Growing Times

As I visit churches and Sunday School classes or small group Bible study classes, I am often dismayed at the number of knowledge and information dispensers we have leading our classes. Knowledge is good, and biblical knowledge is wonderful and great to acquire. However, if biblical knowledge is all we are teaching in our classes it is my opinion that we are missing God’s plan and purpose for our teaching.
In a recent conversation with an Minister of Education, I noted that some of his teachers (information dispensers) are teaching the only way they know. In some cases it is the only way he/she has ever seen demonstrated. In many situations it is the easiest, most comfortable to the teacher and it seems reasonable to pass on what I read and understand from scripture.
Teachers (and preachers) spend several hours each week studying and preparing for the lesson to be delivered on Sunday (or their particular meeting time). We study reading scripture, gleaning from our 27 commentaries and the thousands of resources available on the internet. Teachers are to be commended for their time spent in study and preparation. The reward is theirs for studying and learning more about God and His plan. The problem comes at the end of our preparation when we walk into the classroom carrying with us all the information we have been able to glean in 3, 5, 7, or even 10 hours of study, and we set out to expend all of our newly acquired knowledge on those sitting in front of us – in 30 minutes.
In Teaching That Bears Fruit, I call this the Dump Truck method of teaching. We spend all week loading our dumptruck up, back it into the classroom on Sunday morning and dump the whole load on our listeners. The drawback is it is unusable to our listeners, unless we are attempting to build Bible trivia buffs. Information dispensed in this manner can become an obstruction rather than an aid in living the Christian life.
An experienced dump truck driver carrying a load of gravel knows how to raise the dump bed gradually as he drives along unloading the gravel in a smooth and immediately usable manner. The first time I attempted to unload a truck full of finely ground limestone, it all came out in one pile. Needless to say it was not usable. It took an entire crew of workers with shovels and rakes to come behind me and smooth out limestone so it could be used. I was not the MVP on the job that day.
In Bible study, we do not have the luxury of having a crew come in behind us and work our information dump into a usable road for our listeners to travel. It’s time to put a for sale sign in the dump truck and begin teaching the way jesus taught. If we want our listeners to become life changing learners, we must teach for life change. We must move from being knowledge dispensers to agents of life-change, and initiators of learning experiences for our listeners. This is teaching the way Jesus taught. This is teaching that bears fruit.
For more information about Teaching That Bears Fruit visit http://soncare.net

Learning is validated and manifested through expressed experience. Parents and early childhood educators realize children are learning when they begin to name colors and point them out correctly. In school, teachers recognize learning is taking place as children begin to form letters into words and words into sentences, and when they begin to accurately complete simple mathematical equations. Throughout life this pattern continues as we learn to tell time, count out change, drive, develop relationships, discern, and work through situations and circumstances we are faced with.
As teachers and Christian leaders we need to take this observable reality into consideration as we prepare and present each lesson. Findley Edge in Teaching For Results says, “Christianity is basically an experience – an encounter with Christ that must express itself in experience. You do not truly learn a Christian ideal until you have both experienced it and expressed it in experience.”
This is another reason why it is important for teachers to know their learners, know who is sitting in front of you on Sunday morning (or whenever you teach). Knowing who they are by name is not enough. A teacher should strive to know about each person in his/her Bible study. What are their interests? Know about their family, work or school. How does she approach learning? Which learning styles really invigorate his approach to learning?
This may seem daunting or even overwhelming at first thought, to try to know all this about each person in your class. But trust me, with trust in the Holy Spirit and a little practice this will become a natural part of your teaching and it will produce life-change in your learners.
By simple observation and listening you will be able to learn much about your learners while you are with them in class. These are your two keys to knowing your learners. Observe and listen before, during, and after class. Who do they talk to? What do they talk about? How quick are they to leave? Do they arrive early, on time, or late? Do they sit with and talk to the same person(s) each week? People talk about what they are passionate about. Especially when they get together with friends.
I encourage teachers to also attempt at least one personal visit with each learner every year. This visit could be in his/her home or out for a meal or coffee, or soft drink. There is something about food and drink that breaks down communication barriers. This is another reason I encourage light refreshments in the Bible study classroom. It breaks down the communication barriers and people are more likely to open up and talk if he/she has a doughnut and cup of coffee or orange juice in hand. I also believe one important position or area of responsibility on the Sunday School classroom is the “Keeper of the Doughnut list” – Who’s bringing doughnuts next week? Spend some time with your learners one on one or with couples if you teach married couples.
The point is, if you want your learners to truly experience life-changing learning, you need to get to know them. Then plan and prepare your lesson so they can carry the learning experience into their world and express the learning in experience. The evidence of learning is not that they tell you it was a good lesson as they walk out of the classroom. Evidence of learning comes from actual application of the principles of the learning experience in real life situations – Monday through Sunday. This is teaching that changes lives. This is Teaching That Bears Fruit.

