Step 7: Celebrate Victories/Successes

Let’s Party! Well not exactly. The reality is that in most churches we don’t celebrate enough. And what I mean by that is, we don’t tell people enough how much we appreciate them and all that they do for the church and the Kingdom of God. Even more importantly, we don’t celebrate what God has done. God is at work. Lives are being changed every day, all around us. We should celebrate what God has done, is doing and will do. Along the way, we need to show appreciation towards one another for the ways that God uses us.

Pastor, gather your Sunday School Champions and other leaders together and listen to all the stories of things that happened during the Challenge.  Plan to share these stories during your corporate celebration time. Use testimonies of lives changed, goals met, and show the value of what Sunday School/Small Groups can bring to the church and community.

It is strongly recommended that at the end of the Sunday School Challenge the church plans time to publicly celebrate all that God has done and all the work accomplished. People need to hear the outcome of their work. Were goals accomplished? What is the overall impact on the church and community? What specific stories can be shared and celebrated? Show appreciation for the things that were successful, but also, for the people who worked hard but did not accomplish their goals. The fact that a class set a goal and worked hard to achieve that goal should be celebrated and affirmed, too.

Plan a special worship service and have testimonies from those who participated. Give a report. Pray for all of the life-changing things that happened such as decisions for Christ, new people enrolled, people who are regularly reading God’s Word, new people using their spiritual gifts in service, etc. But most importantly, worship God for all that He has done. Then, eat! Because that’s what Baptists do.

There are many ways to affirm Sunday School–it’s leaders and members, and to thank God for what He is doing. Have each Sunday School Champion share what they saw and experienced, from their perspective. Sometimes we need to change things up. Involve lots of people. It will take a lot of planning but the outcome could be huge. People need to see, hear and experience that God is working, and understand that they have been a part of it.

Here are a couple of articles you may want to peruse for ideas. Honestly, there isn’t much out there about this topic. Maybe that indicates we need to be doing this more.

• https://groupministry.lifeway.com/2014/10/03/3-keys-to-motivating-sunday-school-leaders/
• http://www.sundayschoolrevolutionary.com/bringing-out-the-best-in-sunday-school-leaders-part-2/
• https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/sunday-school-add-digit-enrollment-growth
• https://www.sundayschoolleader.com/3-reasons-to-celebrate-success/