Summer Training Events Offer New 'Missional Sunday School' Session

Written by Bruce Raley

Pastors and ministers of education attending Sunday School training events this summer at LifeWay Ridgecrest and LifeWay Glorieta Conference Centers will have a new session appearing in the General Leadership track. Ed Stetzer, Director of LifeWay Research and Bruce Raley, Director of Leadership Ministry will speak on "The Missional Sunday School."

"Missional" is a fairly new term used in recent years to describe some churches, para-church ministries and organizations. In the book Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too by Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, missional churches are characterized by their work. These churches study and learn the language of the culture and community. They strive to become part of the culture while proclaiming the gospel. They understand how to contextualize biblical life to the culture in which the church resides. In short, the missional church functions as a missionary to its community. Just as a foreign missionary determines how to take the gospel to a group within a culture, a Sunday School class or ministry can be designed to do the same.

The Sunday School continues to be "the church at work" in many churches today. It is often the foundation of the church's Bible teaching, place of fellowship and source of ministry.

"The Missional Sunday School" session will explore ideas and means for Sunday School to become a missionary force, impacting the church community. Stetzer will focus on research findings of missional churches, characteristics of missional leaders and the top factors and challenges of becoming a missional Sunday School.

Raley, a 25-year veteran in education ministry, will facilitate discussion on the practical aspects of Sunday Schools becoming and remaining missional. Topics include: connecting people through the missional Sunday School groups, developing a process for making disciples, and closing the "back door".

"One of the great blessings of this conference will be for pastors and ministers of education to be in the same room, at the same time, hearing the same presentations," said Raley. "In the past, pastors have been in one room attending one core conference, while the minister of education is in another room. This is a great opportunity for the church leaders to be together, pray together, think together and ultimately focus together on the work and future of their Sunday School."

Sunday School events for the summer of 2008 will be July 11-14 at Ridgecrest and July 21-25 at Glorieta. Find more information and register your Sunday School team on the event page.