How Your Church Can Discover Sunday School Prospects

Written by Tim S. Smith

There’s gold in them there hills!” Those words echoed throughout our great country during the gold rush. As the word spread on where to find gold, those seeking it moved in. These prospectors were willing to take risks and lived with a single focus. Many churches today complain and say, “We can’t grow; there are no prospects!” Listen! There’s “gold” in them hills, or valleys or flat land or wherever you may be, there are prospects. You've just got to look!

Out of Their Faces and Into Their Shoes

Discover Prospects at Worship Service
Make sure you are registering guests at all worship times. Have a guest reception following worship and offer a free gift to each guest and an opportunity to meet the pastor. If you ask the guest to return a registration card during worship, make sure there is time to complete it. If your church conducts special events, ask for guests to register by completing a card. Many times these community events are overlooked, resulting in thousands of prospects slipping through our fingers annually.

Discover Prospects at VBS
Did you know that almost 30% of all baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention can be tied to Vacation Bible School? More than likely your church conducts VBS each year and more than likely 30% of those families represented are lost or unchurched. What has your church done with the prospects? VBS is one of the best tools we have to discover prospects and also to see men, women, boys and girls come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

Discover Prospects at Family Night
The Family Night is a great way to build relationships with unchurched parents. In one church, the adult Sunday School class members are given blank names tags and markers, they are then told to look for adults without name tags that “look” similar in age to them. The class members ask the prospect to complete the nametag, as well as a card for door prize registration and then begin to talk about church activities. Several families have been reached with this approach.

Other Sugestions
Here are more ways to discover prospects:

Place referral cards in the worship guide or in the pews. Ask church members to complete the card with information (name, address, phone number and approximate age of the person) about those they know who are lost or unchurched.
Does the church have a weekday education program? What families in the day care are not attending church? These are great prospects, who already have a relationship with the church.
Are there parents that do not attend Sunday School or worship with their children? These make great prospects and sometimes the children can reach them more effectively than the pastor.
Do you have newcomers in the church community?
How about using the local newspaper to discover prospects. There is a team at one church that uses this method to discover prospects. Each week they send personal letters to newly weds, new parents, those grieving, and so forth.
Another great way to discover prospects is to plan special events geared to reaching and discovering prospects. One church conducted a “Potty-Training Class” and parents by the hundreds showed up. The class had testimonies from parents concerning their struggles and ultimate victories. A pediatrician, who is a member and Sunday School teacher of the church, shared helpful hints. The class concluded with homemade ice cream prepared and served by the young adult Sunday School class members. The following Sunday the preschool area was packed-out for Sunday School.

God has given a precious gift in Jesus Christ. Our task, our commission is to share Him with a lost and dying world. There are people for you to reach; you may just have to do a little work to find them.

Tim S. Smith is a Sunday School and Open-Group Ministries Consultant for the Georgia Baptist Convention.

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