Step 9: Re-Launch
Do it again! It is tempting to just coast. Besides, we worked hard. Can’t we just enjoy the “fruits of our labor”? There is a season for everything. As soon as the celebration has concluded, it is time to start evaluating and planning for the next Sunday School Challenge. Your biggest question might be “why do it again?” And the answer is, your church members want to just coast, too. They also have lives away from the church. They have pressures in their lives and sometimes they just want one area of their life to be “less stressful.” That excuse works if church and faith are not a crucial part of your existence and life on this earth.
Life is a cycle. There is an ebb and a flow to things. One thing remains true: the Great Commission is never finished. Until we draw our last breath or God calls us home, we still have work to do. Sunday School is the church organized. It is the churches’ best strategy to reach and enroll new people; disciple people through teaching that changes lives; and involve members and guests in ongoing ministry. Along the way, staff and key leaders have to keep the machinery working by starting new classes, enlisting and training new leaders, managing and maintaining facilities, maintaining a budget, and so much more. The Sunday School Challenge makes sure we don’t forget the life changing aspects of our ministry when all of the administrative stuff screams for attention.
Hopefully you have celebrated what God has accomplished in your church and community. You have affirmed and rewarded leaders and members for their participation and accomplishments. You took the time to evaluate your process. Now, it’s time to put another date on the calendar…the next Sunday School Challenge. If you don’t calendar it, it will never happen.
Pray. Pray that God will guide each of you as you plan and strategize how best to use your resources for Kingdom work. Every time you do the Sunday School Challenge, it becomes a little easier to do it again. People become accustomed to the transitions and timing of things. Just don’t let it become mundane. Keep it fresh. Throw in a few new wrinkles.
In our culture today, the world needs stories of God’s transforming power. They need to see God’s people, doing God’s work and glorifying God for all He has done. Something so simple and yet so powerful. That is the Sunday School Challenge.
As always, the Louisiana Baptists, your local association, the SBC and Lifeway Christian Resources will be here to pray and offer assistance in accomplishing God’s mission for your church in your community.
Yours truly,
Sean Keith, Sunday School/Discipleship Strategist, Louisiana Baptists
