Assisting Churches Today for Tomorrow

Emphasis on Sunday Schools and/or Small Groups seem to be diminishing

I would challenge you to study the web sites of several churches you know and those you consider to be leading examples of ministry today and see what the main focus is on.  See how long it takes you to find the information about a Sunday School or Small Group ministry.  If you find the information how compelling is the presentation?  The same can be said about visiting most church campuses today.  You will immediately be impacted with what that church sees as a priority if not most important. 

Most likely you will find great emphasis on creating an environment that is much like that of any mall or club you might go to.  There will be much emphasis on what the next big "show" is going to be or on how high tech this ministry is with all the trappings of a community gathering place such as your local Barnes and Nobel or Starbucks.  NOW HERE IS WHERE YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION there is nothing wrong with much of this IF you also see highlighted WHY YOU NEED TO BE IN A SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY  and HOW TO GET IN A SMALL GROUP. 

Discipleship and Bible study go hand in hand and seem less and less of a focus in our churches.  The focus of the Great Commission is on evangelism and discipleship and growing the Kingdom of God.  Large churches set the pace for smaller churches and the entertainment/arts model is forcing many churches to lessen if not drop their ministries to small group Bible study and real discipleship.   This isn't about the pettiness of who is first or second in priority, it is about what is God's first priority.  Read the Great Commission again and see what emphasis is placed on the arts.   God gives us talents and abilities and arts are to be used like all such gifts for His glory but I fear our focus of adoration has become the arts themselves more than effective tried and proven means to evangelize and disciple those in the family of God towards spiritual maturity. 

Bringing people to Jesus should be our focus

If you have read any of my blogs or if you are already involved in Sunday School or small groups ministry you know that the first and primary task is to reach people.  This point was driven home recently during one of my morning Bible studies focused on Andrew, one of the first disciples.  As I studied I begin to focus on the wonderful character of this very special servant of the Lord.  It would serve the church well today if more church members not to mention staff leaders had the same character, commitment and focus as that of Andrew. 

When you think of Andrew what comes to your mind?  Nearly all Christians probably think first about his bringing Peter to the Lord.  ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹He found^* first his own brother Simon and said^* to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). ⁴²He brought him to Jesus.  (John 1:40)  I certainly fall into this group but the other mentions of Andrew in scriptures are also about him bringing people to Jesus. 

The next time we find Andrew he was bringing a young lad with fish and loaves to Jesus.  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said^* to Him, ⁹“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  (John 6:8) 

Finally, there is Andrew bringing Greek soldiers to Jesus.  ²⁰Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; ²¹these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip came^* and told^” Andrew ; Andrew and Philip came^* and told^* Jesus. ^{2  (}John 12:22)

There are no books in the Bible written by Andrew, we never see Andrew preaching, we never see Andrew performing miracles, nor do we see Andrew taking great stands or being persecuted BUT WE DO SEE ANDREW BRINGING PEOPLE TO JESUS!  One might say that bringing people to Jesus was Andrews’s main focus.

Henry Blackaby said “Andrew is a good role model for us.  Our job is not to transform people into Christians, nor to convict them of their sin.  It is not our responsibility to make people do what they ought to do.  OUR TASK IS TO BRING THEM TO JESUS, and He will perform His divine work in their lives.”

 

How do you know if you have an open group?

I have spoken before about the importance of keeping your groups open if you want to reach new people.  If you allow your groups to become closed then you will not be as effective in reaching the world around you for Christ.  Just as a reminder, a closed group is one which is focuses inward only to those who participate with no real strategy to reach others for Christ.  On the other hand an open group is receptive and strategic in seeking to reach others for Christ by drawing them into their Bible study.

At a recent meeting I heard someone say that “an open group expects new people every time they meet.”    Wow, that is a great way to determine if your group is open.  The key is in the word “expects.”  You see if your group expects new people it implies that there is a strategy to reach new people.  It says the group desires new people and that it has become the concern of the majority of the members.  If a group expects new people there must be a strategy to reach new people.

Why not evaluate your group to determine if it is open or closed by whether or not you expect new people each time you meet.  If you find that there is little or no expectation it will indicate that there needs to be a new focus.   Keep in mind that Jesus said “the Son of man came to seek and save that which is lost.”   If that was Christ mission and purpose then how can we have one that is higher or different?

 

Keeping an Eye on Your Enrollment

One of the most serious mistakes made by churches and their leaders is a failure to understand the importance of their Small Group enrollment.  Enrollment is a leading indicator of your church growth potential.  A fundamental truth in church growth is that attendance always follows the trend of the enrollment.  Check your group’s records over at least a year and you will discover that whatever the pattern of your enrollment the attendance will follow.

