Ideas For Evangelism - Way of Life Literature

We are aware of one church that prayerfully reviewsthose in leadership positions each year to determinewhether to keep them in the same position, move them toanother, or remove them from a position altogether. Thischurch is one of the most effective soul-winningchurches we have ever seen.Church leaders usually try to work around a less-thancompetentteacher. For example, one situation involved ateacher who taught older baby boomers, but his class wasdry and dull. Only six persons remained in the class, butthose six were intensely loyal to their incompetentteacher. When it became apparent that “firing” theteacher would be divisive in the church, the leaders optedto create new classes led by new teachers, withoutdisturbing the class in question. Within two years theclass still had six persons while the two newer classesaveraged twelve persons each in attendance.“This focus on quality requires commitment of timeand other resources well beyond the norm, yet theseleaders told us that the hours of work and thetremendous energy expended is well worth theeffort” (Rainer, pp. 94, 95).Another key to effective Sunday Schools in manychurches is accountability.“‘Accountability is the major reason for our SundaySchool’s success,’ said a Louisiana minister ofeducation. ‘But we have to work constantly to keepthe lines of communication open, and we have tomotivate constantly to keep the people accountableto one another.’“Accountability is engendered by high expectations.A church in West Virginia asks all of its SundaySchool workers to sign a covenant each year. Thiscovenant involves all aspects of the Sunday School:witnessing and outreach to others; ministry through