[This article will stimulate the thinking of our ministers in relation to the soul-winning possibilities in our own Sabbath schools.—Editors.]
"THIS is without a doubt the most inefficient organization I have ever seen. I'll let them take care of the Sunday school, and I'll take care of the church."
Such was my cynical attitude about our Sunday school after two weeks in a new church several years ago. The school was running around 90 to 100 in attendance, and it amazed me that anyone bothered to come at all.
As a firm believer in evangelism, I felt certain that the way to build a church was to preach the gospel and get people saved. The Sunday school, I reasoned, could take care of itself. One year later I sat at my desk a very discouraged young pastor. I had just taken stock of our Sunday school situation. To my dismay I found that our Sunday school had increased by the grand total of 10 members! What were we to do?
The answer came that very day in the mail, although I didn't realize it as I opened the envelope. It was an invitation to attend a Sunday school conference featuring Dr. Henrietta C. Mears, well-known Sunday school authority and Editor-in-Chief of Gospel Light Bible Lessons.
I decided to attend, and invited several Sunday school leaders in our church to join me. After three days of informative, inspiring Sunday school workshops, lectures, and messages, all of us were literally transformed. Our outlook on Sunday school work was completely changed, and we returned to our own church filled with enthusiasm. We lost no time in putting what we had learned into action.
During the next five years we had the joy of watching our Sunday school attendance grow steadily from around 100 to close to 400. I have since taken another pastorate, but understand that this same Sunday school is now running well over 400.
Now the important question is, What was the reason for this new enthusiasm and growth? What did that conference do to change our outlook?
Well, first and foremost, I, the pastor, saw the tremendous importance in Sunday school work. The leaders who attended with me saw it too.
For the first time we all realized that here was our greatest opportunity for Bible teaching. Here was the greatest soul-saving agency in our entire church program. Here, indeed, was the best way to reach homes for Christ.
Here was the greatest training center, and here was the place where more lives were to be dedicated to the mission field than anywhere else.
We decided that if Sunday school had the potential for the most fruit, it was worthy of the most work. In these busy days, no Christian can spend his time without getting proper return for the Lord. We realized that the best place to make our lives count for Christ was the Sunday school. There we could invest our lives in other lives, and these in turn would be invested in still other lives.
It was revolutionary for me as a pastor to realize that I didn't have to lead every soul in our church program to Christ single-handed. I very quickly saw that a consecrated Sunday school teacher, with only a small flock, was in a much better position to reach them for Christ than I was. For this reason I concentrated on helping teachers learn how to become good shepherds, able to bring many into the fold and keep them from straying by efficient, effective, teaching of the Word.
The second factor, then, in the growth of our Sunday school was teacher training. At the Sunday School Conference that gave us our new vision, proper training of teachers and staff was strongly emphasized. We launched our own teacher training program, and even had a Sunday School Conference in our own church on a minor scale.
This gave confidence and "know-how" to teachers who previously never dreamed it possible that they could teach, but who secretly wished they could.
The better trained our teachers were, the higher the standards of our Sunday school. It seems a complete circle: the better trained and more enthusiastic the teacher, the more interesting the class; the more interesting the class, the more children who attend; the more children attending, the more enthusiastic the teacher.
The third factor was our change to closely graded Sunday school materials that helped train our teachers, giving them confidence, and making their Bible teaching interesting to all of the age groups in our Sunday school.
The fourth factor was another significant change in my own attitude. I hesitate to say this for fear of being misunderstood, but a pastor's attitude sets the pace for the whole church.
If the pastor is not concerned about the Sunday school, the church members will not be concerned. If the pastor is concerned, he can use the Sunday school as illustrative material in his messages, and occasionally exalt Sunday school teachers as an example of "good works" in the Christian life.
Through these and other methods he, week by week, can mold the congregation into a Sunday-school-minded church. This, in turn, enthuses the workers on the staff so that they do better work, and it makes it much easier to secure additional workers as needed. Without any question, the pastor is the key to the Sunday school.
Pastors are frugal with their time, and they may well ask the question, "What results can I expect if I invest myself in the Sunday school?" I think there are four:
One result is the salvation of many souls. The better the Sunday school, the more who will attend; the more who will attend, the more who will be converted. National figures record that 85 per cent of all church converts come from the Sunday school.
A second result is mature Christian leaders. Leaders are trained, not born. The Sunday school is the best training ground the church has. I am convinced that, because of the diversities of duties, anyone who really wants to serve the Lord can find some place to do it in the Sunday school. In exercising his talents toward the fulfillment of Sunday school duties, he is automatically training himself for additional offices throughout the church.
Result number three is a faster growing church. I have never met a preacher who was not interested in increasing the size of his church. Nothing does this as consistently as a good Sunday school. I know of relatively few churches that are being built today because of tremendous preaching in the pulpit. I do know, however, that across America many churches are growing by leaps and bounds because of an efficient, progressive Sunday school.
A fourth important result is that entire families can be reached for Christ. As soon as our Sunday school started to improve, we saw parents start to come to church with their children instead of merely sending them. More Christian homes were definitely established in our community because of our rejuvenated Sunday school.
As a final word for all fellow pastors, it is my studied opinion that next to our responsibility to "preach the Word" is our responsibility to build a strong Sunday school that can "teach the Word" as well. Truly, in building a strong Sunday school we are building a strong church for the honour and glory of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
* Taken from Christianity Today, August 31, 1939, and reprinted by courtesy of Gospel Light Publications.
