A Six-Lane Strategy Toward an Inviting Sunday School
Written by David Francis
"A Six-Lane Strategy Toward an Inviting Sunday School." You may recognize that as the subtitle of my new book: I-6. This 48-page book is the second in the four-part 3D Sunday School series (Invite, Discover, & Connect). The book is available for purchase for $1 or you may download and print as many as you wish. We designed this book to be used for your 2007 Fall Sunday School Kickoff but this material may be used anytime.
Here is a brief description of the six lanes:
1. Invigorate
The primary factor in an inviting church or Sunday School is healthy congregational self esteem. People will invite others to attend only if they feel good about the class or church. Many leaders need to ask the question, “What are we pretending not to know?” Often, the answer revolves around the 3 Ps: Preschool, Parking, and Preaching (or in the class, teaching!).
2. Incorporate
Churches and classes could learn some lessons from successful retailers. Especially when it comes to generating traffic, having good visibility and signage, communicating effectively through advertising and websites, using name badges, and understanding branding.
3. Intercede
Prayer is another important lane on the strategic road toward developing a culture of invitation. Prayer walking is a place for many churches to start. Members pray for opportunities to invite their FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors) to church and Sunday School. As a result, prayer requests sound different in a class that has a culture of invitation.
4. Invest
A church or class with a culture of invitation asks, “What might we do to make our community a better place to live?” Members ask, “What can I do to invest in the life of my FRANs through ministry and service?” They also do this in the love of Christ, understanding that nobody wants to be their project!
5. Invite
Finally, at lane five, we get to the actual practice of invitation! In survey after survey, 70-80% of people report that the primary reason they first came to the class or church they currently attend is because of a personal invitation. Creative churches target new residents, use E-invitations, have great parties, and invite all guests to enroll in Sunday School! They work hard to avoid embarrassing newcomers. And they are sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to invite a person to Christ.
6. Involve
Developing a culture of invitation requires a team effort. Such churches and classes find ways to involve more people in outreach, to involve them based on their giftedness, to involve newcomers in new member classes, and to involve those new members in inviting their FRANs. The most important person involved on the team is the Holy Spirit! This chapter closes with an explanation of churn.
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