John Cionca
Have you ever been so far behind in your reading you’ve considered taking a speed reading course? The only problem was you could never find the time.
Most readers of this book are hustling from one ministry task to another. With few moments to spare, you are also trying to improve your ministry skills through study. That’s why I want to get quickly to the things that trouble you most.
I took a long look at my own work in the church, then surveyed forty pastors at a denomination meeting for their common “thorns in the flesh” of Christian education. A few weeks later at an interdenominational meeting, I asked pastors to rank twenty Christian education difficulties. The top five were as follows:
1. Poor Follow-up and Visitation by Teachers
This afternoon I was visiting two elderly widows who are sisters and share a home. After an hour of cordial conversation and prayer, I was ready to leave. I suggested using the door on the porch, but one of the women led me to the door I had entered. She said jokingly, “Don’t you know it’s bad luck to come in one door and leave by another?”
While I’m not superstitious, I do know many churches suffer the consequences of people entering one door and leaving through another. One of the reasons is poor follow-up and visitation.
Here are four ongoing emphases that can improve the situation.
First, try to staff the Sunday school with faithful, available, and teachable teachers. Though some teachers (perhaps the old-timers) demonstrate that they are not open to change, we do have a choice when it comes to who we recruit. A worker who is faithful, available, and teachable will be open to someone explaining expectations, including proper follow-up of students.
The second thing is to encourage the miniflock concept. Teachers are not merely dispensers of Bible content; they are shepherds of a small portion of the congregation. I tell teachers they are more of a pastor to their students than I may ever be. I may carry the title, but in reality, the teacher who cares for them in an intimate way each Lord’s Day and contacts them throughout the week has far more exposure. When a teacher realizes he is more than an instructor, follow-up will improve.
This responsibility cannot be expected of teachers if it is not spelled out clearly in the job description. As the teaching role is being explained, the potential education worker must become aware that care for the students is part of teaching.
A third ingredient for effective follow-up is maintaining good records. One church I visited had a detailed system that listed the name of every person who had ever attended or visited the Sunday school—even those who were now attending elsewhere, had moved, or even died. This was a waste of energy.
But I knew another church that kept no records at all. Several times the church office has wanted the name of a child but could not locate it. Even the teacher did not have the address or phone number. Visitors were not registered, nor did teachers take the time to get the information. Obviously, very little follow-up was done by those teachers.
Christian bookstores stock several types of record cards. Good follow-up is enhanced by utilizing any system that gives each teacher an up-to-date list of those within his or her shepherding responsibility and also provides the program leader or the church office with a copy for accountability purposes.
Accountability is the fourth aspect for a good follow-up program. I recently had to admit something in my own life: despite my three earned graduate degrees, I was going to have to take a withdrawal from a lay correspondence course I had started. Obviously, I’m the kind of person who needs time frames and a professor to make me complete the required work!
A good program leader can ask each teacher to indicate on the class list whether he has made a visit (v), a phone contact (p), or sent a note to the home (n) for last week’s absentees.
The important principle is that follow-up and visitation improve when someone serves as a resource to the teacher and holds the teacher accountable in the area of visitation.
2. Shortage of Staff
Recently I read one church newsletter that listed all its Sunday school classes with teachers’ names in a second column. Every third position had the word “You?”
Some churches are understaffed because they have a poor staffing plan. For example, they may recruit people on a one-month or one-quarter basis. Short-term recruiting simply intensifies the long-term problem. With this arrangement, numbers of people quickly begin to feel, I already served my time. These folks are not then likely to sign a longer teaching contract.
Shortages in the teaching staff may also relate to the age of teachers. Churches with many teachers in the childbearing years will regularly lose staff when they need to care for a new baby.
Some teachers need continual encouragement, recognition, and stroking. These sensitive individuals will serve if they believe people care—but are ready to forget it if they sense indifference from leadership.
Other people are simply misplaced. Edith, for example, did not like working with children. She wanted to work with adults. We helped her be more herself by asking her to lead a home Bible study for women. Ministry should be enjoyable. When people dread each Lord’s Day because they know they have to go into the classroom again, they soon drop out.
Program leadership makes a crucial difference in this area. One church was surprised at the turnover of teachers in its girls’ program. The pastor finally discovered from former workers that some behaviors of the program leader were responsible. Poor communication, last-minute changes, and predetermined plans without the input of the women had all taken their toll. While this was not the only reason for turnover in this ministry, poor leadership added to the staffing problem rather than correcting it.
Here are six principles for building a volunteer staff.
