HOW TO RAISE THE STANDARD FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL LEADERS Dr. Steve Parr V.P. for Sunday School & Evangelism Georgia Baptist Convention

Have You Ever Thought:  I wish our teachers would arrive on time.  Our teachers won’t participate in training.  Why don’t our teachers come to visitation?  Our teachers don’t understand what Sunday School is all about.  I have a teacher who reads the lesson to the class each week.  Moving a class will cause a war in our church.

Approaches to Standards  Level V- Covenant (Signed Commitment)  Level IV- Commitment (Verbal Agreement)  Level III- Guidelines (Written Expectations)  Level II- General Ideas (Traditions)  Level I- Unknown (Every Person Decides for Themselves)

Effective Evangelistic Churches  “We have found a significant correlation between the level of expectations placed upon Sunday School workers and the ability of the church to keep ongoing accountability among its volunteer workers.” p.95 Thom Rainer

A Survey of Georgia Churches  46 were the fastest growing  87 others were surveyed randomly  31 were declining  31 were plateaued  25 were growing  133 total churches

Survey Says:  Plateaued/Declining Growing/Fast Growing  Covenant 3% 35%  Commitment 40% 40%  General 32% 16%  None 25% 9%

Another View  Plateaued/Declining Growing/Fast Growing  Covenant 3% 35%  Commitment 40% 40%  43% 75%

Expectations For Training  Plateaued/Declining Growing/Fast Growing  Required 0% 22%  Strongly Urged 36% 47%  Encouraged 53% 26%  Not Addressed 11% 5%

Another View  Plateaued/Declining Growing/Fast Growing  Required 0% 22%  Strongly Urged 36% 47%  Total 36% 69%

Furthermore:  80% of Fastest Growing Sunday Schools require or strongly urge participation in training.  Only one-third of plateaued and declining churches strongly urge participation. None require it.  Imagine: there are dozens of churches that provide training but to not expect anyone to participate!

High Expectations  “In our interviews with the higher- assimilation churches, we asked if their moving of Sunday Schools to become high-expectation organizations had caused any problems. Their answer was and unequivocal “yes.” Some teachers and leaders refused to agree to stricter requirements and dropped out of ministry

High Expectations  and service. Others resisted, implying that high-expectations in Sunday School hinted of legalism. Never did we hear that the expectation issue was addressed with ease. But virtually in every case, the pastor or staff member told us that the pain was worth the gains realized.” p.35 Thom Rainer

How Do We Raise The Standard  Identify where you are now.  Begin by providing written expectations.  Consider developing personalized written expectations.  Use the written expectations during the enlistment process.  Move up one level per year until you level IV (Leadership Guidelines) or higher.

Approaches to Standards  Level V- Covenant (Signed Commitment)  Level IV- Commitment (Verbal Agreement)  Level III- Guidelines (Written Expectations)  Level II- General Ideas (Traditions)  Level I- Unknown (Every Person Decides for Themselves)

Process For Developing Personalized Expectations  Note: This may require several sessions. 1- Call together a team of Sunday School Leaders. 2- Make an exhaustive list of the qualities and expectations of the perfect Sunday School leader. 3- Narrow the list down to the ten most important qualities and expectations.

Process For Developing Personalized Expectations 4- Rank the qualities from one to ten in importance. 5- Narrow the list of ten to the essential six to eight qualities. 6- Consider beginning with six and adding the other four by one per year until all ten are included. 7- Develop a sentence for each quality that communicates the expectation to the leader.

HOW TO RAISE THE STANDARD FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL LEADERS Dr. Steve Parr V.P. for Sunday School & Evangelism Georgia Baptist Convention