Jumpstarting the Stagnant Classroom
One of the greatest disservices we do as youth pastors or Sunday school administrators is failing to adequately train our Sunday School teachers. Volunteers often have little to no training before they are thrown into a classroom full of rowdy middle schoolers. This was my introduction to Sunday School. I was asked to replace the 2nd teacher in that classroom in that same year! I had been given a packet that contained that quarter’s curriculum, a pat on the back, and a reminder to be finished 10 minutes before the service started. I was utterly overwhelmed and would have quit on the spot if my conscience had allowed it. While I’m certainly glad I stuck it out, I feel that I could have been much more effective if I had a little training. Today, we prioritize ongoing training for all our volunteers, and we certainly don’t need to twist their arms for them to be there. Good teachers are always looking for an opportunity to learn and grow; we’re a better church for providing them with those opportunities. Here are strategies that you can employ to take your stagnant Sunday school program out of the pit of despair into a bright, prosperous future!
Create an Attractive Classroom Environment
This year, our small town opened a brand-new primary school. The previous school was nearly 100 years old, and the building and everything inside showed. Throughout the summer, our school district would share pictures of the new classrooms on social media. By the time the first day of school rolled around, I couldn’t wait, and more importantly, my daughter couldn’t wait to step foot into the brand-new state-of-the-art classrooms. The paint on the walls was new, and the books and desks were new. It was and has been an exciting experience. Unfortunately, most churches must utilize rooms for different purposes throughout the week, and because of this, it is easy for rooms to get cluttered and bogged down. We must remember that everything we do communicates something. If our classrooms are messy, we communicate to our students that we are disorganized and unprepared. This is important because most of our students experience public or private school throughout the week, where teachers are held to higher standards for classroom management. Another aspect to consider in building an attractive classroom is the emergence of modern teaching approaches. Students today spend more time engaging with technology in their weekday education. There are certainly opportunities for Sunday school teachers to utilize new Bible learning methods. We must fight the urge to resist new methods in the classroom and meet the needs of our students where they are today.
Lastly, one of my favorite things we do for our Sunday school hour is provide breakfast. We never hear complaints about having sausage biscuits and coffee available. I recently spoke with one of our leaders who told me that his son appreciates that we make an effort to provide breakfast. I laughed and said, “It’s just a sausage biscuit,” but he stopped me and told me that it was more than that. He looked forward to starting his Sunday in a class that met his basic needs, like breakfast during class and before our worship service.
Engage Parents
The fact of the matter is that most of our students come to church on Sunday mornings with their parents. We have won half the battle if we can generate excitement among parents about our Sunday School program. To do this, we have to be good at communicating with parents. Communicate details about what topics are being discussed, talk about the future goals of the class, and what objective we hope to accomplish. If we can inspire parents to actively participate in their child’s spiritual formation, we have gained tremendous ground in reaching our students with the Word of God. I often tell our students and parents that individual ministries in the church are just a vitamin in our overall diet. If we take our daily or weekly vitamins religiously but consume junk food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then we’re not doing it right. Sunday school attendance is just a vitamin, but paired with an active faith rooted in the Word of God; it will result in lifelong followers of Jesus, which is what any good parent wants for their children.
Understand the Objective
The final key is to understand what the goal of Christian education is. For far too long as a youth pastor, I unconsciously made it my goal to produce well-behaved students. I realize now that this was never the goal. Indeed, there are things we do not tolerate in our ministry, but those things have more to do with respecting others and living by biblical principles. The goal is not well-behaved students. The goal is to create lifelong followers of Jesus. This may seem obvious, but applying this to all of our methods changes the way we approach the Bible. We stop teaching things from a cultural perspective and lean into a more biblical perspective, which we should be doing anyway. Good behavior will likely follow, but we gain so much more when we allow the Bible to shape who we are and not what a church culture says we should be.
If we successfully apply these three keys: creating a positive classroom environment, engaging with parents, and having a clear understanding of our goals as a ministry to our Sunday school ministry, we will be well on our way to jumpstarting any classroom that needs a boost.
