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****************************************************** webminister@webminister.com July 2000 - #1
IN THIS ISSUE:
****************************************************** Arthur Flake in "Building A Standard Sunday School" (1922) likens the dismissal of the Sunday school to people escaping a burning building. In chapter seven (pp 104 - 115), Flake sets a standard that at least 75% of those that attended Sunday School would stay for church. At the beginning of the 20th century in most cases, Sunday school attendance was larger than worship attendance. Andy Anderson in "The Church Spiral" (1993) (pp 26 - 27) states that in growing healthy churches Sunday school and the worship service attendance should be within 10% of each other to be at its best. He goes on to say "there needs to be a balance between worship and Sunday School. Christians need to worship but they also need to study." John Ellas in "Measuring Church Growth" (1997) (pp 58 - 65) uses the ratio of Sunday school attendance divided by worship service attendance as a predictive tool for growth and decline. After evaluating 112 church in 30 states, Ellas states that "GROWING CONGREGATIONS HAVE AN AVERAGE 75% OF THE MORNING ASSEMBLY COUNT ATTENDING A BIBLE CLASS WHILE DECLINING CHURCHES AVERAGE ONLY 69%" (emphasis mine). A decline in Sunday school attendance will normally proceed a decline in worship attendance by six months to two years. These ratios apply to churches of all sizes. Besides the changes during the last hundred years, Three points to remember. First, in an interesting observation, Thom Rainer discusses the Sunday school in a chapter on small groups. The principles to both are basically the same, only the names of the groups are different. Second, small groups and the Sunday school are the educational arm of the church for edification and the worship service is for worshiping Christ and God. Many churches refer to the worship service as a celebration to God. Third, the Sunday school and small groups need more emphasis by leadership. From Ellas's research, THESE MINISTRIES ARE VITAL FOR GROWING CHURCHES.
****************************************************** The use of a round table for a group can create a warm friendly feeling instead of an atmosphere of cold rejection often associated with rectangular tables. Have you been at a banquet where the center piece blocked the view and eye contact with about three people across from you? The six or eight foot rectangular tables should only be used for serving food and in large lectures seating 25 or more people with everyone facing the speaker. The lecturer, by standing, has created an authoritative position over those seated. This may be ideal for a large lecture or presentation setting with very few questions being asked. Questions should be reserved until the end and should not be a planned part of the presentation. Church auditorium classes fall into this category. For small groups, the heart-to-heart group of five to nine can easily sit around a five foot round table, where one can see everybody except the people on the right and left. In that case, one must make a 90-degree turn to speak with them. In these small groups the teacher will need to sit down and teach in a closer environment. When people sit around a round table they talk with one another. Even large fellowship meals around five foot round tables create a small group environment for each table.
****************************************************** THIRTY-FIVE OR FORTY IS ABOUT AS LARGE AS A GROUP CAN BECOME WITH THE RELATIONSHIPS OF MEMBERS AS THE BASIC ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE. As a group grows toward 40, most of the techniques and principles for strengthening cohesion in a small group lose their value. This include using a circle as the basic seating arrangement, asking the participants to take a minute or two each to introduce themselves to the entire group, encouraging everyone to share actively in the discussion, expecting each member to relate to all of the other members of the group, and assuming that each member will develop a strong loyalty to the group. IT IS RARE FOR THE MIDDLE-SIZED GROUP TO BE ABLE TO INCLUDE MORE THAN 40 ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS ON A CONTINUING BASIS. The large group consists of more than 40. The focal point tends to be the leader and/or task, not the relationships of the members to one another. When the attendance exceeds 40, three basic changes occur: 1) absenteeism or dropping out tends to increase, 2) many of the methods effective with smaller groups become counterproductive, and 3) it usually is appropriate to replace small-group techniques with large-group management tools.
****************************************************** More and more e-mailer are including their web site URL and the latest update to the web site at the end of the e-mail. Is your church e-mail address on all business cards and church vans? In which case, the home page needs to be an invitation to come, not just a listing of activities and times.
****************************************************** While Anderson brings Flake's formula into the 1990's, he creates a process where by a church can find its weak areas, the severity of weaknesses, and design to correct the problems. Certain weak areas can totally stop a churches growth. He develops the need for evaluation; enrollment of people and finding the prospects; development of teaching units; the value of workers, their training in planning meetings; the use of space; and outreachers (door knockers) in increasing attendance. "The Growth Spiral" can be bought from Barnes and Noble with a 30% discount for $17.00 (paperback) plus shipping and handling at http://webminister.com/barnes/book5001.htm.
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