Plan for a Better Sunday School

Written by Ernest Standerfer

An effective Sunday School, one that impacts people’s lives for Christ, doesn’t happen without planning. The Sunday School depends on concerned people who pray, plan, work, and seek God’s guidance and power. We do not want our Sunday School to end up “Somewhere” and fail to be significant to people. The Sunday School needs purpose and adequate resources for its tasks. To help accomplish that, consider three simple reminders.

Revitalizing the Sunday Morning Dinosaur

Plan the Direction
People will participate in Sunday School more enthusiastically and give more generously if they have direction, and a sense of mission. They will respond positively if they see that their investment of time and money results in a good return - a future and a ministry to themselves and others. To find direction you need to plan the priorities.

Plan the Priorities
Sunday School planning should begin on a note of “what’s right about what we’re doing.” What are our strengths, and how can we move forward on those strengths? Then discuss areas of concern - areas that need to be improved or corrected. Even more important are the needs or challenges God has placed before the church, especially the Sunday School.

The Sunday School Council will be helped greatly if the church has adopted a mission statement and clarified how they hope it will be implemented. If the church has no formal mission statement, Sunday School planners can use the Great Commission as the church’s mission.

Ken Hemphill, in Revitalizing the Sunday Morning Dinosaur, cites eight good reasons the Sunday School is the best way to help your church implement the Great Commission.

1. The Sunday School has the organizational structure to hold together the three elements of the Great Commission - evangelizing, assimilating, and discipling.
2. Tying together the three elements of the Commission in the Sunday School simplifies planning, resource allocation, and calendaring.
3. Organizing through the Sunday School helps create a team spirit.
4. A Great Commission focus gives life to the Sunday School and thus counteracts stagnancy.
5. The Sunday School has been vastly underutilized as an evangelistic tool.
6. The Sunday School provides a natural context for assimilation.
7. The Sunday School puts Bible teaching in the center.
8. Great Commission focus gives your Sunday School a clear purpose statement.*

Priorities expressed in goals and action plans can’t be determined apart from discussion of resources. If not done before, budget planning time presents a good opportunity for this planning.

In years past some churches developed a budget and allotted Sunday School a specific amount to work with during the year. Any planning was done in light of the amount given them to spend. Planning which precedes budget development is much healthier. Planners must also plan for the resources.

Plan for the Resources
Once you determine priorities, you will need to find the best action plans to fulfill the priorities. Financial and human resources obviously affect the plans selected. At each step communicate clearly. This will help you do a better job during the year.

Two important questions need to be answered.

1. How can our Sunday School better demonstrate good stewardship? To be sure, maintaining a sense of accountability when using financial resources for supplies, events, and literature is practicing sound stewardship. Also, evaluate the time and energy required of leaders to direct and participate in key events and then seek balance in the plans.
2. How can our Sunday School better teach members to be good stewards of their resources and opportunities? The church is both a steward and a teacher of stewardship.  If members are challenged to grow as stewards and given guidance in ways to express their stewardship through the church, the church will have adequate resources for future work.

Ernest D. Standerfer is retired executive vice-president, Stewardship Development, SBC Stewardship Commission.

* Ken Hemphill, Revitalizing the Sunday Morning Dinosaur (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 39-43.