Solutions for Preventing Ineffectiveness in Sunday School

Written by Richard E. Dodge

My wife and I have been married nearly 35 years, and we truly love and appreciate each other. Occasionally we tease each other about how our relationship started, usually with a smiling, “You asked for it” response.

The Teaching Ministry of the Church

What surprises most of us is to learn that when we have ineffective workers, the response can be much the same: “You asked for it.” You didn’t seek people who would fail. But sometimes we end up with ineffective workers because we failed to enlist, train, and motivate them effectively. How can we minimize the chances of facing problems with ineffective workers?

Enlist Leaders Effectively
Most worker problems grow from enlistment failure. The enlistment process marks the beginning of whether a worker can be effective or ineffective. Consider some ideas for proper enlistment:

• Seek God’s leadership through prayer for His choice of leaders.
• Enlist personally, face-to-face in a quiet location.
• Provide a job description and list of expectations up front.
• Describe and explain the duties.
• Create a visual image of how to identify effectiveness.
• Provide training opportunities as well as personal coaching if necessary.

Create Opportunities for Growth
Training is a constant need. Many “surgeons of the heart” have been teaching God’s Word for years but have not attended training events in years. Develop an annual training calendar. Set training standards for the Sunday School and ask each teacher and leader to commit to meet those training standards. Remember to focus on the positive side of training, too, encouraging leaders rather than “requiring” them to meet standards.

Learn How to Lead
As a key leader, part of your responsibility is to learn and model leadership. Effective leaders are constant encouragers and cheerleaders. Constant encouragement creates a positive environment and a feeling of expectancy. Encouragement comes in many ways.

• Affirm leaders for good work.
• Send notes and letters of appreciation, particularly on workers’ birthdays.
• Offer to work alongside workers. Spend time learning how they function and how you can help them achieve success.
• Build personal relationships with leaders who work with you.
• Admit your mistakes and take responsibility for your weaknesses. Then teach by sharing how you overcame these inadequacies.

Solve the Problems
Removing a worker is never easy. It often leads to broken relationships and possibly the lose of church members. The best solution is to achieve a win-win solution for everyone. Here are some tips for how to remove an ineffective worker—assuming you’ve already taken steps to enlist and train workers effectively.

• Schedule a personal meeting with the worker.
• Identify the worker’s strengths and potential.
• Discuss possible positions in which the worker can use his or her skills and abilities with the greatest potential for success.
• Ask the worker to move into the alternate position. If necessary, point out how the alternate position better suits the ineffective worker.
• Focus on positive aspects of the transition rather than weaknesses.
• Never compare this worker’s efforts with those of someone else.

God wants every worker to succeed in Kingdom efforts. Our task often is to find ways to help everyone find fulfillment in Kingdom work even when that requires drastic measures. But proper enlistment and training on the front end usually solves problems before they develop.

Richard E. Dodge teaches adults in Sunday School and is Sunday School director at Una Baptist Church, Nashville.