Is the Average Sunday School Class Too Complicated?

Today complicated is frowned upon. Simple is “in.” For some, Yahoo is complicated. Google is simple. Apple has worked to become the king of simple: Ipods, Iphones, etc. Many simple products and books are selling well.

Rainer and Geiger wrote Simple Church which presents a simple but successful model for discipleship. Their research showed a simple design tended to produce more growth. Many churches are too complicated. The discipleship process has too many options. The ministry has too many competing programs. Staff and members are pulled into directions. This results in “fights” for calendar, budget, and volunteers. In the meantime, other research has shown little discipleship progress in many of these “complicated” churches.

So here are the questions of the day:

Is the average Sunday School class too complicated? Is the class trying to accomplish too much? Is the discipleship path in the class too complicated, too unclear? Are expectations unclear and/or uncommunicated? Is class organization too complicated? Or are class teachers and leaders simply untrained and not held accountable for carrying out the work?

Would a simpler discipleship process through the Sunday School be more likely to produce results (help attenders make spiritual progress)? If so, what would that discipleship process look like? Would a simpler class organization be more likely to enable better results? If so, how might that class organization look?

Chew on those questions. Leave your thoughts–even incomplete ones–by pressing Comments below. This issue needs serious conversation, thinking, and response. Let’s give God our best efforts through the Sunday School. Let’s strive for changed lives. Be revolutionary!