You can double your class in two years or less using five simple
steps that are changing the way we think about evangelism, small groups and
Sunday School. In order to double a class every two years or less, you only have
to grow by 40% a year. This means an average class going from 10 to 14 in a
year. I have never met a teacher anywhere that could not do that if they put
their mind to it. If we grow from 10 to 14 in on year, we can grow from 14 to 20
the next year. Simple enough. But, a group that doubles every 18 months can
reach 1000 people for God in 10 years. The next 10 and 20 years get really
interesting.
To see videos of teachers that have actually doubled, see
http://sundayschool.ning.com/
Here are the five steps to double a group every two years or less.
Teach a halfway decent lesson each and every week; nothing
less will do
You do not have to be Church Swindoll to grow a class. However, you must
produce reasonably good lessons every single week. The better the teaching, the
easier it is to grow a class. Some teachers are so good at teaching they can
grow a class on the sheer magnetism of their presentation. You are probably not
that good. Not many are. But, you are probably good enough, or you can be. They
key is to constantly improve your teaching skill. Strive to teach as well as you
can. Strive to teach better this year than you did last year. Strive to create
disciples. The number one predictor of the growth of a class is the teaching
ability of the teacher.
Invite every member and every visitor to every fellowship every month
If we love them, they will come. We invite every member because it is good
inreach. We invite every visitor, because it is good outreach. We do it every
month because it is effective ministry. If we get them to the party, we will not
keep them from class. If we get them to the party, they will come to love us,
love our church and love our Lord.
Give Friday nights to Jesus
Give Friday nights to Jesus for an informal time of fellowship, games and
Diet Coke. People who are opposed to the gospel are not opposed to ice cream.
The Bible commands, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling."
(I Peter 4:9) If we will simply be obedient to this one command, we can double
our classes every two years or less and our churches every five years or less.
90% of the people we had in our home joined the church.
Encourage the group toward ministry
We do this by providing specific examples of ministry and personally
enlisting people to join the team. I encourage people to pick from the following
seven examples of ministry opportunities: Class teacher, Outreach leader,
Inreach leader, Fellowship leader, Hospitality leader (gives Friday nights to
Jesus), Prayer leader, and Class president. Jesus taught that the bottleneck of
the evangelistic/ disciplemaking process is the labor shortage. We need to pray
that God will send out laborers. We need to become effective recruiters of
laborers, as Jesus was.
Reproduce
Doubling a class every two years or less is not about going from 10 to 20. It
is about going from one group to two. Reproduction is hard on any level. Still,
The future of the church is the reproduction of groups. The key to creating a
new group is leadership. The price of creating a new group is saying good-bye.
We must be willing to say good-bye in order to be obedient to the great
commission. It is hard to say good bye. It is hard for missionaries going
oversees to say good bye to family and friends left behind. I know. When my
parents announced that they were taking the family half way around the globe to
serve as missionaries in the Philippines, my grand parents response was curt and
clear: “NO.” My parents’ eyes widened. “No, you are not. You are not taking my
grand babies 10,000 miles from home to be raised in the jungles of the
Philippines. I will not miss their next 4 birthdays.” They understood. The price
of saying good-bye is extremely high. I am not asking you to fly across an ocean
and raise your family in the tropics. I am asking you to leave some of your best
friends for one hour a week to help start a new class. This will be a higher
price than some are willing to pay for the advancement of the kingdom. This is
why we must produce mature disciples with a kingdom mentality. Only the mature
can reproduce. Only mature disciples are willing to say good-bye. We must
reproduce in order to insure the life of the next generation.
