Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Father's Day Idea
The 6 Most Important Hats a Sunday School Superintendent Can Wear
The Six Most Valuable Hats a Sunday School Superintendent Can Wear
HAT #1: Be a Devoted Discipler of Teachers
1. Develop genuine relationships with your teachers.
2. Tend to the spiritual life of your teachers.
3. Stretch your teachers as leaders.
4. Change your conversation with your teachers.
HAT #2: Be a Connecting Coach of a Team
1. Share decision-making
2. Communicate again
3. Develop shared responsibility
4. Use teachers visibly in the church
5. Pray together
Goal: Communicate to every teacher something you learned today.
HAT #3: Be a Passionate Promoter of Sunday School
1. Promote regularly
2. Promote visibly
3. Promote interconnectedly
4. Promote positively
Goal: Find a testimony of a changed life in Sunday school and share it with your church.
HAT #4: Be an Eagle-Eye Evaluator of the Current Reality
1. What can numbers tell us?
What is your enrollment attendance gap?
What is your worship Sunday school attendance gap?
What direction are you classes going?
What groups are you missing?
2. Beyond the numbers:
Are lives being changed? (discipleship)
Are people being connected? (assimilation)
Are classes following up? (care)
Are classes doing ministry? (service)
Are classes opened or closed? (growth)
Goal: Identify a weakness in your Sunday school.
HAT #5 Be a Proactive Planner for Growth
1. Bridging new people into Sunday school
A. A path for guests
B. Special days
C. Class parties
D. New classes or groups
E. Out of the box options
2. Moving more people into Sunday school leadership
A. Elevating the importance of Sunday school's role
B. Praying and approaching
C. Creating student-teacher positions
D. Setting new teachers up for success
Goal: Plan how you will bridge people from Baby Day, Mother's Day, Grad Day, Children's Day or Father's Day to a Sunday school class.
HAT #6 Be a Vigilant Protector of Core Values
1. Protecting our kids and teens
A. Screen workers
B. Walk hallways; be watchful
C. Have protection policies in place
2. Protecting the family
A. Keep the connection between parents and kids
B. Plan cross-generational learning events
C. Encourage family devotions
D. Encourage participation by all ages in services
E. Strengthen marriages and families through classes
3. Protecting the doctrine of holiness
Goal: Evaluate how safe the kids in your church are. Take one step to strengthen your protection.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Make it Stick
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Why we need Sunday school / small groups
"It was by this means [the formation of small groups] that we have been enabled to establish permanent holy churches all over the world. Mr. Wesley saw the need for this from the beginning. Mr. Whitefield, when he separated from Mr. Wesley, did not follow it. What was the consequence? The fruit of Mr. Whitefield's labors died with himself; Mr. Wesley's fruit remains, grows, increases and multiplies exceedingly." (John Wesley's Class Meeting, Model for Making Disciples by Michael Henderson, p.30.)
Both men excelled at what we would call worship and preaching and evangelism. Only one took seriously the creation and sustaining of small groups. That made the big difference!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Remembering Teachers at Christmas
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Building a Team
According to Kenneth Blazier and Linda Isham in The Teaching Church at Work, "Task-oriented groups tend to neglect group maintenance. The usual tendency is to assume something like this: "we have a job to do; our time is limited; let's get on with it." But we need to pay attention to the life of the group itself, not just the job it does. In fact, the health of the group's life is critical to a group's functioning.
Randy: This is sooo true of the Sunday School. We tend to get on with the work, but forget to develop the health of the group of Sunday school teachers. Superintendents, that's the task God calls us to. He wants us to help create a climate of care and comraderie between the teachers of our church!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Saying Thank you
When Saying Thanks Isn't Helpful
Wendi Hammond
There are times when saying thank you in the wrong way or for the wrong reasons is not only not helpful, but it can actually be harmful.
When it takes the place of a relationship
No matter how many thank-you cards, gifts, or banquets you givethere is no substitute for a genuine relationship with your ministry partners.
This underlines the primary principle in being a good leader - build relationships with those you are leading.
Don't forget to say thanks to your teachers. And don't forget to build the relationship, too!