Transcript Effective Evangelistic Churches

Effective Evangelistic Sunday
Schools
Bob Mayfield
Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma
Effective Evangelistic Churches
Successful Churches
Reveal What Works and
What Doesn’t
Author – Thom Rainer
Dean, Billy
School of Missions,
Evangelism and Church
Growth
The Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary
What Exactly is “Growth”
• Evangelistic Growth is not “Church
Growth” any more…. (Donald McGavran,
Bridges to God)
• Church Growth has come to mean “total
additions”
What Exactly is “Growth”
What Evangelistic Growth is not…
• Total additions
• Total baptisms
• Increased attendance
What Exactly is “Growth”
• Evangelistic growth is the actual growth of
reaching lost, unchurched people with the
gospel of Christ.
“Effective Evangelistic
Churches”
• Based on a survey of 576 churches
• 41 states
• Churches of all sizes, from less than 100 to
over 1,500 in average attendance
• 40% of churches surveyed had an average
attendance between 100 and 299
Criteria for an “Effective”
Evangelistic Church
• Churches surveyed had to report at least 26
baptisms in one year on the ACP
• Churches surveyed had to have a baptism
ratio of 20:1 (20 members for every 1
baptism)
Opinion vs Facts
Many people have strongly held opinions
about church growth and evangelism
Often, the FACTS do not support OPINIONS
“Truth vs Conventional Wisdom”
Most Frequent Methodologies in Evangelism
Music Ministry
Youth Ministry
Method
Weekly Outreach
Relational Evangelism
Sunday School
Prayer Ministry
Preaching
0
20
40
60
80
percentage rated as major factor
100
Most Frequent Methodologies in Evangelism
Music Ministry
Youth Ministry
Method
Weekly Outreach
Relational Evangelism
Sunday School
Prayer Ministry
Preaching
0
20
40
60
80
percentage rated as major factor
100
Most Frequent Methodologies in Evangelism
Music Ministry
Youth Ministry
Method
Weekly Outreach
Relational Evangelism
Sunday School
Prayer Ministry
Preaching
0
20
40
60
80
percentage rated as major factor
100
Most Frequent Methodologies in Evangelism
Music Ministry
Youth Ministry
Method
Weekly Outreach
Relational Evangelism
Sunday School
Prayer Ministry
Preaching
0
20
40
60
80
percentage rated as major factor
100
Most Frequent Methodologies in Evangelism
Music Ministry
Youth Ministry
Method
Weekly Outreach
Relational Evangelism
Sunday School
Prayer Ministry
Preaching
0
20
40
60
80
percentage rated as major factor
100
Most Frequent Methodologies in Evangelism
Music Ministry
Youth Ministry
Method
Weekly Outreach
Relational Evangelism
Sunday School
Prayer Ministry
Preaching
0
20
40
60
80
percentage rated as major factor
100
Most Frequent Methodologies in Evangelism
Music Ministry
Youth Ministry
Method
Weekly Outreach
Relational Evangelism
Sunday School
Prayer Ministry
Preaching
0
20
40
60
80
percentage rated as major factor
100
The Sunday School Factor
What is a “Sunday School”?
• Systematic teaching of the Scriptures.
• Regular Bible teaching for ALL ages.
(cradle to grave)
• Ministry and fellowship provided within
each class
• Regular outreach beyond the people in the
class
The Sunday School Factor
• The feel among Southern Baptist that
Sunday School is waning. These 576
churches however strongly affirm the
Sunday School as a primary evangelistic
tool
• 63% rated Sunday School as a major factor
in their churches evangelistic effectiveness.
The Sunday School Factor
90% of the churches identified
Sunday School as their most
effective assimilation tool!!
The Sunday School Factor
A follow-up question revealed that one
effective evangelistic church has 1/3 of
its SS attendance involved in SS
leadership.
Sunday School Lessons
Lesson #1 – A Healthy Sunday School is
Evangelistic
• Sunday Schools must participate in some
form of structured evangelistic outreach.
• Sunday Schools must teach the plan of
salvation on a regular basis.
Sunday School Lessons
Lesson #2 – A Healthy Sunday School provides
Biblical education to all age groups.
• A study of mainline churches revealed that a major
cause for decline was that they let an entire
generation grow up without regular biblical
training.*
• Leaders noticed failure in involving people in
evangelism if they were not first involved in Bible
study.
*Hoge, Johnson & Ludens, Vanishing Boundaries: The Religion of Mainline
Protestant Baby Boomers (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994)
Sunday School Lessons
Lesson #3 – A Healthy Sunday School
provides means and opportunities for
ministry.
