Unlocking the Sunday School Passcode: 0-0-5-0

This is the third in a series of blog posts I’ve been delivering on the topic of unlocking your Sunday School’s passcode.  If you have a smartphone, no doubt you’ve set a passcode to secure your information.  You (or someone else) can’t get to critical information without the right passcode entry.  So over the next few weeks, I’ll give you some passcodes to unlock “secrets” to Sunday School growth and health.  In this third post, your passcode is 0-0-5-0.

The number 50 represents the percentage of people who actually attend Sunday School each week, as compared to your total enrollment.  If you have a class that averages 12 people in attendance each week, you most likely have a total enrollment of 24-26 people.  If you have 40 in attendance, then your class role enrollment is most likely 80-85 people.  There are always exceptions to this attendance/enrollment rule, but for the most part you will find that it holds true over time.  I used to track weekly attendance when I was on church staff, and this held true in the two churches I served.  One had fast growth, the other was more plateaued, but the 50% figure held true in both locations.

So, let’s do some math.  If you have 24 people on role and average 12 people in class, you’re attendance versus enrollment percentage is very typical.  If you want to see your average weekly attendance grow to 20, how many more people would you want to enroll, if 50% of enrollees actually attend class?  The difference between the 20 you want and the 12 you have is 8.  To realize an increase of 8 people each week, you would want to enroll 16 new people in your class (50% of the 16 will attend on average).  You will also want to take into account the “churn” or turnover in your class, too; you will always have people coming and going with job transfers or changes of schedule.  So let’s say that to have a new weekly attendance of 20, you’ll have to enroll 20 new people in your class.  How realistic is that goal?

20 new enrollees equals 1.67 new people per month (20 divided by 12).  Basically, that’s one couple (or two singles) per month…that’s all.  Surely you can enroll one new couple each month…you’ve got 4 weeks to do that!  People in your class know friends who aren’t involved in any church…start there.  Your worship service has people who aren’t connected to a small group…start there.  If your class is designed for parents of students, where else might you look to find prospects for class enrollment?  How about at ballgames, student events, parents of your teenager’s friends, neighbors with teenagers in their household?

One final word of caution:  although there is a relationship between enrollment and attendance, don’t place people on the class role just for numbers sake.  People you enroll are now in a place to receive ministry from you and your class…think of your class role as a ministry role.  The people you’ve been entrusted have real needs and pains, so get busy (better yet, get your class members busy) ministering to them.

And remember that for every two people you enroll, your average attendance will rise by 1.  Think about what might happen if all the adult, student, and children’s classes in your church decided to set enrollment goals, ministering to people as God added people to the classes through your intentional efforts!

 

Changes to Explore The Bible Will Benefit Teachers

My friend and co-worker, Dr. Dwayne McCrary, explains how recent changes to LifeWay’s Explore The Bible leader and learner guides, plus ETB Discovery, can benefit teachers.  Check out the short video by clicking below!

explore-the-bible-sunday-school-curriculum-three-beliefs

 

Making the Sunday School Classroom Inviting

David Francis, Director of Sunday School at LifeWay, talks about how to make the Sunday School classroom an inviting place.  Follow the link below to view his short video…

Making the Sunday School Classroom Inviting

 

Enlist volunteers the right way

Years ago when my wife and I were newlyweds and had just joined our first church as a married couple, we were approached after only 2 months of church membership by the student pastor.  He “ambushed” us in the hallway just outside the worship center and asked us if we’d teach an 8th grade girls Sunday School class.  We felt put on the spot, but hated to say no.  I looked at my wife, she looked at me, we looked at him, and said yes.  He placed the teaching materials in our hands right then and said he’d see us next week in the fellowship hall where the junior high classes met.  We started in just one week and had no training!  I hate to think back on how poorly we probably taught those girls.

Our story had a happy ending, and over time (and with the student pastor’s help he gave at weekly teacher’s meetings) we became proficient at teaching.  Over our time at the church, we taught almost every grade from 7th-12th, and served as department directors for both the junior and senior high departments.  But we both vividly remember how we were enlisted, and although we loved serving with this student pastor, he made a mistake in the way he recruited us to his student ministry teaching team.  Let’s talk about the right way (or ways) to enlist volunteers so that scenarios like ours are not repeated.

It’s important to recruit the right people

Which of the following quotes on the importance of people in organizations resonates with you the most?

