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Sunday school most effective tool for keeping members, research shows

Church growth expert Thom Rainer shares insights from his research into more than 300 high-expectation churches. In this segment from his book "High Expectations," Rainer points out that Sunday school is a key factor in assimilating church members.

December 12, 2002

The following is the second installment of Chapter 1 in Thom Rainer's book "High Expectations."  Click here to read the first installment.

From a biblical perspective, one might expect a significant amount of equipping from the pastors of high-assimilation churches. Paul clearly gave this mandate to the leaders at the church at Ephesus when he said: "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ." (Eph. 4:11-12). The surprise came not in that pastors were willing to give away some of the ministry that was expected of them, but in the intensity with which they delegated ministry.

Only 15 percent of the pastors believed that the pastoral care of the church members was their primary responsibility. Indeed, as we will see shortly, the Sunday school was the key assimilation arm of the church because the Sunday school members were expected to care for those in their classes. In an earlier work, I spoke of an "Acts 6 revolution" that was a major trend in the church today. In this passage we find the Grecian Jews complaining against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were not receiving their daily distribution of food. The apostles, instead of trying to do more ministry themselves, sought and equipped laypersons to do this pastoral ministry.

The apostles made it clear that they would turn the ministry over to others: "And the 12 summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, `It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:2-4).

A pastor in Georgia reflected the sentiments of many of the pastors we interviewed: "I used to worry about criticism when I would turn over ministry to the members of the church. And a few did complain. But now I wouldn't have it any other way. My people are becoming more involved by doing ministry I once did, and I can devote more time to prayer and sermon preparation."

The Critical Importance of Youth and Children's Ministry

The churches that were successfully closing the back door emphasized the priority of involving and ministering to the Bridger Generation, those young people born between 1977 and 1994. This generation is one of the most receptive groups to the gospel, and they respond well to high expectations. Only Sunday school, the morning worship service and expository preaching ranked higher in importance as ministries vital in assimilation.

If we concluded that the mere exercise of a Sunday school program ensures the closing of the back door in this and other churches, we would be missing a major element in the churches' success. These churches not only have a Sunday school program in place; they expect their members to make the program work.

What is the relationship between youth and children's ministries and assimilation? In our follow-up interviews, we learned that the sheer size of the Bridger Generation necessitated focused efforts at retention. This generation, 72 million strong, is the second largest generation in America's history. Only the Baby Boomer Generation is larger.

Perhaps more importantly, we learned that focused efforts to assimilate these young people often resulted in entire families becoming involved in a church. A California pastor commented: "We have seen several nominally active families become very involved with our church after their kids became active. A teen-ager's father told me that he could not just sit on the sidelines while his daughter was demonstrating such spiritual growth. We are surprised to see more and more kids lead the way spiritually."

The Worship Service as a Means to Assimilation

Rarely does one hear that the worship service can function in the assimilation role. We read about the service as the front door, but this study indicates that it can also close the back door. Two important elements, we were told, must be present for the worship service to be an assimilation factor.

First, expository preaching, mentioned earlier, equips Christians for ministry and service. This facet of the worship service is the teaching and equipping time for church members.

Second, the pastor and other leaders use the worship time to communicate high expectations to the congregation. One worship and music leader told us that high expectations can be communicated in parts of the service other than preaching. "Every hymn and chorus we sing should inform the believer of the demands of discipleship," he said. "Even the offertory should be handled in such a way that the members realize that giving is a natural and expected part of the Christian life."

Weekday Ministries are not Effective in Closing the Back Door

We were also surprised to discover that the churches in this study did not see weekday ministries as a positive factor in assimilation. We included in the weekday ministry category day care, recreational activities, weekday cell groups, church-affiliated schools and a catch-all "other weekday ministries."

We learned that most weekday ministries are designed to serve Christians rather than engender high expectations. "We have a day care that serves 10 times more people than those who work in the day care," an associate pastor from Florida told us. "And all of those who work in the day care are paid. We believe that the ministry is important, but we don't fool ourselves into believing that people are truly being discipled by this ministry."

Again, we heard a common theme. Those ministries that expect much of believers are more likely to help close the back door. Weekday ministries apparently did not fit that definition.

Seven Major Issues

Throughout this book, you will be introduced to numerous issues related to churches that are effectively closing the back door. In this chapter we will examine some of the major back-door factors in brief, with a view toward looking at them in greater detail in the remaining chapters.

Methodologies alone cannot explain the dynamics of churches that reach people and keep them. Some of the factors are more subjective than methodological. Let us look at some key issues in both the methodological and the more subjective categories.

The High-Expectation Factor

Regardless of the methodological approaches of the effective assimilation churches, all demonstrated clearly stated expectations in all of their ministries. E. Donald Hattaway is pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga., a town of under 10,000. Pastor Hattaway ranks Sunday school as the primary assimilation tool of the church. The Sunday school assimilation approach obviously has been successful. In one year, the church added 100 members, and most of that growth has been assimilated into the Sunday school.

If we concluded that the mere exercise of a Sunday school program ensures the closing of the back door in this and other churches, we would be missing a major element in the churches' success. These churches not only have a Sunday school program in place; they expect their members to make the program work.

"Our church uses the Sunday school organization to contact every member each quarter," Pastor Hattaway told us. "The Sunday school teachers carry the responsibility of organizing their classes into care groups. This system ensures close contact with each member. The pastor is notified by the Sunday school if pastoral care is needed."

Hear the expectations in the words of the pastor. Each member is contacted quarterly with the expectation that they attend. The teacher is responsible not only for teaching but also for organizing the class into pastoral care units. And the care group leaders are the primary persons responsible for ministry to church members. They will contact the pastor only if the ministry need is great.

Repeatedly we heard about effective assimilation methodologies that worked only if the ministries carried with them high expectations of those involved. Such is the primary conclusion and thesis of this study. Effective assimilation churches have one primary characteristic that sets them apart from churches that do not keep their members in active involvement. Effective assimilation churches had high expectations of all of their members.

The Primacy of the Sunday School in Closing the Back Door

In the next chapter we will see in detail how Sunday schools are utilized to close the back door in the high-assimilation churches. For now let it be said with clarity and emphasis that no single methodology was as effective at closing the back door.

The issue that is obviously raised is that of the Southern Baptist bias in the study. Is Sunday school considered essential because of contextual factors related to the Southern Baptist denomination?

I might have conceded this bias had our research team in a previous study not faced this same issue. In our study of 576 effective evangelistic churches, we found the Sunday school to be one of the most important factors in the churches' success. Since all of these churches were Southern Baptist, I expected that the Sunday school factor was something unique to the denomination. Indeed, most of the critics of my first study spoke of a Southern Baptist bias. At the time I could not disagree.

But when I tested the survey against nearly 500 non-Southern Baptist churches, I was surprised to find little to no statistical differences, except in worship styles. Though the verdict is still out, I fully expect again to see Sunday school as a critical assimilation tool in all churches that close the back door effectively, not just the Southern Baptist churches.

Thom S. Rainer is president of Church Central Associates, publisher of ChurchCentral.com. He also is dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.