Salmon, Seeds, and Open Groups

Written by Sherry Spillman

What could they possibly have in common?

Sunday School Done Right! - Leader Kit

At first glance the notion might seem a little strange that salmon, seeds, and open groups have anything at all in common. They do! The realization comes when you begin to look closely at God’s life plan for each of these and how reproduction is timed and carried out in the life of the salmon and seeds. In each case, reproduction comes closely tied to death.

• The female salmon is born and matures. It then fights its way upstream to lay its eggs and die. This cycle is repeated year after year. The salmon reproduces, only to die.

• The seed Jesus spoke of when He said, “I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop,” (John 12:24).

• So goes the life cycle of the effective Great Commission open group, Bible study, or what so many of our churches and student ministries call a Sunday School class. An effective group knows up front that when they grow, there will come a time the class will face transition, much like death, and reproduction of itself into two classes.

There are just some things that are born to die! And, as in the case of the seed, its full potential is reached in the destiny of dying! So it goes with open groups!

We who have answered a calling from God to work in the trenches to see students come to know Christ and their lives changed, can take a cue from this picture painted in nature and set in motion by the Creator. Our cue is taken from the life cycle.

In an effective open group or Sunday School class the life cycle has four stages.

1. Birth - The birth of a class takes place whenever your church begins a new Sunday School or Bible study class. For many churches this takes place to coincide with the new school year in the fall. Sadly, in many of our ministries birth simply means a change in who teaches the class. In actuality, the birth stage should mean a new combination of beginning Christians and lost students mixed with more mature Christians. It is a time when one Sunday School class is multiplied and becomes two.
    
2. Bonding - The first few weeks and months of the existence of the new class is spent helping members know each other and learn to fellowship together. During this stage the teacher identifies leaders and evaluates the spiritual maturity of individual members. Class members and teachers learn to worship together as they study God’s Word together. The class begins to identify lost friends and others in their community who need to hear the story of redemption.
    
3. Spiritual Growth and Maturity - This is the time in the life cycle in which members and teachers are spiritually challenged and an obvious time of transformation takes place. The group holds each other accountable and encourages each other to grow deeper with God. The group begins to grow in numbers as a result of reaching out to the lost for whom they have been praying. Excitement builds as they see their goals reached and look forward with the expectation of the time when a new class will be birthed - knowing that a new class will increase the chances of more and more students coming into the kingdom of God.
    
4. Death and Rebirth - Just as the seed dies in order to produce more seed, so a class “dies” in its current existence. In rebirth, the old original class emerges as two classes and reproduction has taken place!

You may be asking yourself, “How do I set up this life cycle?” Begin to build this mindset among students and those who minister with them. Following are some things you can do to develop the life-cycle mindset:

• Ask each of your teachers if they know the names of and are praying for at least three lost friends of each member of their classes. These are names of students that class members don’t want to be in heaven without!
• Encourage teachers to be consistent in praying for those friends. Lead teachers, after a few months of prayer, to ask to meet those friends. Train students to watch for the time when he/she senses the friend is ready to hear the gospel story or be invited to the Bible study time or class event.
• Lead students in a Bible study that guides them to discover the purpose for the church and what it means to be a “great commission” group.  
• Start a discipleship or closed group (Basic Student Discipleship would be a great resource to use) with the intention of birthing a new open group or Sunday School Class with new Christian friends won to Christ by members of the discipleship class.
  
  It may be that when you begin to initiate this process, only one class is mature enough to complete the entire life cycle. Begin with that one. The success of one will breed excitement and will be the catalyst you need.

1 Karen Jones, “Seven Trends to Watch in the Next Decade” Youthworker, January/February 2000.
2 As reported in 2001 A.C.P.

Sherry Spillman, Lead Student Ministry Specialist at LifeWay Christian Resources, leads a teen discipleship group at her church, First Baptist Church, Dickson, Tennessee.