Prayer and care are powerful tools in connecting to prospects. Sunday School cannot grow and will not fully help the church “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19-20) unless it prays for, pursues, and cares for unconnected people. This post is number nineteen of twenty following up this question from How Can I Grow My Sunday School Class Numerically?:
Ask prospects how you can pray for them, and then (when possible) pray with them.
As I mentioned, prayer is a powerful tool. It connects us to the source of mountain-moving power. It helps us tap into God’s compassion and vision for the world. Prayer helps us put aside our agendas in deference to His. It gives us courage to act. It makes us sensitive to listen and to see God at work in circumstances and lives around us.
At the same time, prayer is also a powerful relational tool. By simply asking a prospect how we can pray for him or her, we express our care and concern. We slow down enough to connect. We pause long enough to listen. We show we care about what he/she cares about.
In the same instance, we identify that we are concerned about spiritual things. We express our relationship with God in a tangible way. We open the door for spiritual conversation or questions. We express God’s very own concern for the individual. We embody and verbalize that concern.
Asking how we can pray for a prospect, is strengthened even more if we can take the time with the person to pray. It helps for him or her to hear us verbalize our concern for their concerns. Our prayer helps the individual see God as approachable and caring.
One further step can magnify this effort even further: return to connect with the person. Check up on the results of prayer. Ask about the prayer request. That says you care and remembered. This will create additional conversation and personal connection. And some of these conversations will naturally lead to sharing about Jesus, your church, and your Sunday School class. Follow the leadership of the Spirit!
Lead your class to take a blank 3×5 index card with them on which to write the requests of prospects. Lead them to pray for opportunities. Challenge them to look for opportunities. Then ask them to share about what happened. As your class becomes more sensitive to people around them, there will be natural moments to invite and connect them with the community of your class. Go. Connect. Pray. Care. Follow up. Invite. Be revolutionary!
Leave a Reply