First, be realistic about the amount of program the church offers. If we want an extensive evangelistic visitation program and a large music ministry with multiple choirs, it may be unrealistic to have children’s programs running simultaneously with the morning and evening worship hours.
Smaller churches get into a trap of wanting to provide the same amount of program a large church offers. We must first determine what we want to communicate, then decide how best to do so with the resources available to us.
The next thing we can do as pastors is to keep a mental picture before our people that a normal Christian serves. Many are under the assumption that it’s normal to be an attender, and only the “called” or specially gifted serve. Second Corinthians 5:15, however, teaches us “that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” This is a principle of discipleship.
Last Sunday, I included this note on the back of the bulletin:
Dear Friends,
The Lord is doing much to build his church here at Southwood. Last Sunday while driving to our campus from the hospital, I noticed one of our members helping a woman whose car was stalled in the middle of Broad Street. I also rejoiced as another individual was willing to help Harriet Schifino with a need she had while convalescing with her broken elbow. The Rennies have mentioned how many people have expressed their love and concern for Amy. God has placed in our fellowship three hundred ministers, and it’s encouraging to a pastor to see God’s people using their gifts for his glory.
In the Love of the Savior, Pastor John
A third thing we can do to minimize staff shortages is to encourage program leaders to reduce the threat of teaching. Roger was an automobile painter. If I were to ask him if he had the spiritual gift of teaching, or ask if he were a teacher, he would quickly say no. But Roger has worked in our kindergarten department for several years. He loves the children and they love him. We call him an “educational worker” rather than a teacher. (We use the terms interchangeably.)
Roger uses the Sunday school quarterly and works at one of the activity centers, but the scary word teacher is not ascribed to him. In this way he avoids a barrier that keeps others like him from service.
Fourth, it’s important to recruit properly. Teachers who know what they are getting into are less likely to beg off at the earliest moment. Everything I’ve said about using job descriptions and teacher contracts applies here, for they increase the longevity of a teacher’s service. That in turn reduces staff shortages.
Having quality program leaders or department superintendents is a fifth way to minimize shortage. A good program leader is an encouraging support to teachers before they get to the point of resignation. A superintendent named John was talking with Nick, asking how he and Debby were doing in the second-grade department. Nick said he was just about ready to quit because of three boys in the class. If John hadn’t initiated the contact, Nick probably would have pulled his hair a few more Sundays and then resigned—lost from the educational faculty forever. By staying on top of the problem and encouraging Nick, a staff position was saved.
The last principle is obvious: let teachers know they are appreciated. One program leader listed in our newsletter the names of two couples who had just joined the teaching team. The point was to welcome them publicly to the children’s division. In addition, the leader listed the other workers with the number of years they had been serving. The fact that Carol had been working nine years was significant, and printing it was both a gesture of appreciation and a note of information for the rest of the congregation.
Esteeming teachers should be natural. It’s not like applauding a one-year-old who has stacked his blocks. As pastors and program leaders, we are filled with joy because people have caught the vision of building God’s Word into God’s people. Therefore, in all sincerity we take every opportunity to let them and others know how grateful we are for their service.
These principles are not a quick fix. They cannot guarantee sufficient staff for the next month. But systematic application of these attitudes and actions will alleviate the long-term, chronic condition of teacher vacancies.
3. Declining Sunday School Attendance
A number of years ago I served on the Christian education commission of our state association of churches. Each year the state director would pull out a Sunday school attendance graph that showed a continued decline from the previous year. He would charge us with coming up with a solution to reverse the defections.
The usual response was to set up a statewide contest or some other program to boost the statistics. That worked for some churches, but it really did not change the direction of the decline. I’m sure I sounded like a heretic when I suggested we tackle the problem through an ongoing teacher training program. You see, the fact was — contest or not — I did not want to send my children to most of those Sunday schools.
Not all churches are experiencing a decline in Sunday school. In fact, many have dynamic Sunday schools that are growing significantly. But interestingly, some churches that are growing in morning worship are simultaneously seeing a slight decline in their Sunday morning Bible school.
What are the causes?
Obviously, some congregations are experiencing a decrease in their overall church attendance. They have a smaller number of worshipers, and also an increasing absenteeism among attenders.
Other congregations have a maturing population. In earlier years their Sunday school had many children, but now—with society’s fastest growing populations being young adults and senior citizens, they have a smaller potential clientele.
The diversification of church programming has also de-emphasized the Sunday school. Whereas once Sunday school was the educational program of most churches, now there are churchtime programs, choirs, clubs, and other specialties. The energy once given to Sunday school training and outreach has been diffused.
