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Sunday School Today

Interview With Scott Davis, Daniel DeLeon, and Randal Ross

Scott Davis

Daniel DeLeon

Randal Ross

Churches that are growing numerically and spiritually have one thing in common—effective programs for discipling new converts and church members for ministry. The most effective program to accomplish this is Sunday school. And the key to this effective discipleship program is the pastor.

Enrichment’s associate editor, Richard Schoonover, interviewed three Assemblies of God pastors who have a passion for Sunday school. Scott Davis has pastored Living Waters Assembly of God in Thermopolis, Wyoming, for 7 1/2 years. His congregation numbers between 75 and 100. Daniel DeLeon pastors Templo Calvario, a bilingual Hispanic church in Santa Ana, California, numbering 4,000 in Sunday morning attendance. Randal Ross pastors Calvary Church in Naperville, Illinois, with average Sunday morning attendance of 3,500.

Not only do these pastors share their passion for Sunday school, they also share what it takes to make Sunday school—and any discipleship program in the church—effective.

Why is Sunday school an important part of your church’s ministry?

DeLeon: We strongly believe that our mandate from the Lord is to make disciples, not just converts. Sunday school has played a great part in our program to disciple people to become true followers of Christ. It is the best time and day in the week to train our people.

Ross: We are committed to disciple people. The Great Commission not only commanded us to win people, but to train and grow them to Christian maturity. We make discipleship a requirement for fulfilling the will of God. We present it in a way that says growing in Christ is not optional; it is something that goes along with being saved, Spirit-filled, and growing in the Word. From the pulpit I frequently talk about the joy of growing as a disciple of Christ.

Davis: Sunday school is the best way to disciple our congregation because it is designed for Bible study in different age groups. It also allows for interaction between students and teachers. More and more people want to study certain topics. It’s hard to do that through a sermon. But in Sunday school, topics relating to different age groups can be studied and discussed.

What is the role of the senior pastor in Sunday school?

Ross: You reproduce what you are and what you prioritize. If you want it, you have to preach on it. We talk about Christian maturity as a joy in the life of a believer. You need to promote, but you also need to be an example. I teach and attend classes. I also oversee the major vision and promotions of Sunday school to make sure people are becoming disciples of Christ.

Davis: The senior pastor has to be pushing it. Since I pastor a smaller church, I teach a class. I also oversee the Sunday school ministry and help train our teachers.

DeLeon: I must be the leader. We don’t have the traditional Sunday school superintendent because our program is more extensive than just Sunday school. I need to give leadership to the ministry and spearhead it by encouraging people to be here, by provoking a thirst for knowledge of the Word, and to enter into a true discipleship program. The senior pastor is the key to a successful Sunday school program.

How has Sunday school been an effective discipling program in your church?

Davis: Sunday school is where our people get the majority of their knowledge of God and His Word. If it’s left up to my preaching on Sunday morning, people will not be discipled well. In the Sunday school class people can ask questions. They can have input. In a sermon, if they have a question, they must wait until later to ask it. Sunday school is effective because people can interact with each other.

Sunday school is the best way to disciple our congregation because it is designed for Bible study in different age groups.—Davis

In our model, we have Sunday school on Wednesday night. We use Radiant Life curriculum and have classes from 7 to 8 p.m. We call it Wednesday Family Education night. We changed to Wednesday night because Sunday school was dying on the vine. Sunday school is too important in reaching and discipling people to drop it.

I began to pray about what God wanted us to do. At district council 4 years ago a speaker taught the We Build People philosophy. He said that we don’t have to do things the way we have always done them. I listed reasons we were failing in Sunday school, and I felt God speaking to me about moving Sunday school to Wednesday night. This was a tough decision because I had been raised to believe Sunday school was to be held on Sunday morning. As I began to look at it, there were pros to Wednesday nights. We had more people available to be teachers. We had kids and parents coming together.

When we moved Sunday school to Wednesday night, our Sunday school attendance more than doubled and our normal Wednesday night attendance tripled. The problems we were having trying to develop an effective Sunday morning Sunday school decreased. It would have been easier to keep it on Sunday mornings, but it would have died.

I shared my vision for Sunday school with the board. We prayed about it for 6 months and the next fall we made the change. With the exception of a couple months, we have not been short any teachers. Attendance has remained high, and we are effectively discipling people.

Ross: When we came to Calvary Church, Sunday school was declining. We made a radical leap by going to what we call Believers Life Institute. It has more of a college feel to it with electives and various levels: 100, 200, 300, and 400. It is also based on lifestyle and need. Some classes focus on felt needs like raising teenagers. Others are biblical literacy issues like college-level New Testament survey, Greek, etc. To accommodate our attendance, we use Sunday mornings and Wednesday and Thursday nights.

