Ideas for Revitalizing Sunday School
A small church is defined as a congregation of fewer than 200 people and, according to Monty Keeling in an article on the gochurch.info website, small churches make up 80 percent of all churches in the United States. Small churches that do not update the way they do ministry become stagnant and eventually shrink, then cease to exist. Changing the Sunday school is one way to revitalize a dying church. Use new, creative and exciting ways to spread the gospel, which will keep people of all ages coming back each Sunday.
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Get Feedback
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Do a survey of current Sunday school attendees; find out what they like, don't like and what changes they would make in the Sunday school. Talk to people who no longer attend Sunday school but still come for the Sunday morning service. Find out if a new Sunday school format would bring them back; ask what kind of changes they'd like to see. Talk to parents of children in Sunday school to get an idea of what the kids are saying about it. The parent should be able to tell you if their kids are excited to come to Sunday school or think it is completely boring. Evaluate the feedback and consider it when making changes to revitalize the Sunday school program.
Look at Other Churches
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Look at what other churches that have successful Sunday schools are doing. Your Sunday school may not get the same results from copying what another church is doing, but use some of the ideas, improve upon them and make them fit your particular church.
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Brainstorm
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Assemble a group of Sunday school leaders and lay persons to brainstorm about new ideas. Be sure to include people from different ages, backgrounds and points of view. Remind those who are invited to the session that it is not about what they want; it is about what will revitalize the Sunday school.
Change
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The biggest obstacle in revitalizing the Sunday school is change. Churches and people get comfortable doing what they've always done and don't want to change, and the Sunday school may eventually suffer. Prepare the people for change by preaching the importance of reaching people with the "old message" using new methods. Churches that fail to change and implement new ideas are churches that will die.
Promote
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Begin promotion of the new Sunday school format in the church's weekly bulletin and try to build up excitement. Send out postcards. Create banners and fliers. Put an article in the local newspaper. Have a kick-off event; have the church members invite friends, family members and co-workers.
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References
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