YOUR YOUTH SUNDAY SCHOOL

What is PowerUP? A growth strategy aimed at reaching and keeping new students A 7-week plan occurring between Round-UP Day and High Attendance Day Purpose: To help a church break through to the next level of growth Principle Driven

Sunday School Power Principles The Power of Prayer The Power of Community The Power of 10 The Power of One

The Power of Prayer Evangelistic Prayer Read Acts 1:12-14 and Acts 2:41

What do these three things have in common?

The Power of Prayer A - Ask. You have not because you ask not (James 4:2, Matt. 9:37-38) S - Seek. Prayerfully seek to expand God’s Kingdom (Luke 19:10) K - Knock. The gospel must be shared (Romans 10:14-15)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the POWER of God for salvation, to everyone who believes, to the Jews first and also to the Greeks. Romans 1:16

Developing an Evangelistic Prayer List Lead your class through the ASK outline. Using a tear sheet or other paper, ask students to volunteer names of people they know who need Jesus. Write each of these names on the tear sheet. Each week, as a class, pray for each of these people.

P R A Y ! Invite someone to their SS class Share their testimony in SS Establish deeper relationships with their unsaved friends and classmates Conduct a PrayerWalk around their school or connect with a FISH Club. Pray, expecting God to provide opportunities for students to:

Evangelistic prayer is vital to having a Sunday School that is reaching the lost Evangelistic prayer is often a missing ingredient in many of our classes Evangelistic prayer will move our outreach from human striving to spiritual empowerment

The Power of Community Respond to the following statement: Life change happens best in an environment of small groups of people.

The Power of Community Sunday School is a small group of people who gather for… Bible study Friendship and fellowship Prayer Ministry Outreach to friends and acquaintances Which of these elements of Youth Sunday School are your students currently doing well in? In which ones are you currently struggling?

Sunday School… …can be a great opportunity for a group of students to create an atmosphere of “relational evangelism”

Enrollment Focuses the SS on students who are NOT present A growing enrollment increases the youth ministry’s pool of influence When youth SS members enroll their friends, the entire class gets to practice relational evangelism Enrollment is the forgotten factor in evangelism

Common Enrollment Fallacies A person must attend SS first before they can enroll A person must attend 3 times before they can “join” the class If a person does not attend in a year, they are removed from the roll SS enrollment and church membership are the same thing

What about “purging” the roll? Rarely should a person be removed from the roll While enrollment does not guarantee growth (it must be done in coordination with new classes and new leaders), purging the roll rarely – if ever – produces growth Purging is almost always a sign that the SS has turned “inward”

Anyone-Anytime-Anywhere Enrollment Provide all Youth Sunday School members with a small enrollment card Encourage students to pray and be sensitive for opportunities to enroll others in Sunday School Involve the class in following up on new members

“Guest” vs “Member” Guest Generally must attend with a member Has a “visitor” mentality” Is dependent on their host for help Member Can attend anytime Has a “member mentality” Can receive ministry from anyone in the class Adopt a “member” philosophy toward new people. “Membership has its privileges”

Interesting Enrollment Facts In 2005, 145,659 resident members of Oklahoma Baptist churches were not enrolled in Sunday School (32% of church members are not enrolled in SS) Nationally, it takes 2 churches to net one person in enrollment

Excellent Enrollment Practices Open enrollment. Adopt the “Anyone-Anytime-Anywhere” method of enrollment Automatically enroll new church members Discover un-enrolled worship members and enroll them in SS

Excellent Enrollment Practices (cont.) Place a checkbox on all student literature or visitor information cards that will allow students to enroll in SS Include an option to enroll in Bible study on registration materials for student events Include an enrollment opportunity on worship registration cards

Excellent Enrollment Practices (cont.) Offer a SS booth at block parties, Fall Festivals, etc. where people can receive information and enroll in SS

The PowerUP Enrollment Plan Audit your church membership and assign teachers to visit un- enrolled members to ask them to enroll in SS On the first day of PowerUP (Round UP Sunday), distribute enrollment cards to all students and challenge them to enroll at least 1 person over the next 7 weeks

The PowerUP Enrollment Plan Conduct a community survey. Invite students you visit to join (enroll in) a SS class Distribute the PowerUP door- hanger in your neighborhood. The door-hanger has a tear-off enrollment card attached. Make sure you have your church’s name and address on the mailing side

The 100% Attendance Fallacy 100% in attendance means the class does not have lost people enrolled Our tendency in enrollment is to remove people who do not attend. This attitude communicates that if a person has not already “arrived”, then we don’t want them. An “open enrollment” concept means we are reaching out to the lost and uncommitted with the gospel.

