Making Your Sunday School Lesson Stick

In a recent article by Clarence Stower entitled How to Make Your Sermon Stick Past Sunday, he closes the article with three actions that can add continued life to the Sunday morning experience:

1. Recall: A quick blurb about the big idea of Sunday’s message…
2. Reflect: Some key questions to digest as a group, family or individual.
3. Respond: Action steps that might be helpful to pursue a healthy change in our daily lives.

Continue the encounter with God in His Word beyond the group meeting. Lead the them to remember and apply the truth from the lesson. Give absentees a chance to benefit from the group experience even when they were not present. Extend the hour of learning and life change beyond time spent together.

These three great ideas can be used effectively together or separately. Stop to think about how you could use Recall, Reflect, and Respond to follow up this week’s lesson. Write one down before going further.

• FACEBOOK. If your group is connected to Facebook, you could post all three together on Tuesday. Or you could post Recall on Sunday, Reflect on Tuesday, and Respond on Thursday. Then on Friday or Saturday you could post a question about the upcoming lesson.
• TEXT. If your group texts, you can send the group quick reminders and follow ups to the group experience. To be most effective, a text should be to the point and short. Share Recall in one sentence. Ask one key question for Recall. Suggest one action step for Respond. This might be done on Tuesday or Wednesday.
• MAIL. While postage is not free, personal mail can be effective. Handwritten mail catches attention. This could work well in smaller classes. Write down a summary of the big idea, a key question, or an action step. Pray for them as you write. Tell them you are. Tell them you look forward to seeing them Sunday as you study (give the reference).
• PODKEEPER. Use free web group tools, like Podkeeper. These can be closed, completely private online groups for you to share your calendared plans, sign up for events, meet online, and communicate plans with each other. This can be a great place to continue the encounter with God and learning experience. Post the big idea, key questions, and action steps. Feel free to assign three difference people to do each of the parts: Recall, Reflect, and Respond.

What else would you add to these methods for helping your group continue the Sunday experience? Press Comments and share your ideas and practices. Make disciples. Be revolutionary!