• Effective Evangelistic churches use the
Sunday School as a primary area of
providing ministry.
Sunday School Lessons
Lesson #4 – A Healthy Sunday School
assimilates church members.
• 90% of the assimilation and discipleship
methodologies were directly or indirectly
related to Sunday School.
Keys to an Effective
Sunday School
Key #1 – Quality Leadership
• Effective evangelistic churches put their
best teachers and their best leaders in the
Sunday School.
• Focus on quality.
• Training is periodic and intensive.
• Quality necessarily requires a focus of time
and resources.
Keys to an Effective
Sunday School
Key #2 – Accountability
• The Sunday School is an accountability
organization. Evangelistically effective Sunday
Schools contact absentees and hold them
accountable to attend.
• SS workers are called to a higher accountability
than other church members. (attendance at worker
meetings, preparation, involvement in outreach,
etc.)
Keys to an Effective
Sunday School
Key #3 – Organization Quality
• Effective Evangelistic churches involve
individuals in the organization who have
organizational and administration gifts.
• Evangelistic Sunday Schools are well
organized.
Keys to an Effective
Sunday School
Key #4 – Evangelistic Intentionality
• Sunday Schools are evangelistic by design,
not by accident.
• Although worship is a primary front door,
SS is the place where guests are
intentionally invited and where
relationships form.
• New members or converts who do not get
involved in the SS within one year
disappear.
10 Surprises
1. Few Effective Churches use Event
Evangelism
Issues
• Decisions do not match with the amount
of money and time for the event
• Few people reached were actually
“folded” into the church
*Events were musicals or other major “on
campus” events.
10 Surprises
2. Revival Evangelism is still effective
• A big key to an effective revival is
spiritual preparation. Effective revivals
require major amounts of prayer and
preparation.
• These churches use “full-time”
evangelists. Preachers who have a “gift”
of harvesting.
10 Surprises
3. Best baptismal ratios are in the medium
size churches.
• Ratio for SBC convention, 44:1
• Ratio for 576 churches, 17:1
• Ratio for the medium sized churches, 12:1
• Small churches have difficulty offering
programs to attract
• Large churches struggle with the
“anonymity” issue
10 Surprises
4. Advocate Evangelism Training
• Single program training is rarely effective
• Effective Ev. Churches do not expect
immediate results from evangelism
training
• Purposes – equip believers to share Christ
in their everyday relationships
• Purposes – create and evangelistic
expectation or environment in the church.
10 Surprises
5. Weekday Ministries are not effective for
evangelistic outreach
• Many pastors see weekday ministries as
effective for CHURCH growth, but not
evangelistic growth
• “Putting out the fires” syndrome
• Takes resources of the church out of
evangelism
10 Surprises
6. Traditional outreach is alive and well
• These pastors do not see resistance to
home visitation as being any greater than
in the past.
• Many pastors see the decline of weekly
outreach to be an accommodation to the
culture rather than obedience to the Great
Commission.
• Pastors value the “mentoring” that weekly
outreach gives them with their people.
10 Surprises
7. The age of the church was not related to
evangelistic effectiveness
• Half of the 576 churches were over 50
years old
• An inside look at these churches reveal
they have pastors who are evangelists.
• Pastoral tenure seemed to be an important
factor.
10 Surprises
8. Location is not a factor
• Location is an important factor in Church
Growth
• Conversion growth does not increase with
better location
• Evangelism is more affected by
persistence and intentionality than
location.
10 Surprises
9. Few of the 576 churches offer seeker services.
• A seeker service is different from a seeker
sensitive service.
• Seeker service – very mindful of a largely
unredeemed audience.
• Seeker sensitive – sensitive to the presence of lost
persons, but the service is for the worship of God
•
Are we trying to offer services where the seeker
is “comfortable” or “welcome”?
10 Surprises
10. Offering choices does not necessarily help
the church’s evangelistic effectiveness.
• Further examination revealed the issue is
more over “contextualization” vs
“accommodation”.
Ideas for Effective SS Evangelism
• Start small, 1 Teacher or class (pilot project)
• Provide evangelism training (OVE, RR)
• Take your leaders visiting with you
(mentor)
• Celebrate Successes
Ideas for Effective SS Evangelism
• Ask your teachers if their classes are
evangelistic (then ask how many people
they reached the past quarter)
• Use facts from YOUR church – baptism
ratios, # baptized, outreach attendance.
• Replace “should” with “will”. Then replace
“will” with “are”.
Remember the “1:10 Rule”
One new unit
=
10 new people attending