Starting a New Class Equals Birth Pains

Greg, a very godly deacon, was a former teacher who wanted to teach again. He felt God leading him to start a new class. The only problem was that Greg’s previous teaching experience was not a good experience. The class struggled and eventually disbanded.

After counseling and praying with Greg, I felt that he needed to pursue starting a new class. He had been attending a rather large class in which the teacher was a very gifted communicator. We talked to his teacher, who helped us begin promoting the new class. Eventually we started with a small core group who were willing to help Greg start the class. We identified specific prospects and inactive members from Greg’s current class and assigned them to the new class.

The class struggled for several months, averaging about eight attenders. I touched base with Greg often. He would tell me how slowly the class was growing and how he questioned whether he had made a poor decision. I would remind him that God had called him; then I would offer ideas for him to do to keep focused on the work. In addition to preparing his lesson faithfully each week, Greg began to participate in the FAITH Sunday School Evangelism Strategy® and began to organize his class.

Greg was struggling to build the class while I served in that church. I returned for a visit a number of months after leaving the church and heard some great news. Greg’s class had grown incredibly strong. The church had conducted a High Contact Sunday, and more than 40 people attended that day. They now are consistently averaging over 30!

Some would say that Greg was successful. In fact, his church would herald him as a success. But he has not reached the end of the path to success. The trip along this path will be complete when Greg’s members make a commitment to start another new class.

I once used the idea of birthing a baby to describe the joy of starting a new class. One lady interrupted my passionate appeal to start new units by saying, “If you knew how painful childbirth was, you wouldn’t use that analogy!” I thought for a moment about her comment, pondering how painful asking people in an existing class to start a new unit might be. Yes, childbirth is painful, but it’s worth the price once you see the beautiful new life God has given. The same is true for birthing new classes. The process may be painful, but it’s worth the price when you see how God has blessed.

Adult Sunday School leaders truthfully are the point people for starting new units. Yes, the act of starting new units falls into the hands of the Sunday School director, pastor, or minister of education. And yes, they do need to set the tone for starting new classes throughout the church. But they can’t create new units without you leading the way in your class. If they do, the pain is likely to be much greater than that of childbirth!

Birthing a class indicates a new level of spiritual and leadership maturity. Watching other class leaders function and sending members to serve somewhere else can be a great blessing and an exciting process. But, if you really want to get excited, consider the joy that can come when you look back and can see how many classes you’ve had a part in building.

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