Ideas that Work - Christianity Today

SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR UNCHURCHED ADULTS

Can you start a Sunday school class for adults who are not church attenders? If so, can it survive? Here’s what happened when Steve Heaster, pastor of Immanuel Bible Church in Three Springs, Pennsylvania, tried such a radical effort.

I asked members for names of young married couples they knew who were not attending Sunday school or church anywhere. This led to a prospect list of twenty couples.

I then selected material I thought would be of interest, a Navigators study entitled Husbands and Wives. I drafted a letter to each couple, simple and non-threatening, inviting them to become members of the new Sunday school class starting in about eight weeks. I told them that all who came would be new, and I shared with them the curriculum we would be using. I informed them of the other services of the church and what we had to offer their children. I included my phone number and told them I would like to stop by sometime for a visit.

During the next eight weeks I visited each couple’s home. I took along a copy of the study we would be using and left it with them. I told them it was theirs whether they decided to come or not. In addition, I informed them that I would be the teacher. I assured them I would never call on anyone for prayer unless I had checked with him or her first. They would never be put on the spot to answer a question or read Scripture. And they were free to speak as much or as little as they desired.

I shared the names of others we had invited and described how some of them had responded. Many folks asked if it was all right to come in blue jeans; I assured them this was fine. I even went so far as to tell them how they could get into their Sunday school classroom without having to go through the sanctuary, where so many others were seated for their classes. This may sound silly, but some appreciated it.

Above all, I reassured them that whatever they decided, I was available to minister to them should the need arise.

This made for an interesting eight weeks. I found myself praying for these people regularly. Since we are in a small, rural community, I frequently ran into many of them, and I did everything I could to build a relationship. I also urged those in the church who were friends with these folks to encourage them to try this new class.

As the kickoff day approached, I began to get nervous. Would anyone come? Would this be a big flop? Some of our leaders later confessed they felt, “Let’s give the pastor a chance, but we don’t think this will ever work. Poor Pastor, how is he going to feel when no one shows up?” But I was convinced that if folks did come, it was because the Lord prompted them, and if they didn’t, at least I could stand before the Lord and say I tried.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny that July morning. I arrived at the church earlier than usual. I didn’t want any new folks arriving and finding no one there to greet them. Sunday school began at 9:30 A.M. At 9:15 the first new family arrived. By 9:30 we had five new couples seated in the classroom and had ushered their thirteen children into the children’s department. The next Sunday, another couple joined us.

Three couples had been through divorce and were now remarried. One couple were unmarried but living together. We also had wives show up without husbands.

This new class introduced twenty-five people to our church in just two Sundays. And that number grew.

WHAT WENT WELL

Several things proved valuable to our endeavor:

1. We concentrated on one specific group, young marrieds with children. You could gear such a class toward singles or retired folks, but focus on one group.

2. We chose material that was easily understood and relevant to the lives of our prospective students. Many said this was what attracted them.

3. I sometimes needed to protect the class from well-meaning church members. Regular church attenders may not understand the shyness and apprehension of new people. Not all who started in our class immediately joined us in worship. This led one woman to ask, “When is your class going to become like the rest of us and attend church?”

4. We kept our promise not to put people on the spot by asking them to answer, pray, or read Scripture. We found it was acceptable to ask for volunteers.

5. Shortly after the class began to take shape, we asked these new folks to provide us with a list of friends and acquaintances who were not attending church anywhere. Thus began our prospect list for the next new class.

6. Since we were starting a class for married couples with children, we alerted our children’s department to get ready for a sudden influx of new youngsters.

WHAT DIDN’T GO SO WELL

Despite the success of the class, we could have done some things better. I’ll offer some insights gained from the mistakes we made.

1. Start with as large a prospect list as possible. Ours had twenty couples, but obviously, the more candidates, the greater the positive response. Those who do not become part of a first class should be kept on the list for future classes.

2. Do not open the class to existing members. This may have been our biggest mistake. When we allowed established Sunday school members to join the new class, some new folks lost their niche and stopped coming.

3. Strike a balance between the scriptural admonition to “lay hands suddenly on no man” and the need to find ministry opportunities for new folks. We lost some people because we hadn’t thought ahead to where we could plug them into ministry. Several were willing to serve as youth advisers under the guidance of our established youth directors. Some became involved as musicians. Others served on planning commissions. The trouble was, we had more people than we had opportunities. As a result, some got the idea, “We like you to come, but we don’t need you for anything else.”

THE CLASS TO HOPE IN

Since the class was geared toward young marrieds with children, people often shared some difficulty they had experienced during the week. We quickly became a class where following the lesson plan took a back seat to listening to each other, and then gaining a biblical perspective on the issue they were dealing with.

This led to the name of our class. The name was submitted by a man who had been away from the church since he was a child, and who had struggled with his relationship to God. He suggested, and the class adopted, the name THE CLASS TO HOPE IN.

The fruit of this class is a source of real joy today. At last count, the class has provided an entry point into the church for at least sixty-three people. Twenty-one are now members, many serving in church ministries. Twenty children were added to the church also. The class members and their children account for over one third of our Sunday school.

SEX-AND-DATING CAMP

How can a church help community junior high youth resist pressures to become sexually active before marriage? The staff and parents of Millington Baptist Church in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, developed a summer program entitled, “Sex and Dating: What Are You Waiting For?”

To publicize the event a letter of introduction and invitation was sent to the parents of every junior high student in town. The local newspaper and television station gave media coverage.

The week-long activities included lessons on seeing the benefits of waiting, recognizing false media messages, and setting dating standards. Older teens told why they are glad they’ve remained chaste, or why they regret they haven’t. One teen guest brought her baby and spoke about the tremendous responsibility involved in raising a child alone.

Parent and community involvement was key to the program’s success. One teen’s parents wrote and directed a one-act play that powerfully demonstrated how a teen’s efforts to strengthen a relationship through sex actually weakened and ultimately destroyed it. A church family volunteered their home for a pool party and barbecue on the last day. An instructor from the local YMCA led youth aerobics. Clothing and sporting goods stores donated merchandise as prizes for memorizing verses on sexual purity, writing an essay, or winning some zany games of endurance.

One teen spoke of her skepticism about coming, yet the week “made me think in a new way about the consequences of my behavior in all areas of my life.” Parents expressed gratitude that the church was willing to address a subject that some of their children were not open to discussing with them.

On the final day more than 85 percent of the youth took a public stand to remain sexually pure until marriage. This commitment was sealed by signing a wallet-sized pledge card that they were encouraged to cut in half on their wedding night.

When asked by one skeptic from the media if the pledge cards weren’t setting up teens to fail, the response was simply, “Though some youth will perhaps choose to break their vow, most are now better prepared to succeed.”

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