By Derrick Porterfield
Disclaimer: The opinion of this article only reflects the opinion of the author and does not reflect the opinion of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.
The obvious answer is to teach about the story of Jesus Christ to others on Sunday mornings before the beginning of church service. This is a routine that is followed within many different churches. It is the foundation for bible teaching, a purpose for Christians to meet, and an opportunity to prepare Christians for baptism. However, there has been a transition over the last few years in which the time traditionally used for Sunday school is used as a time to recruit people for Sunday worship service. It is less about getting deep into the word of God on Sunday mornings and more about bringing in as many people to church as possible. Several factors have contributed to this behavior including but not limited to:
1. Earlier Sunday school times on Sunday Mornings in which people are choosing not to come to Sunday school and would rather wait for church services to start. Early for many is anytime before 9:30 a.m.
2. People choosing to use the Sunday school time to get their family, their friends, and their fellow church members ready for church service instead of participating in Sunday school.
3. People choosing to stay at home or go to other places, but deciding not go to church on Sundays.
4. People going to work at their jobs on Sunday mornings on a regular basis.
5. A shorten Sunday school timeframe to accommodate a longer church service timeframe.
6. People choosing to use technology and watch a taped church service or a livestream church service on their devices instead of going to a physical church address on Sunday mornings.
7. A lack of focus and concentration on making Sunday school one of the best activities people can participate in at church during the entire week and especially during Sunday mornings.
This means that churches now have to make a choice. Either increase the evangelistic efforts of the church by bringing in as many people as possible to Sunday morning service and foregoing some of the Sunday school teaching time to accomplish this task, or conduct a well-developed Sunday school program in the morning before church service starts and limit the opportunities to bring in more visitors (and sometimes even more members) into the church service. I believe either choice can work well depending on the church’s vision and goals. I will now offer my opinion on both decisions.
Now, if a great majority of the congregation do not come to Sunday school, but come regularly to Sunday church services, then maybe doing a bible study class or two during the week would be helpful. Also, livestream or satellite bible study classes would be helpful for those that have trouble coming to church outside of Sunday mornings. This will help them feel welcomed into a Bible Study discussion. Speaking of welcoming, using social media interactions are a good way to connect with people to introduce verses from the bible on a daily basis and comment about the lesson to friends and family members. In addition, hosting multiple bible study classes would give more opportunities for members to study a scripture or lesson before the Sunday sermon. Furthermore, a quick 5 minute overview from one of the pastoral leaders of the church about the bible teachings from the week would be a good idea to refresh the congregation about the weekly readings all at one time.
However, if the congregation has a steady Sunday school class overall (whether it is adult focused or youth focused or both), but have fewer visitors or guests for church service on a regular basis, then maybe focusing on treating the Sunday school class as an fantastic activity for all age groups could be a good way to maintain your classes as well as a way to bring in new guests to the church. Make Sunday school interactive and fun through engaging activities so that kids and adults would want to get up at 8:00 on a Sunday morning (especially after a late Saturday Night) to get ready to participate in a 9:30 Sunday school lesson. For youth, using Smart Tvs screens is a great way to use technology by displaying videos about the bible lesson via wi-fi. For adults, it is as simple as committing to a set, consistent time for Sunday school and having some fruit, donuts, coffee, or peppermint candy available for members that decided to skip breakfast. Remember, an hour is a long time, so if you can keep everyone attention throughout these classes with fun activities and deep discussions, then the Sunday School class would be its own best marketing strategy for bringing people to church.
Now, some would say, “Hey, why don’t we try to do both things? We can have a great Sunday school program and bring in as many people to church on Sunday Morning as possible”. While this sounds aspirational, I believe that it will be very difficult to do both objectives at the same time. That decision runs the risk of the church being ineffective at both transporting people to and from church on a timely basis (for both the driver and the passengers) as well as teaching and engaging students in a deep, interactive, non-rushed Sunday school discussion before the beginning of church service. The entire church has to have the same mindset as a whole on focusing on one of these goals for Sunday mornings before church service due to time constraints. Pursuing both goals would split the focus and the energy of the church, thus preventing either goal from being achieved. Furthermore, it can also create mental fatigue, stress, and/or burnout for church members and workers, especially if the same members and workers are transporting people to and from church as well as teaching the Sunday school class or setting the stage for church service around the same time.
Overall, I believe that each church should accommodate for its own congregation in either hosting a well-developed Sunday School program for bible teaching before church services or having a well-developed transportation program for bringing people to church on Sunday mornings. However, the church should only focus on one of these program in order to try to achieve the highest quality level possible for that program. But what do you think? Do you have any good ideas that could help in this situation? Leave your comments and ideas in the message box below.
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