When I started ministry many years ago, on-campus Sunday school was the predominant form of small groups. That trend has changed now, but the structure of old-fashioned Sunday school still provides needed lessons for small groups, regardless of their meeting place or time:
- The small group’s purpose must be clear. Frankly, even Sunday school has often lost its original historical purpose – evangelistic outreach – but a small group program works best when its purpose is most obvious and best known.
- Intentional organization matters. In a good Sunday school program, class workers include at least a teacher, an assistant teacher, a secretary, an outreach leader, a prayer leader, a fellowship leader, and care group leaders (who do pastoral care of class members). The higher percentage of class members who have a role, the better in any kind of small group.
- Workers must be trained. In a good Sunday school program, class teachers and other leaders are required to complete training in order to serve. That training is, in fact, ongoing as long as the leader serves. That's a wise approach for all small groups.
- Concern must be focused on the lost. Originally, Sunday school was the evangelistic arm of a church, and one goal was to be the place where non-believers first connected with the congregation. The people who weren’t there were as important, if not more important, than the regular attenders.
- Pastoral care via the small group must be organized. That’s where “care group leaders” come into play. Their role is to continually care for assigned class members to make sure everyone is shepherded at a personal level. Nobody is left without a care group leader.
- The goal of the Sunday school class is to multiply, to “plant” another class from the current class. Generally, classes seek to multiply by beginning new groups when the current group averages 12-15 regular attenders. Sunday school classes are not intended to become large “mini-churches.” Nor are other types of small groups.
- Space matters. Sunday school leaders and teachers recognize the 80% rule: when a classroom is 80% full, it’s unlikely that the class will continue to grow. The group must either increase its space capacity or send out some members to start a new class. That rule applies to other small groups, too.
- The class must “go after” the lost. In an old-fashioned Sunday school, the class didn’t wait for guests to show up. Instead, they intentionally sought the unchurched and invited them to attend. That process still works.
- The Bible must be the textbook. Other books may be good to study, but the Bible is the only God-breathed book that’s profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Sunday schools have been built around the Bible, and so must other groups.
- Children matter. That’s one reason why I still like on-campus small groups: they often offer classes for little ones even while their parents and grandparents are learning the Bible.
If you understand old-fashioned Sunday school, what would you add to this list?
I have often told my congregation that we have to pay as much attention to what Jesus “did” as what he “said.” Recruiting and teaching a small group of disciples shows us all how important this is for healthy church development. This post is going out to my congregation today. Thanks!
Great to hear from you, Dale!
Great post Dr. Lawless. I sometimes remind myself that Jesus stated the purpose of His “Sunday School” group in Mark 1:17 – “Follow Me,” He said, “and I will make you fish for people.”
I remember Dr. Rainer has stated several times that evangelism takes 10 times the energy and effort of everything else in the church if it is a Great Commission church..
Blessings on your work, Bob!
I think Sunday School has gotten a bum rap in recent years. Our church has gotten back to some basic principles of Sunday School, and as a result we’ve seen several new enrollments and better attendance. Re-introducing these principles has two advantages: (1) Most churches have gotten so far away from them that the younger people will find them fresh and “radical”, and (2) the older adults won’t be able to complain about your “newfangled” ideas, since most of these principles are older than they are.
Thanks, Ken. Good thoughts.
I posted a link to your article on my blog with the following comment: “In the old-fashioned Sunday school class one person lectured the class on the content of the Bible. Small groups differ from the old-fashioned Sunday school in that the group leader or co-leaders do not teach the Bible but lead the group in the study of the Bible. The training of small group leaders is different from that of Sunday school teachers, focusing on Bible study methods that the group members can learn themselves and small group dynamics. Small groups primarily use the inductive Bible study method. As far as the study of the Bible is concerned, the small group’s goal is to transform its participants into “self-feeders.” These important differences need to be kept in mind.”
No problem, except I differ with your assessment of old-fashioned Sunday school classes. In the best Sunday school classes even in the past, the leader facilitated discussion while teaching the Bible and leading others to understand it, learn to read it for themselves, and see life transformation. And, in the best small groups today, someone is still teaching as needed, even if it's more discussion oriented. Thanks for your thoughts, Robin — the discussion is always good.
The primary measure of the effectiveness of the two different approaches is whether the participants are not only learning how to study the Bible for themselves and to properly interpret its contents but also applying to their lives the Biblical truths and principles they have learned from their study. Too often the Bible class approach conveys the message that studying the Bible and interpreting its contents is something that only “experts” can do rather something everyone can do.
Whatever approach is taken, participants need to be helped to learn the basic methods of Bible study and interpretation,and encouraged to put into practice what they learned. They also need to be encouraged to apply the truths and principles they have learned from their study.
This is much easier to do in the context of a small group than in that of the larger Bible class.
Larger Bible classes tend to attract what J. I. Packer described as “hot-tub Christians,” they soak in the Word like sponges but do not live out the Word in their lives. They are hearers of the Word but not doers.
We’re on the same page. Thanks!