Does enrollment really play a factor in our attendance?
“Why worry about enrollment? It is attendance that really matters.” Many Sunday School teachers, Pastors, church staff members, and Sunday School Directors have voiced these or similar sentiments about enrollment. However, there are facts about the correlation of these two aspects of Bible study that need to be brought to light. Throughout the years of Sunday School where attendance and enrollment records have been kept some interesting facts have come to light.

Before I get into those let’s be certain we understand what enrollment is. The enrollment of my Bible study is a group of people that I and the other members of my group agree to minister to. It is not a list of who attends. That is called attendance. Sunday school, small group Bible study, should not be about Bible study alone. Each small group should have: as its mandate the Great Commission; as its purpose, equipping attendees with the ability to carry out the five functions of the church in their daily lives; and an outcome of corporate and individual spiritual maturity, ministry expansion, heightened missions awareness, and through all of these reaching the lost world for Christ. This is accomplished through the life-changing application of the truths found within the Bible.

Now, let’s get to those enrollment facts.
First, churches with healthy, growing Sunday Schools have an average of 50% more people enrolled than attend on any given week. This greater number of enrollment gives an automatic presence for ministry and prospective attendance registry.

I have been in churches and have spoken with many church leaders who have a perspective of “keeping the church roll clean.” Churches who purge their rolls periodically are moving in the wrong direction. I understand there are times when you may need to go through and clean-up your church rolls. But it is my belief that you should never “purge” your church rolls of those who do not attend simply because someone has not attended for a period of time.

I believe there are only three reasons to consider removing a person from your church Bible study roll. 1) The person in question tells you face to face they do not wish to be a part of your church any longer, and they are adamant about their decision. 2) They have moved and are living beyond a reasonable commutable distance and you have his/her acknowledgement. 3) The person in question is deceased.

One and two above have some restrictions placed on them. Number one, Simply because a person tells you or one of your members they are not planning on attending your Bible study any longer, is not reason enough to remove them from the roll. This person may be going through a crisis or may be the full time care-giver for a loved one and unable to attend at the current time. Whatever the reason, many of these people need the church. People have a natural tendency to pull away from church relationships when they need them the most. If you remove these people from your Bible study group enrollment, you are removing the possibility of being able to minister to them now and in the future. The exception to this would be if you know for certain the person is actively involved and attending a Bible study associated with another church.

The second one, Simply because someone has moved is not reason enough to remove he/she from your roll. They may be waiting looking for another church to join and then will correspond with your church for transfer of membership. His/her move may be a temporary or a seasonal move. Be sure to check with people who are moving out of your area or have moved away. You may be better serving to these people by placing them on an inactive roll for a time until you know their wishes and desires.

Many of these healthy, growing churches realize that if you increase your enrollment, you will increase your attendance. Thom Rainer’s research group found that for every two people you enroll, on average one will attend. The same research revealed that for every two (lost) person’s who begin attending Bible study, on average one will accept Christ within one year. Those are pretty good percentages in anyone’s book. However, this does not mean if your goal is to get two new attendees all you need to do is enroll four people. The numbers are averages and therefore you must be intentional about going after the people and enrolling as many as you can through open enrollment.

Before this study was done by the Rainer Research Group, simple studies of growing churches have shown similar results. I have worked with churches whose attendance corresponded with the increase/decrease of their enrollment. One church had a Sunday School enrollment around 600 and averaged a little over 300 in weekly attendance. By employing an open enrollment campaign throughout the Sunday School fifty people were added to the enrollment and in the same period the average attendance climbed to 326. That same church within the next year had increased its enrollment to over 700 and average attendance climbed to 356.

Other churches of various sizes have recorded similar results. Whatever their attendance was, when the church intentionally practiced open enrollment, the margin of increase in attendance was proportionate to the number of new members enrolled. One particular church in Tennessee had an enrollment of 1500 and an average attendance of around 750. They sat out on a course of open enrollment and reached a goal of enrolling 300 new persons over a particular time period. The increase in their average attendance – you guessed it, 150 persons.

Will the numbers always be exact or around 50%? Of course not, but, if you intentionally set out to increase your enrollment with the objective of having people join your Bible study, you will see an increase in close proportion (40-60%) of your enrollment. This of course takes into account that you have an active, caring, and relational Bible study program that people will want to come to more than once.