The purpose of some Sunday schools has also changed. The two main reasons for having a Sunday school used to be education and evangelism. Today, that has frequently evolved into education and fellowship. While fellowship is essential and is needed in our schools, the de-emphasis on outreach has created a corresponding decline in attendance.
Some Sunday schools show statistical losses because of a de-emphasis on busing, which was designed to reach neighborhood children. The long-term implications of reaching only children (not their parents) discouraged many from continuing this outreach. Whether busing had lasting spiritual effect is not the question here. What appears on the records are statistics, and the removal of this type of outreach program has affected the statistics significantly.
Some Sunday schools have been hurt by multiple worship services. Whereas 9:45 a.m. was traditionally the Sunday school hour, worship services are now offered at 9:45 and 11:00, if not also at 8:30. Thus it is convenient for some parents to place their children in Sunday school while they attend the worship service—and then everyone goes home. Two of my own neighbors switched from the local Methodist church to the neighboring Presbyterian church because it offered this type of arrangement. They wanted to worship by themselves while someone else taught the kids.
For some families, the time of the Sunday school is now too early or too late. In our community, for example, I’m surprised at the extent of township athletics played on Sundays. With multiple worship services and Sunday school sessions, people can come to an early service and then leave early for the athletic event.
In light of these changes, I will dare to raise a new question: “What’s wrong with a declining Sunday school?” After all, the Scriptures do not command us to have a growing Sunday school.
Now before you get me wrong, let me go on record stating I’m very pro-Sunday school. I make regular efforts to encourage members to participate. But the issue is not necessarily the Sunday school. Our commission is to teach all that Christ commanded. Whether the teaching takes place at 9:45 on Sunday morning or 7:00 in the evening is a secondary issue.
When I first began at this church, I was concerned to develop home Bible studies. At that time the midweek prayer meeting was the standard program. One home Bible study was begun, then another, then a third. Before long seven groups were meeting.
I was accused of selling prayer meeting down the river. The evidence seemed clear; whereas twenty to thirty used to attend, it was now down to twelve to eighteen. What my critics failed to realize was that the new format involved more than 120 people in weekly study.
The same principle applies to the Sunday school. While years ago a couple may have attended the Homebuilders class, now they attend morning worship service and a weekly home Bible study. In addition they may be listening to or watching Christian broadcasting.
I have no doubt that the pace and race of people, along with a growing apathy, has caused some to give up the two-hour commitment on Sunday morning. But when we look at the question of a declining Sunday school, we must place that alongside many other good programs that have been started for our people.
The best long-term answer (and maybe the only answer) for a declining Sunday school is a quality program that is relevant and vibrant. Most adults will not attend a boring and irrelevant Bible class; neither will they send their children.
Nevertheless, churches in declining neighborhoods, churches with an older clientele, or churches that offer multiple services and educational emphases may never have the Sunday school attendance of a past era. Every church, however, can have a vibrant education program.
4. Difficulty in Coordinating the Entire Program
Last Sunday an associate pastor from Australia visited our church. After the morning hour, we chatted about their ministry. He explained that, out of concern for overall coordination, he and the pastor write discussion questions about the Sunday morning message to be used throughout the week in their many home Bible studies. For that church, “coordination” means assuring parallel themes in several programs.
In another church, the couple who worked as junior high leaders were concerned that their midweek teaching “coordinate with Sunday school.” What they meant was to make sure they were not covering the same thing. For them, “coordination” meant avoiding duplication.
Whatever a church wants to achieve in this regard, the place to begin is exactly the same. The most highly attended program is the hub. The teaching programs with the broadest exposure is where the balanced curriculum is planned. Other programs then plan their curriculum to supplement or vary from the primary program.
The greatest number of students in most churches hear the systematic pulpit teaching and the lessons in Sunday school. The majority of people participate in one or both of these.
As pastors we recognize the need for balance in our preaching, so we alternate between Old Testament and New, narrative and didactic passages, also covering poetry, parables, and prophecy. While some lean toward topical preaching and others toward systematic, verse-by-verse exposition, we still try to present the whole counsel of God.
Similarly, most publishing houses draw up a systematic plan for Bible coverage. They may move through the Bible in a conceptual way in the early childhood years. Then they recycle, with the focus on Bible stories or Bible history in the elementary years. The Bible is covered again in the youth years, followed by a mix of topics and book studies for adults. A church that does not use a Bible curriculum must develop a game plan on its own.