• “If all our buildings and equipment were totally destroyed, but we still had our people, within ten years we would have rebuilt everything, and be more successful than we ever were before.” – Howard J. Morgens, CEO Proctor & Gamble, 1957-1974
• “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”  – John Maxwell
• “You’ve got to get the right people on the bus, and then decide where the bus is going” – Jim Collins, author of Good to Great

The three quotes simply reinforce that people are our greatest assets.  I once heard a conference leader say that “those closest to you determine your success.”  So if people are truly assets to our ministries, and gifts the Lord gives to us to help fulfill His will, then how should we invite them to become a part of our ongoing ministries?

It’s important to recruit the right people in the right way

First, don’t recruit people in a hallway (or by e-mail or texting)!  Make sure you set an appointment with the person you’re recruiting because appointments mean that something is important.  We set appointments to meet with our doctors, we set appointments to get the oil changed in our cars, so how much more important is it to do this with the men and women we are inviting to join with us in God’s work.

Don’t recruit people through pulpit announcements or blurbs in the worship bulletin.  Mass appeals for workers don’t work…and if you happened to get a response, you may have to deal with someone who isn’t right for the job.  Stay in control of the recruiting process at all times by asking God to provide the right person.  Don’t settle.  Allow the Lord to place one person on your heart who is the right person for the role.

Give the person a job description.  It doesn’t have to be super-detailed…in fact, a simpler, shorter, to-the-point list may work best.  Stick to the core essentials of the role to which you are recruiting the person.  Show the person the job description, go over it, but don’t recruit to a job description!  Recruit the person to your vision for what the role can accomplish in the lives of people.  For instance, don’t recruit a class secretary by only showing them the tasks on the job description (taking role each week, turning in that role to a central location).  Add to it the fact they will be helping you to make sure that by having accurate records, people won’t fall through the cracks…they’ll feel valued and missed as the class reaches out to them when they’re absent.  See the difference?

Don’t recruit the person to an open-ended role.  Be certain to have a start and end date so the person knows there is an “exit”.  People may be hesitant to enlist if they think it’s for the long-haul, and they often don’t like making long-term commitments.  I always recruited Sunday School teachers to a one-year commitment, and allowed them to evaluate their ministry and decide if they wanted to continue their teaching role (they almost always did and I had very little turnover in my adult teaching ministries).

Ask the person to pray, and set a date to get their response.   Don’t call for an immediate response.  Give the person time to process your request, consider the costs, and pray about it.  Do set a definite date and time to contact them again and get their response.

Do start the recruiting process early.  If you wait until the last minute, you’ll end up with the wrong people in key roles…guaranteed.  You’ll feel pressure to fill a void, and the people you’re recruiting will feel the pressure you’re under and may say yes when they really shouldn’t.  If your annual Sunday School promotion event takes place in August, consider starting the recruiting process 3-4 months prior to that.  I’ve served with staff members who made assumptions that people were going to re-enlist, so they delayed speaking to them about it.  When the volunteers chose not to continue in their volunteer role, it left a staff person scrambling to fill a key role, sometimes just a few weeks before annual promotion.

 

What to do when the Sheep Wave Goodbye? (Part 3 of 3)

This is part 3of a three-part series on reclaiming inactive church members.  I have borrowed and expanded on material found in the book Reclaiming Inactive Church Members.  As I said in the first blog post, it’s an oldie but a goodie…

Reclamation is Central to the story told by The Bible

A ministry of reclamation is biblical and follows the example set by the Lord.  Ephesians 2:14-17 says that, “He is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might created in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God…”   Philippians 4:5 says, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone…” (ESV).  The word we translate “reasonableness” literally means “generous in overlooking injury or insult; rising above pettiness” in the original Greek language.  It is God’s desire that his people be in right relationship to one another at all times.  Luke 14:23 shows the heart of God and his passion to reach the cultural outcasts.  “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled (a picture of God turning his attention to the Gentile world so that they might hear the gospel message and also believe in him like the Jewish people).  People will not compel themselves to come to God’s house….they have to be compelled to come in.  Hebrews 10:25 tells us, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…”  Sometimes people fall out of the habit of coming to church and belonging to a local church, so they must be encouraged to continue to walk in Christ as members of his body, the church.  Perhaps the most familiar verse is John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in would not perish, but have eternal life.”   God so loved you and I (and those absent members of your class) that he crafted a plan to sacrifice his Son so that we all might be reconciled to him.  Reclamation is the story the Bible tells over and over, cover to cover.

