MARCH: Why get involved in Sunday School?

These are exciting times at VGBC! People are surrendering their lives to Christ and our church is growing. If you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of new faces each weekend at our Sunday worship service. Over the past few weeks, I have met families who have been coming for months and I have never even seen them before.

As any church grows in size, it can become easier for folks to feel like another face in the crowd. In fact, some people like going to a larger church so they can soak in the experience and not be expected to contribute. I’ve met many people over the years who desire to show up for a little over an hour on Sunday morning for some good music and spiritual encouragement. Is this all God intended for the church?

Christianity is not meant to be a “Lone-ranger” type of life. As followers of Christ, we are part of the body of Christ. Community is an important aspect of Christianity. God himself is the eternal community of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are created for community and relationships.  While corporate worship is incredibly important, we miss out on connecting more deeply with the body of Christ if we are not moving beyond the corporate worship time.

I think it is like the difference between stopping for gas at a gas station and enjoying dinner at a fine restaurant.  When you stop at the gas station, you quickly get out of your car, take care of the payment, fill up your car, and then you hit the road. You don’t linger for hours looking at the scenery, talking to everyone, and enjoying the smell of the gas fumes. Well…maybe you do enjoy the smell of the fumes, but hopefully you do not spend a significant amount of time breathing that stuff in! At a fine restaurant, you typically go with at least one other person or even a group of people. You don’t rush through your meal as fast as you can. You take time to savor each bite of the delicious food.  Hopefully you enjoy the company of the people surrounding you. Typically, you linger around for a while. Filling your car with gas is more of an individual activity while dinner at a fine restaurant is more of a community activity.

At the beginning of the school year, Pastor Chris did a month-long series on our new mission statement at VGBC. We desire to make disciples who worship, connect, serve, and impact. Especially as our church grows in size, it is important that we be intentional about helping people connect in smaller groups. This is how larger churches continue to have the feel of a tight-knit community. At VGBC, our primary way for people to get connected in smaller groups is through Sunday School. There are several good reasons to get involved in a Sunday school class:

1.        Connection -  The smaller size of Sunday school classes allows you to build relationships with other people, to know others and be known. Deep down we all desire to experience intimate community. One important aspect of this connection in smaller groups is to spend time praying for one another, our church, our city, and the world. Another important aspect is accountability. Following Christ is not easy! We all have habits and hang-ups. The smaller groups provide a place where iron can sharpen iron. The relationships in smaller groups also provide an opportunity for us to encourage one another to continue in a life of faithfulness and obedience to Christ. We can pick one another up when we are feeling down or feel like we don’t have the strength to keep going on in life. Finally, the relationships built in smaller groups allow for us to care for one another and minister to each other. Sunday School is designed to help people build relationships where they can do life together and experience Christian community even beyond the walls of the church.

2.       Teaching – Connecting with others is an important part of Sunday school, but Sunday School is not just a time to sit around and talk and drink coffee. Our connection with other believers is centered around our relationship with Jesus Christ and the authority of the Word of God. Sunday school provides a place to study the Word of God, discuss the Word of God, and apply the Word of God to our lives. Sunday school is designed to be a place that helps you grow in your faith and challenges you to live a life of obedience to God’s Word.

3.       Reaching – Many people might say that Sunday School is primarily for teaching, discipleship, and fellowship, but originally in Southern Baptist life, a primary function of Sunday School was evangelism. Through Sunday School, we can be equipped to know the Gospel and be equipped to share the Gospel. Rather than consisting of the same group of people that meets together for years, every class should be striving to share the Gospel with family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Imagine how exciting it would be for a Sunday School class to be directly involved with someone surrendering their life to Christ. Every group should also be reaching out to new people who are attending our church but have not yet connected with a smaller group of believers.

4.       Serving – In church life, it is commonly stated that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Being a part of a church is not about being a sponge that is constantly soaking in spiritual stuff. Jesus desires for us and has commanded all of us to be involved serving others both in the church and outside of the church. Through the relationships in smaller groups, we can encourage one another to use our spiritual gifts to serve the body. We can also partner together through our Sunday School groups to go out into our neighborhoods and our community to make an impact for the Kingdom of God.

Experiencing biblical community is one of the joys of the Christian life. Yes, connecting with a Sunday School class will require a little more of your time each week. It is time well spent, however, and you and your family need it for your spiritual health! Are you connected in a Sunday school class? Are your kids connected in a Sunday school class in the children’s ministry or youth ministry? There are people waiting to meet you, get to know you, and journey along with you in the Christian life. Are you encouraging others to get plugged into a Sunday school class? Consider inviting someone else to join you this week. We hope to see you in a class this Sunday! If you aren’t sure where to plug in, let me know, and I will help get you connected.