Focus on the Sunday School Article-Summer 2005

Sunday School Kickoff Time!

By David Frasure

Olympic runners say that the key to a great race is the way you start out of the blocks.  NASCAR teams work hard to get the ideal starting position on the race track.  There is no question, that a great start to the Sunday School year is extremely valuable as well.   As you prepare for a new year of Bible Study ministry in your church, perhaps the follow questions will be helpful to consider.

1.   Do you need to reorganize the basic structure of your Sunday School ministry by adding new classes?  When I pastured a growing church, I found that we needed to reorganize every two years or so to continue the growth cycle.  When classes get too large, ministry often begins to weaken and lose effectiveness.  The solution is to start a new class.  One year we saw that one Sunday School class for the teens just wasn’t enough.  We had one teacher doing ministry to 12 regular attendees and 30 enrollees.  We added three youth classes and within two years we had about 40 students in attendance.  It simply makes good sense that four teachers can do more outreach and ministry that one can. 
 

2.   Do your Sunday School Teachers and Workers need more training to achieve excellence in ministry?  One thing I liked to do was to use the first Sunday evening service of the month for Sunday School And Leadership Training.  These SSALT meetings would center on a conference-like message as we reviewed past results and cast vision for the future.  In addition to that you can take advantage of some of the great training events offered by your Association and State Convention.  By the way, we are conducting two great equipping events in July and August that would be perfect for training your Sunday School leadership.  The Sunday School Directors Workshop, July 16 at Radnor Baptist, is perfect for Directors and Pastors to attend, and our Sunday School Workers Event, August 12-13 at FBC Heath, is a great event for your entire Sunday School and Small Group ministry staff.
 

3.   Do you need to prepare now for a great Kickoff Sunday and plan special outreach emphases for the new year?  I think you already know the answer to this.  After Father’s Day I like to preach on spiritual giftedness and the need for every member to be involved in ministry (1 Peter 4:10).  I follow the series of three or four messages with a ministry interest survey.  From there, our Nominating Committee could begin the process of preparation.  Sometimes we would have a special appreciation dinner for returning and new teachers.  We would also challenge them to contact all their enrollees to invite them to Kickoff Sunday and cast the vision for our High Attendance Sunday, the last Sunday of October.

I hope you have a great start to a great year.