When we went from the teacher lecturing to interaction and graduated classes with specific goals, our Christian education program exploded. Believers Life has been one of our foundational principles. It increased our Sunday school attendance 2 1/2 times in 1 year. There are now about 1,700 adults involved in Believer’s Life Institute.

How do you use Sunday school to disciple your people for ministry?

Ross: One way we have seen growth is in our Wednesday night training. One fourth to one half of our classes are for training people for involvement. We train altar workers, ushers, future teachers, Royal Ranger leaders, and other leadership positions. After 6 months, these new workers are involved in some aspect of ministry and are being mentored by other leaders. The average class size decreased when we doubled the number of classes we offered. But these smaller classes give us closer oversight for mentoring and prayer. As people become involved in these ministries, the maturity and growth are evident. Families are becoming more stable. It’s been exciting to watch people grow.

DeLeon: We decided to make a change in our Sunday school format because of our growth and the shortage of facilities. We still have a children’s Sunday school through sixth grade and middle school. This is the more traditional approach to Sunday school. From high school up we have changed to a training format. We encourage people to become involved in a discipleship program to learn more about who they are in Christ. Then they discover spiritual gifts, how to use the gifts, and opportunities for ministry. When individuals finish the Sunday morning training, they immediately go into additional training. This prepares them to be group leaders, whether they teach Sunday school for children or become a part of another ministry in the church. Regardless of where they are involved, we require a more formal training called Koinonia. Our Sunday morning activities are primarily geared to disciple, train, and develop leaders.

We encourage people to become involved in a discipleship program to learn more about who they are in Christ.—DeLeon

We also use Monday nights for training and development. On Tuesday nights we have a more formal school for people who do not have a solid Bible background. We encourage our people to go to our Tuesday night Bible training program.

How has Sunday school been an effective evangelism program? How do you use Sunday school to disciple new converts?

Ross: We start with an alpha program, Dare To Ask Anything. New converts are given a personal invitation into a discipleship class on Wednesday night or Sunday morning and paired with mentors. They are trained quickly into the responsibility of growing in their spiritual life. In this program new converts can ask questions about what it means to be a Christian. We lose far fewer new converts because their first contact is in a small group, whether it’s a discipleship group or an intimate prayer group. They are being helped immediately.

Many people are finding Christ through our Christian education program. We go out Wednesday night after class and talk to our visitors. If we lead them to Christ, then they get excited and come back. This has its own momentum. People are being saved in other services beside Sunday morning. Our theme is any time, any place is a good time to find Jesus.

DeLeon Evangelism is one of our main goals and is part of everything we do. I tell my congregation that if we’re not reaching people through a particular ministry, then we need to ask whether we should continue this ministry. Sunday school has become a major avenue to bring new people into the church. New people are looking for Bible training and other areas of ministry that take care of their needs. We take advantage of the fact they are coming and do everything possible to ensure they accept Christ as their Savior.

Davis: Having Sunday school on Wednesday nights allows us to do things to make Sunday school more evangelistic. For example, on Wednesday night we start at 5:30 and have several adults help kids with their schoolwork. This was a vision brought on by one of our teachers. Fifteen to 20 kids and youth come every week. After the tutoring, we feed them and then send them to their class. We added about 15 to 20 unchurched kids and two families in the first year of doing this. We are building relationships with the parents and grandparents of these kids, and when they have prayer needs, they call the church.

How important is a solid Pentecostal curriculum to your Sunday School?

Davis: It is very important to our Sunday school program. A variety of curricula are available to churches today, but Radiant Life curriculum has improved tremendously over the last few years. My teachers have said that it’s much easier to prepare each Sunday’s lesson. They walk into the classroom with more confidence.

Ross: I agree. Radiant Life material has been helpful to speed up the preparation process. It’s very user-friendly. We have classes on the baptism in the Holy Spirit using curriculum both Wednesdays and Sundays to let students know our distinctives. Our doctrine class has a 6-week period where students discuss what makes a Pentecostal church Pentecostal. That builds an excitement about seeking the Lord, and it affects our Sunday services. People come in looking forward to an experience with the Lord.

When we went from the teacher lecturing to interaction and graduated classes with specific goals, our Christian education program exploded.—Ross

How do you change the perception of those who believe that Sunday school is a relic of the past? What would you say to the pastor whose Sunday school is dying?

Ross: The danger is for a pastor to believe that because people do not come to Sunday school they do not desire to grow. Another danger is to throw a program at a person versus having an actual effective ministry. People follow passion when they believe there is a viable by-product to help them live a better life. I tell others that we have Sunday school not just to learn something, but to become something.