4 Characteristics of Great “Reclaimers”

A ministry of reclamation is hard, slow work.  It takes a special person to lead the charge and reach out to the inactive members on a Sunday School class role.  Here are a few thoughts about the types of people who make great reclaimers:

1. Select people who can be NONDEFENSIVE in the face of antagonism.  As they reach out to people who’ve dropped out, they may face some uncomfortable conversations with people who want to stay “off the grid.”
2. They must have SELF-CONFIDENCE and courage to initiate ministry to absentee members who feel alienated from the church.
3. The reclaimers must have the ability to LISTEN.  This is perhaps the most important characteristic of all!  They should be slow to speak and quick to listen.  Using phrases like, “Tell me more” or “Expand on that” can help reclaimers draw people into a deeper conversation by allowing a missing member to continue talking about their feelings and thoughts.
4. Excellent reclaimers often have a spiritual gift of SHEPHERDING and a great love for people.  You will never hear them talk about the inactive members as “dead wood” that should be dropped from the class role.  On one occasion a Sunday School class secretary asked me to drop several people from the class role

Steps to Begin a Reclamation Ministry in your Class

Step 1:  Evaluate your own heart to see if it’s a shepherd’s heart.  Ask the Lord to give you a fresh burden for the men and women on your class role who have disconnected from your class.  “Shepherd” was Jesus’ favorite term for those of us who lead His people; sheep often go astray and have to be rescued.  Sheep often make dumb decisions….love them anyway.

Step 2:  Pray for the Lord to raise up one person in your class to lead a reclamation ministry (this is what Care Group Leaders do!).  You’re looking for the leader of your Care Group ministry – someone with organizational skills and a shepherd’s heart.  Care Groups that are functioning well always spot the straying sheep quickly and take action to keep them from wandering off.

Step 3:  Evaluate your class role and identify people who have become inactive.  If they attend your class less than 25% of the time, they are inactive.  If they haven’t attended for the last 6-8 weeks, they are inactive.  When a person or a couple’s attendance drops below 50%, they need some TLC.

Step 4:  Set an appointment with the potential leader of your Care Group Ministry in order to discuss their possible role in reconnecting people to the class, the church, and the Lord.  Appointments always communicate that something is important.  Do this face-to-face, not through a phone or email conversation.

Step 5:  Share a job description with them and cover the key tasks they would be required to do.  Although you must talk about essential tasks, don’t recruit the person to a task…instead, recruit them to a vision.  For instance, rather than recruiting someone to contact absentees, recruit them to the vision of helping absentees reconnect with God and your class members.

Step 6:  Arrange a time to get their response.  Give them a few days to think and pray about the decision.  Check on them to see if they have any additional questions.

Step 7:  Allow the Care Group Coordinator to enlist Care Group Leaders and divide the entire class into Care Groups.  Make sure you have a mixture of regular attenders, semi-regular attenders, and chronic absentees in each group!

Step 8:  Share victories with the class.  As you reconnect people to your class, celebrate what the Lord has done publically and continue to generate interest and excitement in this important class function.

 

Unlocking the Sunday School Passcode…0-0-1-8

This is the second in a series of blog posts I’ve decided to deliver on the topic of unlocking your Sunday School’s passcode.  If you have a smartphone, no doubt you’ve set a passcode to secure your information.  You (or someone else) can’t get to critical information without the right passcode entry.  So over the next few weeks, I’ll give you some passcodes to unlock “secrets” to Sunday School growth and health.  In this second post, your passcode is 0-0-1-8.

The number 18 is an important number to remember as you seek to lead your Sunday School class to grow and reach new adults for class membership.  In this case, the number 18 represents 18 months…and that is a critical time for most adult classes.  After class members have been together longer than 18 months, the class will tend to have a hard time continuing to reach new adults.  During the first 18 months after a class begins, the energy level is high, the level of excitement is high, and people begin forming relationships.  The class develops a history as people “do life” and ministry together.  When a new person or couple visits the class, they find a group that is often hard to break into.  Most of the people in the class have plenty of relationships and may not be able to take on new ones.  Assimilation into the life of the class can be very difficult for the potential new members.  They may feel like a fifth wheel, and may see themselves as being on the outside of the circle looking and listening in to the relationships and conversations that take place.

