This series focuses on “more.” Sunday School becomes ineffective without these pillars and cannot grow without doing more in each pillar. The pillars include more purpose, teamwork, planning, trained leaders, groups, member and prospect care, new members, and disciple-making. Will you commit to more of these eight pillars this year?
More Member and Prospect Care
From my experience, Sunday School requires one leader to care for 5 people. For a Sunday School to grow, that care must extend to people beyond the class roll. That means that a leader is needed for every five members and every five prospects.
Prospect care will usually focus on friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors (FRANs) who are already known to class members. This means extending care to members and to FRANs through caring contacts face-to-face, by phone, by mail, or through electronic contact. This means praying for and meeting needs when they are discovered.
Fellowships and Projects
A natural part of care is relationship development. That means planned and spontaneous opportunities to spend time together with class members and prospects. Class will want to extend invitations to regular times of class fellowships (social) and projects (work) to members and FRANs. In addition, doing life together will also result: going to ball games, running errands together, eat a meal, making visits together, and more.
When enough leaders are provided for a class (span of care of 1:5), then those leaders will mobilize class members to stay in regular, caring contact with members and prospects. In other words, the leaders will not make all the contacts, but they will give class members opportunity to show their care to absentees, FRANS, as well as faithful attenders. And when a need is discovered, the class will extend a hand.
More member and prospect care results in greater desire to spend time with those providing care. They are more likely to come to fellowships, projects, and class. FRANs are more likely to desire to become a member of the class (more on that next post). When members and prospects receive care, the class is more likely to grow relationally and numerically. Provide care! Make disciples. Be revolutionary!
Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash
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