This is part 3 of 5 in the Sunday School in the smaller attendance church series. In my ministry context of Oklahoma, 1200 of our 1800 churches have less than 100 people in attendance. Sunday School in smaller attendance churches is done a little differently than in say, a megachurch of 3,000. Today’s post (and the rest of the articles in this series) is from my friend Jim Brunk. Jim is the Associational, Smaller in Attendance Church (SAC) Outreach Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Jim has pastored smaller attendance churches, and these churches have grown under his leadership.

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Let us not forget the vital behaviors that must happen to be a live and connecting SAC Sunday school.

Sunday school small groups are to:

1. Connect people to Jesus by inviting and bringing our friends, relatives, and neighbors to Sunday school and by sharing the gospel and equipping members to share their faith
2. Connect people to His Truth by teaching the Bible for life change and obedience
3. Connect people to community by caring for and serving each other as Christ commanded and by serving others in our community and world
4. Connect people to mission by developing and equipping future leaders to start new groups of all ages and then starting new groups

What grade would you give your class on each of the behaviors above?

I want to discuss with you the last vital behavior, connecting people to Christ’s mission.  Christ’s mission is very clear in the Bible.  Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  If we are going to make disciples of all nations and teach them to follow his commands, it is going to have to be done in small groups.  It will not happen in worship services.

Let me share a story of a SAC church doing this very thing.  My office did an Acts 1:8 SAC church growth conference in the Johnston Marshal Association a few years ago.  At the end of the session the church leadership from Coleman Baptist caught the vision of starting new classes and decided to start an adult class the very next day.  They chose the teacher, shared where they would meet, went home and started calling people.  Their Sunday school doubled from 10 to 20 in one week.  In 2006 their average worship attendance was 20 and their average Sunday school attendance was 10.  In 2007 it was 30 in worship and 24 in SS.  In 2008 it grew to 36 in worship and 34 in SS.  In the 2011 ACP report they recorded an average worship attendance of 67 and average SS attendance of 48 and baptized 12 souls.  Also, their offerings went from $22,279 in 2006 to $139,236 in 2011.

Do you want to turn your church around?  START NEW SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASSES!

• Teach life changing Bible study and model it for your teachers.
• Teach a class.
• Train and equip leaders.
• Care for your class members and the community around your church.
• Invite and bring people to church.
• Share the gospel
• Equip members of your class to share their faith.

May God bless you and increase your church by getting back to the basics.

This is part 2 of 5 in the Sunday School in the smaller attendance church series. In my ministry context of Oklahoma, 1200 of our 1800 churches have less than 100 people in attendance. Sunday School in smaller attendance churches is done a little differently than in say, a megachurch of 3,000. Today’s post (and the rest of the articles in this series) is from my friend Jim Brunk. Jim is the Associational, Smaller in Attendance Church (SAC) Outreach Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Jim has pastored smaller attendance churches, and these churches have grown under his leadership.

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Let us review the vital behaviors that must happen to be a live and connecting SAC Sunday school.

Sunday school small groups are to connect:

1. People to Jesus

a. We invite and bring our friends, relatives, and neighbors to Sunday School

b. We share the gospel and equip the members to share their faith

2. People to His Truth

a. We teach the Bible for life change and obedience

3. People to His Community

a. We care for and serve each other as Christ commanded

b. We serve others in our community and world

4. People to His Mission

a. We develop and equip future leaders to start new groups of all ages

b. We start new groups

Today, I want to share with you about the second point in our vital behaviors list, connecting people to the truth. You might ask, “Why are you even asking the question? Why teach the Bible in Sunday School? Don’t we know that?” Yes, we do know it but do we put it in practice? After thirty years of observations I have realized that we have a lot of Sunday school classes spending very little time in life changing Bible study. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Life change doesn’t happen unless God’s Holy Spirit and His Word are planted in the minds and hearts of people, and then He gives the increase. Good stories will not change a life. Prayer requests are vital but will not change a life. Coffee and fellowship are important but they will not change a life. Only His Word will change a life. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” II Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Pastors, we need to be training our teachers to study the Bible and show them how to prepare a lesson as well as teach it for life change. We have some good teachers, I have been in their classes, but we also have some that are not well-prepared. Pastors and teachers, II Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” Teacher, be prepared to teach a minimum of thirty minutes in your Sunday school class for older children on up. Children and youth teachers, break up the teaching times and use creative ways to teach, not just lecture. But, by all means teach the Bible for life change.

We are starting a five week series on Tuesdays during the month of May about Sunday School in the smaller attendance church. In my ministry context of Oklahoma, 1200 of our 1800 churches have less than 100 people in attendance. Sunday School in smaller attendance churches is done a little differently than in say, a megachurch of 3,000. Today’s post (and the rest of the articles in this series) is from my friend Jim Brunk. Jim is the Associational, Smaller in Attendance Church (SAC) Outreach Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Jim has pastored smaller attendance churches, and these churches have grown under his leadership.

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I am honored to be asked to share, over the next five weeks, about Sunday School in smaller in attendance churches.  I have been an advocate of Sunday School for most of my ministry.  I was raised and saved in a non-denominational church called Faith Tabernacle in Stilwell, OK.  My family helped start the church in the 60’s.  Sunday School was not a priority in the church.  Long, exciting, high-energy worship was considered the most important thing.  They had Sunday School as an afterthought, but it ended up saving the church when the pastor left.  When I married Wylene Ritchie, I was baptized and joined her church, First Baptist Church, Stilwell at age 21.  At age 24, I was the department director of grades one through three with three teachers that had around 150 years of Sunday School work experience between them.  I learned that Sunday school was the HEART of that church.  While I was at FBC Stillwell from 1970 to 1980 our Sunday School grew from running in the 100s to over 500 average attendance.  Through the years, I became the associate pastor and directed music, youth and education.  Sunday School was always a priority to the pastor, staff, deacons and church as a whole.  It also became the priority for growth and health in the next four churches and associations my family and I served in as associate pastor, pastor, and director of missions.

In SBC churches that are growing today, high-energy, exciting worship and Sunday School (small groups) is still priority.  Some say today that Sunday School is a thing of the past.   In visiting with pastors of growing SBC churches and new churches, I believe that the facts prove to be otherwise.  We have been a part of planting churches for the past 18 years and have found that after a church starts with a high-energy dynamic worship, if it does not get a Sunday School or some sort of small groups going within five years, it dies.  In conversation with Preston Collins in Union Association, Norman OK,  he has also found this to be true.  He shared he could not recall a new church start that survived five years without small groups.  The saying, “to grow larger you must grow smaller” is SO TRUE!  You MUST have small groups that fellowship, share, care, pray for and love on one another.

I would like to share a message outline that I heard Elmer Towns preach years ago.  It is as fresh today as it was when the Old Testament was written thousands of years ago.  It is found in Deuteronomy 31:12 KJV, “Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law.”

1.  Sunday School is the Gathering arm of the Church.

Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates…

2.  Sunday School is the Teaching arm of the church.

…that they may hear, and that they may learn,

3. Sunday School is the Winning arm of the church

…and fear the Lord your God,

4. Sunday School is the Caring arm of the church

… and observe to do all the words of this law.”

The two greatest commandments are to love God and love others. I believe that Sunday School is how the church effectively organizes itself to actually do both of these commandments.

In the next four articles I would like to share how to evaluate and grow your Sunday School in the smaller attendance church.  It is not hard, but it is HARD WORK. I’m looking forward to joining with you here on Bob’s blog for the next few weeks.