Sound like any class you know or have been a part of?  Within the past two years my wife and I tried to find a new church home after a relocation, and we experienced this very thing.  We visited multiple classes at multiple churches, and never found a group that was interested in taking us in and making us a full-fledged part of the class.  I was amazed every Sunday as we tried class after class in multiple churches how few people (if any) even spoke to us, yet carried on conversations with one another while we just sat there feeling awkward; my wife and I were left to flip through a worship brochure or some other piece of literature we’d picked up.  Even filling out guest information cards did us no good, as only two Sunday School classes ever followed up with us over the course of many months of visiting.  I am thankful for the people at 3BC (3rd Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, TN) for having groups that had not been together for so long that they couldn’t take in my wife and I and make us feel a part of the class.  We are thankful to have “landed” at this church and to be relatively new members who are now finding new ways to serve in leadership roles.  Other churches we visited could have had us if we’d felt that we could connect and build relationships, but God lead us to the place He wanted us to invest our lives…so the story has had a happy ending!  And it has shown me in a whole new way how important it is to keep new groups starting before classes have been together longer than 18 months.

Please know that 18 months is a big marker in the life of a Sunday School class.  How many classes at your church that have been together for a long period of time could branch off and start new classes so that people could attend, find adequate space, and discover people who were open to building relationships with them?  If your Sunday School is struggling to grow, think seriously about starting new groups so that newer members or prospective members can build some relationships and “stick.”

When I was on staff at my first church in Texas, we were in a high-growth mode for the 10 years I was there.  We often began new groups, and as I reflect back on that time in my ministry, I believe one of the keys to the success of that church’s Sunday School was the number of new groups we began so that all of the visitors who were attracted to our church and Sunday School could find people to connect with as they visited our classes.  If they’d found groups that had been together for 18+ months, they might not ever have gotten plugged in to the Sunday School.

0-0-1-8 is an important code to unlock the growth potential in your Sunday School.  Talk to those teachers whose classes have been together for a long period of time and encourage them to think like missionaries and begin a new group to reach a specific target group.

 

Battling Burnout

I recently trained a large group of church leaders in Nevada. I took them through several hours of training in the book Missionary Sunday School. At one of our breaks, a lady named Ruth introduced herself to me. She explained that she had come for the day of training, seeking to get back into a teaching role in her church after experiencing burnout. She’d left that role of teacher, but wanted to battle her burnout and “get back in the saddle”. With her permission, I prayed for her in front of the group and committed her and her ministry to the Lord. How often is Ruth’s situation repeated in your church? Do you have teachers on the verge of leaving their important roles? Let’s visit about battling burnout among our teachers (maybe even ourselves).

Battling burnout isn’t easy…it’s hard work. Recovery is often slow to take place, and burnout can leave teachers feeling sad, depressed, angry, tired, and unappreciated. For a biblical example, see Jeremiah and his ministry. He suffered from all the above.

People who experience burnout often feel they are alone, no longer effective, and are disappointing to others. They simply go through the motions of ministry, but without the passion they once had. Teaching is draining, not energizing, like it once was.

Battling Burnout

To fight burnout, consider doing some of the following:

1. Implement a practice that all teachers take a sabbatical from their teaching role on a regular basis (a six month or year-long break). Make this part of your Sunday School’s DNA. I was awarded a 30 day sabbatical at a church I served, and the break from the routine, plus time to study, read, and simply relax was key to my re-energizing. The break didn’t make me want to leave my role, but restored passion to continue a job I loved.

2. If you are the one experiencing burnout, talk to God about it. He already knows how you’re feeling. He’s your father, so run to Him and ask for His help. Ask Him to restore the joy and passion you first felt when you became a leader in your church.

3. Seek out godly counsel from others. Approach your pastor or other staff leader and let them know how you’re feeling. Chances are they’ve been there, too, and will totally understand what you’re going through.

4. Simplify your life. Part of burning out is doing too much, so ask yourself if you’ve said “yes” to too many things, even good things. Perhaps you’ve taken on too many roles at church because others wouldn’t…give up some of them and keep only one you can focus your attention and energies on.

5. Realize you are not alone…and you are not a failure. Jeremiah the prophet followed God’s plan for his ministry, preached messages God gave him, yet he battled burnout as he was at the center of God’s will. Burnout doesn’t make you a failure…it just affirms that you are human.

I’m praying for my new friend Ruth, and I hope to hear from her one day that she’s battled burnout and won with the Lord’s help. If you are the one facing burnout, let go and let God help you, too. Cut back. Talk with your pastor. Seek God. Rest in Him as you await a time of refreshing.