 

Once a leader understands this powerful truth it will impact his/her conduct.  If you want your groups to grow you need to focus on increasing your enrollment and the attendance will follow.  Likewise, when leaders carelessly drop people from membership or prospect rolls they will notice the attendance dip or at the very least plateau.  Church leaders drop individuals from the rolls for all sorts of reasons but primarily because the individual has stopped attending but this is exactly the wrong approach.  When an individual quits attending there is more than likely a problem, spiritually or personal needs, in either case the response of the church ought to be one of prayer and personal involvement to restore the one who has quit attending.

 

This is just one example of why keeping an eye on the enrollment is so important.  However, I think the most important reason why your attitude toward enrollment is important is that when a church carelessly handles those God has given to their care it is deadening to the spirit of Christ in your church.   Christ sacrificially gave Himself for all men and desires that they all be saved.   This ought to be the spirit of His church today.

Whatever happened to education in the church?

Any causual observer of what is taking place in church practices and programing today will reveal a major shift in priorities.  It is becoming evident that there is a shift away from an emphasis on education to the arts.  Let me say right up front that this is not about throwing rocks at one area of ministry vs. another area.  I love the arts and am quite involved in many ways in the arts.  I do believe that many churches today have given in to an entertainment driven ministry.

However, what is happening today in church ministry is what I feel is either a misplaced priority in ministry at best or a strategic move to an entertainment driven ministry at worst.  If you want to know what your church's priority is, look at the budget, space and calender and you will get an immediate answer!   What we spend our money on, what we dedicate our calendar and space to is a crystal clear indicator of what a church feels is important to fulfill its mission.

You see this shift in priorities through the lowering of budget for resources, staff and supplies to the "top shelf, cutting edge" education.  There is a limiting of space dedicated to the education ministry or a reduction of space by taking current education space to provide more room for other uses.  The fastest growing staffs and section of budget is in the arts.  There is a push to control and determine our education methods away from solid education philosophy and shift it to an artistic entertainment philosophy.  Note that this is not necessarily expressed openly but many churches of today have decided it is better to draw a crowd through high tech entertainment than to provide solid  Biblical based classes for members and guest.  I am troubled that one way you see this happening is in the shift away from small Bible study groups to larger and larger groups. 

This is happening in all age groups but is most troubling when we take our young children and cease trying to work with them in small more personal ways and shift to the larger electronic venues.  Our children have a "concert" type experience and are "wowed" but not moved by a personal word from a loving teacher who shares God's love one on one.  If we continue on this track ironically the church that claims it is seeking to be relevant will become more and more irrelevant.

CEO vs. Shepherding

Church practices continue to evolve as each church seeks to discover the “key” to making their ministry effective and growing.  I seem to be noticing a marked indicator in many of our churches that causes me concern.  It seems that the “church business” has taken over instead of a truly Biblical model.  When a church determines whether it will follow a business model or a Biblical model will greatly determine the style of leadership.

 

The leadership model set forth by Christ throughout the New Testament is that of a shepherd caring for his flock.  Churches today are being run much more on a business plan and have adopted almost without exception the “CEO” model for leadership.  There is a growing distance between genuine Biblical love for the flock and a sometimes cold calculated approach to dealing with individuals.  There is a cut and dried approach to who’s with us and who’s against us.  After all, everyone good manager knows you must “get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus.”  If you go to most pastor’s offices today you might not see the latest new Biblical study book on the shelf but you most likely will see Good to Great a very popular book on leading an organization towards success.

 

The deeper churches go into the business model the more distant an authentic love for people seems to be exemplified.   If there is a ministry not carrying its weight in terms of growth or the “flashy” approach the CEO and his inner circle have decided they must follow to be “competitive” it is usually cut off in post haste.

 

I’ll be the first to say that the church must operate under guidelines that holds its business practices to the highest and most accountable practices.  For years I have heard it said that the church must operate like a business, adhering to the best of business guidelines.  However, could it be that the church should operate in a Godly manner and with good stewardship and following Godly principles of leadership? 

 

There was a time when pastors spent time in Bible Conferences studying the Word, learning to preach and teach more effectively and improving their various ministry skills.  Today however many of our pastors attend conference that teach the latest business models and successes that they too can apply and usually for a significant fee.

 

We will explore this issue more in the weeks ahead as we dig deeper into what has caused this to come upon the church like a cancer and how the church can return to a more effective approach of living like Christ in our sin stained world.

Choosing the Right Method

In my last post I discussed the fact that there are differences between methods and principles. A key to effectively using any method is to have a full understanding and grasp of the principles that make the method work. For example, Sunday School, a proven method for growing the church both numerically and spiritually, is often employed with other outcomes or results in mind and then incorrectly judged to be a failure as a method. Unfortunately it seems that too many of today’s church leaders have thrown this strategic method out like it suddenly quit working when there seems to be a strong case for the fact that many church leaders who have simply quit working Sunday School.