What is Open Enrollment?
Open enrollment is simply stating – “We will enroll anyone, at any place, any time as long as they agree to be enrolled.

Why use Open Enrollment?
Open enrollment does not guarantee the new enrollee will attend. It does give you and your small group an opportunity to minister to this person. It also gives you permission to contact the enrollee. They receive periodic updates about what your group is doing and invitations to special events and outings. They are placed on a care group list and are contacted frequently for prayer needs and requests.

For more on enrollment and training your Bible study leaders and members in this vital area of healthy church growth contact SonC.A.R.E. Ministries. More information is available on the teaching resource CD Twelve Training Sessions for Bible Study Leaders (available September 2009).

As Goes California, So Goes the Rest of the Nation

Seven years ago I was asked to go on a mission trip to California. David Suddath, Jeff McGukin and I spent six days speaking and consulting with 14 churches in the central coast region of CA. God burdened my heart for the churches of that region and ten months later my wife, Pam, and I moved to CA and served on staff with Central Coast Baptist Association for six plus years.

While on that mission trip two of the churches I spoke with told us, “We wish we knew what you are telling us 30 years ago.” Both of these churches had less than 15 people attending. The youngest person in one of these churches was 58. Everyone else was above 72 years of age. Once vibrant churches running as many as 300, they still had the desire to see their churches grow for God, but they no longer had the strength or manpower. One of these two churches has since closed and the other one runs about 11 people on Sunday morning.

Unfortunately, this scenario plays out over and over again throughout central and northern CA. Especially in the “Anglo” (English speaking, mainly Caucasian) congregations. More than 60% of all Anglo congregations in the San Francisco bay area and the Silicon Valley have less than 45 in worship attendance on Sunday mornings. Most of these are running less than 30 and shrinking annually. 

Churches can make the turn-around and some of these in CA are doing just that. They have made the turn and are growing. For most it is a long and painstaking effort. But, if you’re in it for the right reasons, it is well worth the effort. I know of a couple of those churches now running more than 100 on Sunday mornings and one that has grown from 3 to sixty plus in attendance in less than 3 years. Others have worked through a strategy planning phase and now entering the implementation phase, beginning to see results.

I write and speak about this because I have served in and consulted with churches in the south and midwest most of my life. After moving to CA, I realized what I saw in churches there was on its way to the South and midwest, churches all across the nation. Churches across the U.S. sitting comfortably with 125-250 members today, will be those churches that we spoke to on the mission trip and those that I worked with in central CA.

I have commented to several church and denominational leaders over the past four years stating, those churches of 125-250 today will be the churches of 15-25 in ten to fifteen years. If an awareness of urgency is not prompted today, those will be the churches closing their doors and dissolving in 2020. They will be the churches saying, “If we had only known in 2010 what you are telling us today…”

It did not surprise me when outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Frank Page, in May of 2008 stated, “Unless something is done to reverse the downward trend, Southern Baptist churches could number only 20,000 — down from the current total of more than 44,000 — in fewer than 22 years.”  Published May 6, 2008 ABP. Page made a statement that many pastors, church and denomination leaders are afraid to make. Yet, statistics and factual information continue to reveal this is truth. Recent reports and research is showing similar trends in nearly all evangelical church denominational lines.

As church leaders we must take heed of the warnings and the signs of the times surrounding us. Not only take heed, we must sound the trumpet and become intentional about reversing the trend in our churches. We have been told for several years that 80% or more of our churches are plateaued or declining. My friends, a plateaued church is a dying church, just as is a declining one.

I am thankful for God’s servants such as Frank Page, Ed Stetzer, George Bullard, Bob Logan, Josh Hunt, Beth Moore and many others who are working to give us needed information and tools to assist in turning around the church of God’s kingdom and reversing the trends we have allowed in our churches today. I am equally grateful for the practitioners leading the way in needed change in our churches.

Along life’s journey I have made my mistakes, and I will make more. But, when I stand before the Lord, I want to hear the words, “Well done fruitful and faithful servant.” I desire to be a fruitful and faithful servant for my Lord. If I can do this by helping you and your church, then I am one step closer to fulfilling my Calling.

The GROWING TIMES blog site is designed and intended to be used as a resource for churches and leaders to better equip believers in fulfilling their Calling in being fruitful and faithful servants for God. Visit www.soncare.net for equipping articles and resources for a healthier church. To receive more Growing Times articles in your e-mail box send an e-mail to glyates@soncare.net.