 

Help Teachers Think Like Missionaries and Change Your Sunday School

I’ve had the privilege of creating 3 and 6 hour training workshops around David Francis’ 2011 book Transformational Class, and I’ve done the same with his new book in order to lead state training for Nevada and California Sunday School leaders.  His 2012 book Missionary Sunday School continues developing the themes presented in Transformational Class.  In Missionary Sunday School the focus is on three key concepts that exist when leaders and teachers have a missionary mindset:

1.  One Mission

2.  His Story

3.  Every Person

Here is how LifeWay describes the book:

Missionary Sunday School is the second book in a series that takes key principles from LifeWay’s Transformational Church research initiative (the largest research project ever conducted on the North American protestant church) and offers practical suggestions on how your church’s Sunday School ministry could become transformational.

While the first book, Transformational Class, briefly addressed all of the elements of Transformational Church and how they affect Sunday School, this second book in the series takes a closer look at just one of the elements: Missionary Mentality. Author David Francis strives to answer the question “What might a Sunday School class or small group look like if it saw itself as a missionary enterprise—thinking and acting out of a missionary mindset?”

The very idea of a Sunday School class or small group acting from a missionary mindset may be jolting to some. Over the years, “Sunday School” has become almost synonymous with “Bible Study.” Likewise, the most common word to describe “Small Group” has probably been “Community.” Of course, most Sunday School classes enjoy community, and most small groups enjoy Bible study. It is the rare class or small group, however, which discovers the joy of becoming a missionary enterprise. This book explores that idea in depth.

Author and Bio:
David Francis is Director of Sunday School & Discipleship at LifeWay Christian Resources. Before joining LifeWay in 1997, he served as minister of education at First Baptist Church in Garland, Texas. David and his wife, Vickie, are actively involved in all three morning services at First Baptist Hendersonville (TN). They teach preschoolers (Pre-K is their people group), they’re part of a new adult Bible study class, and they participate with their church in corporate worship.

The book retails for only $1.50 and is the best value you’ll find for training your teachers.  A companion resource kit has 10 monthly leadership meetings for teachers.

Click here to jump to the Missionary Sunday School page on lifeway.com to learn more

 

Unlocking the Sunday School Passcode…0-0-8-0

This is the first in a series of blog posts I’ve decided to deliver on the topic of unlocking your Sunday School’s passcode.  If you have a smartphone, no doubt you’ve set a passcode to secure your information.  You (or someone else) can’t get to critical information without the right passcode entry.  So over the next few weeks, I’ll give you some passcodes to unlock “secrets” to Sunday School growth and health.  In this first post, your passcode is 0080.

Churches that have experienced growth in Sunday School groups have discovered the importance of what is known as “the 80% Rule.”  That’s why our passcode today is 0080…to remind us that the number 80 is very important to groups.

Groups that consistently see more than 80% of their available space filled with class members and guests will struggle to continue a growth trajectory.  Although there is a small amount of space available, people will perceive the classroom as being full.  This will have the unfortunate side effect of communicating that there is no room for them in the class for them.  The next time you are at a movie, watch this in action.  My wife and I recently saw a movie that had just released, and the theater was crowded…it was beyond 80% full, but there were still a few seats together, and lots (I mean lots) of single seats.  We watched couples walk into the theater, look up, then freeze because they could not find a place to sit.  Some left, others stood there for 5 or more minutes trying to decide what to do while the previews were playing.  Two couples went and brought a manager back with them to help them locate seats.  The 80% Rule is alive and well, and it affects your Sunday School class.

Ken Hemphill, in his book The Bonsai Theory of Church Growth, wrote about this real phenomena and said that if an organization’s “pot” is too small (in his analogy of Bonsai tree growth, he equated the size of the pot with the size of the Sunday School organization and classroom) then growth would be limited.  In order to grow the church or class, a larger container was needed.  He advocated starting new groups to allow the Sunday School to grow.

Church growth consultant Lyle Schaller also has similar thoughts and experiences about the 80% Rule.  He’s written more than 30 books on church growth and health, and Christianity Today quoted him as saying, “When a sanctuary is 80 percent full, it’s full as far as Americans are concerned since Americans tend to prize a large personal space separating them from others. Get closer, or wedge in together, or put chairs in an aisle, and visitors will think there’s no room for them. Church growth can stall.”

What to do if your class is beyond 80% full

> Talk with your pastor or staff leader about starting a new group. If your classroom is getting maxed out, don’t think that the biggest class wins…that’s not the goal.  Have room for members and guests by starting a new group and reducing the number of people in your classroom.

> Move to a larger classroom.  This isn’t my favorite option, but it’s an option.  If your class has a great care group system, this could work in the short-term, but we moving toward starting a new group as quickly as possible.

