How to Grow a Sunday School (Small Group) Ministry

1. Set an enlistment (enrollment) goal.

 2. Develop plans to meet enlistment goals.

 3. Discover prospects.

 4. Add classes and cells.

 5. Enlist and train workers

 6. Have regular (weekly) workers meetings.

 7. Provide (find) space for the study groups.

 8. Involve more people in making more contacts and visits.

 9. Keep good records.

 10. Make this a church life-style.

“Certain actions produce predictable results.  Controllables lead to projectables.”

·         Set quarterly enlistment goals.  This is your primary growth goal.  All the other “controllables “ are made from the enrollment goal.  Enrollment sets an upper limit on attendance.  Average attendance will never exceed enrollment.  Many Sunday schools average about 50% of their enrollment.

·         Keep a prospect file.  Your prospect file needs to be at least as large as your enrollment.

            A prospect file.  A person is not a prospect until you know who they are, and have a way to contact them.  Make prospect discovery a priority.

·         Add as many teaching groups (classes or cells) as you need to reach your enlistment goal.

            You need one teaching unit for no more than 16 to 20 people enrolled.

            Rule to guide you.

                 One teaching unit for less than 20 = possible growing situation.

                 One teaching unit of 20 to 24 enrolled = a maintenance situation.

                 One teaching unit for more then every 25 enrolled = a declining situation.

·         Enlist and train workers.  You need two new workers for each new teaching unit.  Most growing churches have a ratio of one worker for every eight or nine persons enrolled.  That averages two leaders per teaching unit -- a group leader (teacher) and an outreach leader.

            Rule to guide you.

                        One worker to eight or nine enrolled = possible growing situation

                        One worker to 10-13 enrolled = maintenance situation.

                        One worker to more than 13 enrolled = declining situation.

·         Have weekly workers meetings.  If you teach every week, you need to plan every week.  Meetings do not have to be long but they do need to be weekly.  Every leader may not be able to make it every week, but you need to come as close to 100% as you can.

·         Promote contacts and visitation.  The goal for contacts and visits reported should be at least 50 percent of the enrollment.

·         Ten to twenty percent of contacts need to be “growth” visitation -- contacts or visits to people who have never attended regularly.  If the number of “maintenance” visits and contacts are above 90% of the total contacts and visits, the church is not in a growth situation. 

            Have a way to report and count contacts and visits.  Keep good records.

Experience suggests a church reporting visits and contacts made each week equal to approximately 50 percent or more of the enrollment is in a growing situation.  Churches with few visits and contacts reported are in a decline.

·         Involve more people in making contacts and visits.  You need to average at least one person per teaching unit reporting making visits and contacts each week.

The positive results you are looking for will come from these “controllables.”  You will be able to figure your “projectables” of Bible Study (Sunday School) attendance, Worship service attendance, weekly offerings and baptisms based on your enrollment.

Try it.  Study your present situation.  How many do you have enrolled?  Project an enrollment goal for each quarter of the year.  See how many teachers and teaching units you need to reach that goal.  How many prospects will you need to discover?  How many visits and contacts will you need to have?  Break it into these steps and you will see that it can be done.

Do you have a God sized dream for your church?