There are many, many values or benefits of Sunday School. I have shared many of them over the last eight years. I invite you to STOP for a minute to list some of them. What did your list include? Press the Comments button below and share your list.
A friend asked me if I had developed a presentation about the values of Sunday School, and I responded to him that I include the benefits and values in nearly every presentation. Some of those include the following:
- Evangelism: new classes reach 3 lost people (Ed Stetzer) and one out of three lost people in Sunday School accept Jesus within twelve months (Andy Anderson)
- Assimilation: five years later, we will only be able to find 16% of those who join our churches but fail to get active in Sunday School; but we will still have 83% of those who get active in Sunday School
- New Classes: on average, a new class enrolls 20 people with 10 in attendance within 12-18 months (fewer in smaller churches and more in larger churches)
- Giving: we tend to reach people like us; they tend to give like us; a new class will tend to reach givers who give at a similar per capita to our current undesignated giving divided by our Sunday School attendance
- Leaders: Sunday School produces leaders for the church when we expect teachers to surround themselves with workers (like outreach leaders and care leaders)–these leaders develop leadership and ministry skills in the smaller, safe environment of class ministry (by the way, leadership development is discipleship which mobilizes leaders into ministry for the Lord)
- Discipleship: there are tons of great stats from the new Transformational Groups book (see Moving Sunday School Classes Toward Being Transformational Groups), but classes and groups really do make a difference in the discipleship of our people
Again, I can think of many more, but what would you add to the list? I look forward to hearing from you. Make disciples. Be revolutionary!
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