> Ask class members to help you find a solution that keeps the class growing.  Ask for their input.  The Bible says, “With many advisers plans succeed; for lack of counsel the fail.” That simply means that none of us is as smart as all of us.  You may be surprised with the solutions your class members come up with.

Pay attention to the 80% Rule in all education ministries…they’re connected

It’s one thing to pay attention to individual classes, but you must also pull back and take a broader view of your entire Sunday School because if one area of your Sunday School ministry is climbing to over 80% of its capacity, that will affect your ability to grow the other areas of your Sunday School.  For instance, if your nursery is 80% or more full, then it will most likely have a negative impact on your young adult Sunday School (parents aren’t comfortable leaving their children in an overcrowded room and they won’t attend your young adult classes).  Take an even broader view of the church:  if your worship service is over 80% of its capacity, it can have a negative affect on your Sunday School attendance.

 

What to do when the Sheep Wave Goodbye (Part 2 of 3)

This is part two of a three-part series on reclaiming inactive church members.  I have borrowed and expanded on material found in the book Reclaiming Inactive Church Members.  Click here to go to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy.  As I said in the last blog, it’s an oldie but a goodie.

Today I want you to consider different “games” that people play as they slip off the Sunday School class radar.  When you believe these games are being played, it’s time to spring into action and start the reclamation process.

1.   HIDE and SEEK, “Come and Get Me”

• These members don’t say anything about being unhappy, but they are
• They wonder if anyone has noticed their absence and cares enough to contact them
• According to the rules of this game, if a class doesn’t contact them and say, “Ready or not, here we come,” the inactive member quickly makes up their mind not to return

2.  CHARADES – Can You Figure Out What My Actions Mean?

• These inactive members don’t come right out and tell us why they are hurt,  or have trouble admitting it, so they act out their emotions
• These members often feel underrated or overlooked
• They often opt for this game because they feel awkward about revealing their true feelings
• They are sending out a cry for help

3.  The MERRY   GO-ROUND “It’s Me Again”

• This inactive member often goes through periods in which they show regularity in attendance, only to be followed by an extended period of absence
• They may also “ride the roller coaster” – they experience high times of commitment followed by low points of non-commitment, disappointment, and apathy

4.  BASEBALL – Three Strikes and You’re Out

• This member is just waiting for one final reason to drop out
• The church tends to always have a “full count” with this person
• The inactive member may feel like they are unheard, unappreciated, overlooked, or underrated

5.  POKER – “I’m All In”

• They let the church know what they’re going to do in advance (i.e. “If the church does X, then I’m going to do Y”
• This member is forces himself into a corner and if he doesn’t make good on his bluff, he loses credibility with other members
• He’s really saying, “If I’m important to you, then you’ll go along with my wishes rather than risk losing me”
• This person’s motives may be completely noble, and he may have the best interests of the church at heart, but ultimately he is putting the church on notice
• Always backing down to this person means you may set yourself up for many future bluffs and “all-in” statements

6.  COWBOYS and INDIANS

• This person believes “it’s us or it’s them”
• Winners take all; the rest lose face and can leave
• A dead giveaway that members are playing this game is the use of personal pronouns
  • I
  • We
  • They
  • Them

 

Reclamation is Central to the Grand Narrative of Scripture

A ministry of reclamation is biblical and follows the example set by the Lord.  No matter what kinds of games people play, we should always be ready to reclaim them and extend grace.  Here are several verses of Scripture that address the topic of reclamation:

Ephesians 2:14-17 says that, “He is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might created in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God…” 

Philippians 4:5 says, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone…”  The word we translate “reasonableness” literally means “generous in overlooking injury or insult; rising above pettiness” in the original Greek language.  It is God’s desire that his people be in right relationship to one another at all times.

Luke 14:23 shows the heart of God and his passion to reach the cultural outcasts.  “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled (a picture of God turning his attention to the Gentile world so that they might hear the gospel message and also believe in him like the Jewish people).  People will not compel themselves to come to God’s house….they have to be compelled to come in.

Hebrews 10:25 tells us, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…”  Sometimes people fall out of the habit of coming to church and belonging to a local church, so they must be encouraged to continue to walk in Christ as members of His body, the church.

Perhaps the most familiar verse is John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in would not perish, but have eternal life.”   God so loved you and I (and those absent members of your class) that He originated a plan to sacrifice his Son so that we all might be reconciled to him.  Reclamation is the story the Bible tells over and over, cover to cover.