The first important decision to make when choosing a method is to make sure the method is suited to accomplish the task at hand. Will this method bring about the results you are looking for in the situation? Or put another way, what is it that you really want out of the situation for which you will employ the method? The failure to have a clear and sincere understanding of what you want to accomplish out of a situation can lead to an unfair evaluation of the method chosen. I believe that this is what many church leaders today have done with Sunday School as a method. Others have simply jumped on the prevailing bandwagon of today which says, “Sunday School is ineffective if not dead” and quit using it or never employed it at all.

Sunday School is an organization with the task of reaching people, both in the church and outside the church, for the express purposes of evangelism, Bible study and discipling believers. If this is not the aim or desired results for your small groups then you are misguided from the start. I often illustrate this point by discussing the use of a screw driver and a hammer. If you have a nail to put in a wall you can do it with a screw driver but not very effectively. If you are successful there is usually damage that would not have happened if the proper tool were used but it can be done. Likewise if you have a screw to put in the wall you can drive it in with a hammer but again not very effectively and with certain collateral and unnecessary damage.

The next decision to make in choosing the best method is to determine if you now have or are you willing to gather the resources necessary to employing the method effectively. For example, you must have volunteers who are willing to fill positions of leadership or a pool of people from which you will enlist volunteers to fill the positions. Another resource you must also have is space. There must be the space needed for the groups or classes to meet in for Bible study. These are just two examples of what is meant by having the resources necessary to employ the method there are several others to be discussed at a late date.

Thirdly, it is important that you possess and understanding of how to employ the method you are considering. A method is simply a tool to be employed in accomplishing your mission or task at hand! There are many tools that a church employs to accomplish the mission given by Christ. Think of it this way, we all have tools at our disposal that we do not use or use seldom. For example, I have several power tools in my garage that have been given to me mostly because I asked for them or I purchased them. Yet, many are never or seldom used because the truth is I do not know how to use them. I think many church leaders do not employ Sunday School because they do not know how to use it effectively. I think the number is growing of leaders who have never been a part of an effective Sunday School or at the very least observed one and they have no idea how to make this powerful tool work effectively. This is one of the primary task we have set out to address through Church Assist Ministry Association (CAMA). It is our God given desire to help leaders and churches find the right tool and methods and employ them effectively. It is obvious that we believe strongly in the Sunday School and feel it is being neglected, ignored and discarded out of a lack of understanding

Finally, you must be willing to make the commitment to do what is necessary to employ the method. Do not choose a method that requires more of you and your church than you are willing to give. I think too many church leaders fail to make the commitment of time and resources it takes to make Sunday School work for you. Many church leaders choose methods by simply “throwing something against the wall and see if it sticks” and if not they are off to another method. As I have tried to point out in this post, there is much study required to choosing the right method.

Distinguishing between Principles and Methods as they relate to Sunday School

A key to understanding and sustaining effective ministry is distinguishing between principles and methods.  This is an important point to understand when we discuss what makes effective ministry.  In working with church leaders and joining in discussions with my peers I find a blurring of the lines between what is a method and what is a principle. 

Any leader employs various methods to accomplish whatever tasks they are trying to accomplish.  A method is a tool or technique employed to accomplish a certain task.  Principles on the other hand are the laws or standards that must be followed in order for that method to work effectively.  Every method has principles on which it is built.  Principles are the standards that must be followed to enable the method to work properly.  I recently heard ElmerTowns quote an anonymous statement that makes a strong point:

Methods are many

Principles are few

Methods may change

But principles never do.

In keeping with the context of this blog let me quickly admit that I do see Sunday School as a method.  Sunday School is without a doubt one of the most powerful and effective tools ever employed to enable the church to fulfill its mission.  An honest evaluation of Sunday School will find its strength supported by history.  However, to this point I feel that each method which a leader employs has a set of core principles that must be adhered to if it is to be effective or successful. The Sunday School ministry is no exception and there are definite principles that must be followed and practiced if it is to be successful.

The situation today where Sunday School is concerned seems to be that many are throwing it overboard as an ineffective method that needs to be changed when in fact many of these people have not been following the principles that are necessary for Sunday School to work effectively.  A leader has to be careful not to just jump on the bandwagon because it becomes the prevailing thought of the day.  The early announcement that Sunday School is dead and a tool of the past seems to be driven by many who have never employed or experienced it in ministry.

 

I often share with pastors and educators that Sunday School is a tool that works every time, yes every time, it is employed when you follow the principles that are essential for Sunday School to be effective.  In my next blog I will discuss those principles that are necessary to keep Sunday School functioning effectively.

What is happening that works for your Bible Study ministry?

I am deeply convinced that while there are key foundational laws or principles that we must adhere too if we are to have effective ministry.  I am equally convinced that there must be creative innovation to the application of these principles.  One thing we are looking for here is what is working because after all you can't argue with success.  Let us hear from you!

What's working for you?

We want to hear from those of you who have found a good working idea. Post your church ministry approaches and let others share in the good news.