Excellence is not about doing any one thing a hundred times better, but doing 100 things a little bit better. Thus argued Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in their books on excellent enterprises back in the 90s. Still true? I think so. Apply to Sunday School and church? I’m pretty sure it applies.
“Provoke conversations about the 100 little things that can be done better.” That’s the stated purpose on page 5 of my latest little book, One Hundred: Charting a Course Past 100 in Sunday School. Written with Michael Kelley, the book presents the principles any church can use to grow toward and beyond 100. It just does so without any bias toward larger churches.
100 articles on 100 things. Over the next several weeks, Sunday School Leader will feature 100 such ideas. The articles will be written by men and women who champion the work of Sunday School across North America. They often wear many hats as a part of their roles at the state convention offices that serve Southern Baptist churches in a state or group of states. One of those “hats” is that of “State Sunday School Director.” Collectively, they comprise the State Sunday School Directors Fellowship, which sponsors this blog.
Got an idea for the 100? Use the Comment feature to share it! There’s no reason we have to stop at 100 things! Surely there are more!
Sunday School is a system. It’s a bunch of things—big and small—that make a Sunday School excellent instead of mediocre. Each relates to another and that to another and so on and so on. So what if every little thing you improved resulted in just one more person coming to Sunday School, coming back to Sunday School, enrolling in Sunday School, attending regularly in Sunday School, serving in Sunday School, and inviting another to Sunday School? Each of the 100 ideas you’ll read about in the next several weeks may seem inconsequential taken alone. But put 50 or 60 or 70 or 80 into practice and see what happens!
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David Francis is the Director of Sunday School at LifeWay Christian Resources. On a typical Sunday morning, you can find David and wife Vickie at First Baptist Church Hendersonville, Tennessee. They arrive about 8:00 to set up their pre-K room, attend the 8:30 worship service, teach their class of 4-5 year old kids at 9:45, and participate in an adult Bible study group at 11:00.
Follow David on Twitter at @1davidfrancis
Here are six thoughts:
Always have someone at the welcome desk or main entrance to escort people to their room
Have a Pastor’s or key leader’s class that introduces the church (New Member’s Class) but also ends with connecting people with the class they would attend
Every adult and youth class has an apprentice teacher who subs and has a part in the lesson at least once a month
Every adult and youth class has someone responsible for outreach/evangelism/missions involvement and allows them time every week in class to share, challenge and enlist
Every adult and youth class has someone responsible for ministry to enrollees and prospects and they are allowed time each week in class to share, lead prayer, challenge and enlist
Have an annual Sunday School Workers Retreat for inspiration, vision and instruction