some of the basics.

Here is the gist of the ten items Josh listed:

  1. Study your church. Know your people.
  2. Improve the music. More than the style of the music, the question is, “Is it any good?”
  3. Improve the preaching and teaching. Josh notes, “The number one predictor of the growth of any church is the preaching ability of the pastor.” He goes on to suggest, “The best way for a pastor to improve his preaching is for him to teach his Sunday school teachers how to communicate. You work on improving their communication skills and everyone improves.”
  4. Train the workers. People make growth strategies work! Train them and give them experience in teaching skills, leadership skills, people skills, evangelism and growth skills, and spiritual development.
  5. Preach a gospel of joy and grace. I love the way Josh put it: “The gospel is a gospel of good news. It is a message of joy and grace that God loves us and will forgive us of all of our sins. He will give us a life of meaning and purpose. He will show us, through His word, how to live the best life possible in an often inhospitable world. Being in several hundred churches has taught me that the theology in growing churches is often different from the theology in non-growing churches. Growing churches preach grace with a smile. Declining churches teach grace with a scowl. There is a difference.
  6. Model and vision cast of growth. Want to grow your Bible study groups? Then do more than just encourage others; get personally involved.
  7. Take care of the visitors. Beyond the simple matter of a good first impression when they arrive at your church, see that they’re invited to lunch or a Sunday School class gathering. Invest in the relationship.
  8. Take care of the details. Again, Josh puts it so succinctly: “It matters that your nursery doesn’t smell like a dirty diaper. It matters that the words are speled wright in teh buliten. It matters that the soloist sings on key.”
  9. Go after kids. God still works salvation miracles with adults. But, the number of people who come to Christ after their teenage years is small when compared with those reached when they are younger.
  10. Love God; love people. “Don’t get so focused on getting church right that you fail to keep your relationship with God right.”

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