Grow Your Sunday School: Part 2, Steps for Inviting New People

As I mentioned in the previous entry, Rodney Pry has written a great article entitled, Inviting New Members to Your Sunday School Class. In the article, he suggests some steps that a class might take when it is ready to grow.  Here are his suggestions (with my commentary added):

• Set a goal. For the entire Sunday School, following prayer set a numerical goal for guests you will invite, for guests who will attend, and for guests who will become members of a Sunday School class. Then divide the number among the classes. Keep the goal in front of the classes. Report on progress regularly. Brainstorm with leaders where progress is slow.
• Make a list of prospects. Back in the 80s, Andy Anderson said that it took an average of 13 invitations to get one person to attend. David Francis in his 3D Sunday School material has said it may take 20 contacts. Be persistent. Work on the premise of the law of large numbers:  when you extend many invitations, some will come. Rodney Pry listed four categories of prospective Sunday School attenders:
  • persons who do not attend any church or Sunday School,
  • persons who are members of your church (may attend worship) but don’t attend Sunday School,
  • families where one or more members attend Sunday School but others don’t, and
  • persons who could be called “infrequent attenders” or “dropouts.”
• Ask each class member to write down the name of at least one person that they know who would fall into each of these four categories. To vary the focus, have attenders write down the names of at least one person they know that are in each of the FRAN categories:  friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors who are not members of any church or Sunday School. Then enlist class support of prayer and reaching efforts for these prospects. Rodney suggests four actions:
  • Divide up the list of prospects. Ask care group leaders to be responsible for a proportional number of prespects.
  • Make regular contact with prospects. Care group leaders can make the contacts weekly or can assign the contacts to care group members. Invite to a class fellowship. Ask for prayer requests. Share about upcoming lessons. Work to develop a friendship.
  • Report progress weekly. Accountability leads to more effective, intentional efforts.
  • Encourage class members to pray for the persons on their list. Prayer works. Spend time with God in prayer for the lost and your heart will agree with His.

As you can tell, Rodney offered some great suggested steps. The only one I would add to his list, would be to precede these efforts with prayer. We don’t have to ask if God wants us to invite new people. He has already commanded us to do so in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). But we need to follow His leadership, have His eyes of compassion on the harvest, and ask for His presence and boldness. His Holy Spirit will go ahead of us when we pray.

So, what’s your God-sized goal? How many invitations will you extend? How many new people do you want to attend? How many new members do you want to add? Divide the number by classes. Divide each class goal by quarter or month. Prayerfully develop a plan to identify and pursue sheep Jesus has already claimed (John 10:16). Some are waiting for your invitation. Who will you personally invite? Be revolutionary by inviting new people!