The 100% Attendance Fallacy Most SS’s average about 45% of enrollment in attendance. 100% attendance means that the Sunday School is only ministering to the committed church members. Ministry to the lost, uncommitted, or marginal people is missing. These are the same type of people that Jesus came to seek and save.

The Power of 10 New Groups For every new SS group a church starts, attendance increases by 10 people.

Why Start New Groups? Overcrowding or space limitations To reach new student groups To make room for new students being reached through enrollment To develop new SS leaders To stretch the SS out of its comfort zone

When to Start New Groups a) When class attendance has reached the saturation point Adults = 25 enrolled or 15 attending Youth = 20 enrolled or 12 attending Children = 20 enrolled or 12 attending Preschool = 12 enrolled or 8 attending

When to Start New Groups b) When attendance has “leveled off” c) When a class has not begun a new group in 2 or more years

Every SS grows to the size of its organization The Pyramid illustration

To increase height, you must add to the base

Beginning new groups is like adding to the base of the pyramid. New groups enlarge the organization so that it can reach and minister to more people.

Advantages to Starting New Groups New groups grow faster New groups tend to be more evangelistic Commitment to attend is generally higher

How to Start New Groups Let the leader of the new group teach a few times in the established class so that students can get to know them Direct all prospects and new members to the new class Assign current members who have been inactive to the new class

The Power of One Leadership God can do amazing things through one, committed leader.

Leadership Principles for SS Leaders reproduce who they are… Positive, upbeat leaders produce positive upbeat followers Evangelistic, caring teachers produce evangelistic, caring class members A Bible study class is a reflection of their leader

Leadership… “Followers complain about their situation; Leaders CHANGE their situation.” Masterful Coaching Robert Hargrove

Biblical Leaders That God Used to Change History Abraham Joseph Moses Joshua David Paul John

PowerUP Your SS Leaders The Communication Loop Developing New Leaders

The Communication Loop Learning to uncover deep understandings of biblical truth and personal application

The Communication Loop A key ingredient of Sunday School is the small group dynamic of discussing biblical truth and learning from the insight, wisdom, and experiences of other people in the group

The Communication Loop Communication is a multi-sided dialogue Often, we only communicate in one direction and miss opportunities for multiple involvement

The Communication Loop “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.” James 1:19

The Communication Loop We often miss what someone in class is saying because we are “busy thinking of our response”! Students rarely share deeply in Sunday School because they are not encouraged to share more

Common Teaching Errors “We don’t have much time, so let’s get through the lesson” Not allowing enough time for a thoughtful response to a question Using the same teaching style Accepting confusing or “Sunday School Answers” instead of mining for deeper understanding

Helping People Share After a student answers a question, say: “Tell me more” After they share more, repeat back to them what you heard them say Ask if you heard them right Again, say: “Tell me more”

“Tell Me More” Encourages people to share more deeply Let’s them know that you care Encourages more and deeper discussion Communicates that learning biblical truth is more important than finishing the lesson

Practice Form groups and discuss what you think the following verse means: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Developing New SS Leaders New leaders are needed to minister to new people and begin new groups A SS will only grow to the level of its leadership

How to Develop New SS Leaders Pray for God to direct you to people in your church who are potential leaders Look for people in your church who are growing

Step by Step Plan Give a potential leader a chance to share their testimony during class Let them teach a small portion of the study Coach the new leader in how to prepare a Bible study Let the leader teach the Bible study to the class under your supervision

YOUR YOUTH SUNDAY SCHOOL