Although I don’t know the exact direction of every sermon I will preach in the next four years, I have met several times with our adult Sunday school superintendent to coordinate my preaching schedule and the adult study subjects. Initially, we looked back fifteen years in the church’s history to see what had been taught to our adults and what had not. Based on that list of previously given sermons and Sunday school electives, we set a tentative direction for both my preaching and the adult Sunday school.
Five years ago I knew I would be preaching from Ephesians, Joshua, Mark, Jude, Numbers, Romans, and Nehemiah. Likewise, the Sunday school knew the direction of the book studies and topical studies they would offer.
With this curriculum already determined, it has been easy to avoid duplication and yet to complement any given subject. For example, the coordinator of our women’s ministries comes to me once a year to discuss possible subjects for ladies’ Bible studies. By looking at the master plan, I help her see books or specific subjects to avoid because they are going to be taught soon in a larger program.
Prior to these systematic meetings, the women would just do their own thing. Three of the groups (approximately sixty women) had studied the Book of Joshua. One of our Sunday school classes was planning to study that book. In fact, the same student commentary was already ordered for the class. This type of overlap can now be avoided.
Another illustration of this principle can be seen in our club program. Once a year our Awana commander develops the main theme for the boys’ council time. Again, knowing the flow of the third, fourth, and fifth grade Sunday school curriculum enables him to move to a different type of topical study that will interest the boys.
Not only can curriculum be coordinated, but so can the times of events and activities. While most churches keep a master calendar, regular communication of that master calendar to the program leaders is less often practiced. The master calendar should cause a two-way flow, thus letting the program leader know, for example, that four months down the road there will be a children’s choir concert. This kind of early communication helps build a spirit of camaraderie among the workers in the fellowship.
5. Parental Apathy and Lack of Support
Is this a genuine defect among modern parents, or are there other explanations?
A primary concern to me is the pace of our families. It used to be just the medical doctor who was so busy we had to wait an hour to see him. Now even Grandma has so much on her to-do list that she is always behind.
In addition to Dad’s hectic routine, Mom has now joined the work force or involved herself in several community activities. Some kids try to play soccer and football during the same season, while others take ballet, piano lessons, and are in the marching band at school. High demands are placed on our young people, especially by coaches, who view skipping a practice as a cardinal sin.
Sometimes in church we try to make our programs equally demanding. For example, one youth pastor set a standard that young people could miss only two practices if they wanted to be part of the puppet ministry. Two teenagers in that group were very busy with school activities but wanted to participate. The youth pastor stuck to his criteria and had a battle on his hands with two parents. From his perspective, the families were unspiritual; they let school activities have priority. From their perspective, the youth minister was unreasonable. One young man had participated in a sport for three years, and there was no reason he should drop out just to be part of the upcoming performance.
In another situation, a pastor visited a home where a family had started attending a different church. The two main reasons for leaving were: first, the time of the Sunday service was earlier, and second, their two high school boys didn’t enjoy being put down every time they were absent. Both played football, and the high school teacher let them know how unspiritual they were to miss any of the youth programs because of their sports schedule.
We could probe for deeper reasons for what is called apathy: more mothers exhausted from work outside the home, the seductive influence of the media, and the prosperity of many families. A major cause of apathy is probably not home-based, however. The problem exists in the church itself. The services are repetitive, the sermons are boring, and the teaching is perceived as irrelevant. In many cases we might be our worst enemies.
What kinds of positive action can overcome the malaise?
The best way to get parental support is to build a quality program parents believe is worth supporting. Even though parents wish their kids would eat spinach, most will not continually force them. Neither are parents going to keep forcing their children to a program they abhor.
In contrast, a program that is upbeat, nonthreatening, enjoyable, and meaningful will more likely be desired by children and youth, and therefore, more readily receive parental support.
Second, regularly teach the accountability of parents. In preaching, through illustrations, even in Sunday school classes, we need to stress the church working hand in hand with the family. Eternal values must be presented on both fronts.
One wise youth worker frequently meets with parents and asks, “How can I help you with your responsibility to train your children?” He is siding with the parents against any family problems. He is not siding against the parents because of family problems.
Any congregation has some people who are on spiritual first base, some who have made it to second, and some maybe as far as third. None of us is home yet. Rather than crabbing at the person who is only on first base, we need to praise him that he joined the team, picked up a bat, and started on his way. We also encourage him to go to second. We encourage the person who has gone to third not to die there but to continue making progress toward home. In the long run, we accomplish more by painting a picture of the committed Christian than by complaining or heaping guilt on “apathetic parents.”
© 1986 Christianity Today