When a church starts growing, it must evaluate what is effective and what is not effective. We concluded that it’s best to do fewer things better and give them full attention. You can have a lot of programs that look good on paper, but aren’t effective. They do not produce genuine New Testament growth, spiritually or numerically. We had to evaluate: Is this program effective?

In our culture, people make choices for you. You can no longer manipulate them into activities they don’t want to attend. If it’s not effective and doesn’t meet their needs, they’re not there next week. So we simplify things. We focus on celebration, which means worship and experiencing God, and then relationships in small groups. Maturity is also one of three major issues. We believe in putting forth effort, being creative, and training our teachers. That takes time. Too often we bail out too quickly because we don’t see initial momentum or excitement. But as you strive for excellence, people say, "Man, I went there, and that was worth it."

I have a men’s discipleship meeting at 6:15 a.m. on Tuesday at Chicagoland. That’s not easy, but we have 350 men who come to study men’s issues from the Bible. It meets a need; they’re there for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and it includes breakfast. If you keep the Word of God relevant to their issues, they keep coming back.

Sometimes ministries die because people are not doing the work. It takes a lot of work to create desire, to get people out, and to have effective classes that are meeting needs. You need to have meetings with teachers, be organized, and be patient. If it’s not working, find what will work best for your church and your locale. It’s not an option. You cannot build the kingdom of God on a Sunday morning sermon, no matter how effective the preacher. There has to be small-group involvement in discipling and studying. People need biblical knowledge to be effective Christians. You may make a few mistakes along the way, but it will start to grow.

I would tell ministers not to get discouraged because God is pro Sunday school. Find the method or tool that is most effective for your people and keep after it.

DeLeon: Every pastor needs to take a hard look at his or her congregation and ask how to bring new life into the church, especially a church that’s not inspiring, not winning people. There’s something missing. Many times we overlook training people who can contribute to the church. The name Sunday school may have the connotation that it’s not relevant anymore. Change the name if you must, but don’t let the name Sunday school scare you. It’s a time during the week to get people to the next level in their growth with the Lord. People go to church on Sunday morning. We need to take advantage of that.

People who are open to the Spirit have discovered a freshness about coming to church. And not just to attend a worship service on Sunday morning, but to be trained and developed, to become greater disciples of the Lord.

Davis: I’m the type of person that if it’s not working, I’m not going to drop it. We’re going to ask, "What’s wrong with it? Why aren’t we seeing growth in Sunday school?" A pastor needs to evaluate the Sunday school program and ask why it is dying, and then make a list of reasons for its decline.

One of our problems on Sunday mornings was lack of teachers. We had individuals who worked every other Sunday and couldn’t teach Sunday school. We asked them when would be the best time to have Sunday school if a shortage of teachers were the problem. We found that Wednesday night worked well. As pastors, we must be open to different approaches to doing Sunday school. You shouldn’t keep Sunday school on Sunday morning for the sake of tradition, especially if the program is dying.

For pastors who think Sunday school is a relic of the past, they are missing a great opportunity to disciple people. Preaching the Word on Sunday morning is valuable, but preaching alone is not going to get the discipleship process done, especially in the youth. I would ask pastors where they received much of their knowledge of the Bible. Sunday school is where I learned to find Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John through the sword drills. I learned all the great Bible stories. I look at the kids who are in our Sunday school and those who are not, and there is a big difference in their Bible knowledge. I would encourage pastors to pray and think long and hard before they decide to cancel Sunday school. We need to realize our culture is different from what it was 25 or 30 years ago.

Several churches in Wyoming have switched to a Wednesday night Sunday school because that is what works best for them. Whether we agree or not, the church is in competition with the activities of the secular world. We must provide ministries that complement people’s schedules, not ones that work against them. The book, Give Them What They Want by Michael Clarensau and Clancy Hayes, offers ideas and plans to change ministries in the church that are not working.

Any closing thoughts on the subject of Sunday school?

DeLeon: The climate of this country is demanding the best we can offer. We have become excited about worship and other expressions of our faith. But we have forgotten that it is vital that we develop the potential of every person who comes to our church. Pastors need to look closely at what their church is doing to develop members to their fullest potential. We have many Christians sitting in our pews who are displaying a superficial Christianity. We must do something before we lose this present generation to mediocrity.

Ross: This a new day. There’s a growing awareness in our Fellowship and in people coming to our churches of the importance of being grounded in the Word. We are also seeing those who want to have a Pentecostal experience with the power it brings. They want their families anchored. They’re aware of the battles they’re facing. When we develop a New Testament holistic approach to ministry, families live better. There’s fruit that comes from not neglecting Sunday school or discipleship. I want to encourage the pastors to not give up on this. If it’s a God idea, God has a way to get it done. Just keep praying and seeking and studying until you find the model that’s best for you.