Bob Mayfield

Community vs Content

My friend Darryl Wilson has an interesting topic on his blog, The Sunday School Revolutionary. I would encourage you to go there and read the post "Sunday School/Small Group Community and Content".

Be sure to read the comments!

Is It Time to Bury Arthur Flake?

At a recent meeting of State Sunday School directors in Nashville, I asked our group this question and threw it open for discussion: "Is it time to bury Arthur Flake?" For those of you who do not about Flake and what is now called "Flake's Formula", you might want to do some noodling on this guy. Arthur Flake is the patriarch of the modern Sunday School movement. Almost 100 years ago, Flake became the Sunday School director for the Baptist Sunday School Board, now known as LifeWay Christian Resources. Flake pioneered several different aspects of Sunday School. For example, Flake recognized that Sunday School teachers teach theology in their classes, so Flake began the Doctrine Clinic, an effort to provide doctrine resources to pastors to teach their Sunday School leadership. But Flake is best known for what has come to be known as Flake's Formula or Flake's Five.

1. Know your possibilities;
2. Enlist and equip your leaders;
3. Enlarge your Sunday School organization;
4. Provide space;
5. Go after the people

Although there is no book containing this formula in bullet-type format, you can find this formula scattered throughout the many books he wrote. In addition, Flake probably used this formula for his "talking points" as he drove all over the southern USA promoting evangelistic Sunday Schools.

Arthur Flake has impacted Southern Baptist life and culture for over 100 years. Perhaps only Herschel Hobbs and WA Criswell have had as much impact on Southern Baptist life as Mr. Flake. So the question remains, is it time to bury Arthur Flake and his formula?

I know that right now there are Sunday School leaders all over America who are downing entire bottles of blood pressure medication. Flake's Formula still works today for church leaders who understand and practice the five principles. But the question must be asked, is it time for Sunday School in general and Southern Baptists in particular to move on to a 21st century philosophy of Sunday School and thank Mr. Flake for his work?

First, a short critique of Flake's Formula. You may notice that God, prayer, Jesus, etc are not mentioned in the five principles. Spirituality is an assumption we put into the formula. This model would work in non-Christian church too. I have business friends who tell me that this is essentially the same formula they use to grow their business (by the way, Mr. Flake was a lay salesman). Also, let's remember that Flake's Formula was written to help build the church when society was more focused on institutions. Our culture today is less concerned (okay... maybe even skeptical) about institutional church growth and more concerned with personal growth.

I believe the time has come, not necessarily to bury Mr. Flake, but for leaders of small communities (Sunday School, small groups, etc) to begin a more earnest dialogue about how to transform lives in our culture. In other words, were Mr. Flake alive today, what principles would he be encouraging pastors and church leaders to use to reach our communities today as effectively as his generation reached his culture?

As a further note, I am writing a new book right to be released in March of 2010. The title: Flake's Hammer: From Methods to Missional Small Communities. I am going to address Mr. Flake and propose a different paradigm for reaching our culture today that I think would find Arthur Flake's approval.

Your comments are welcome!

State Conventions Summit-Day 3

I got back from Nashville last night, well it was really this morning (Friday). We were delayed getting out of Atlanta because our plane's weather radar was functioning. Here was my weather forecast for the flight - COLD!

Dr. Thom Rainer started the day for everyone with an address in Van Ness Chapel (yes, the spotlessly clean chapel that still feels like you're meeting in an old southern church building). His message was Zechariah's message to Zerubbabel. Here are the three key words from Dr. Rainer's message. "Messengers of hope." Folks, we are the church, and we are messengers of hope to this world. Let's not relegate the message of hope to the government or NGO's.

We started our affinity group with some great information and a super challenge from Dr. Ed Stetzer. You know, I appreciate Ed because he can tell you what you don't want to know and help you feel good about it. Here are the four points from his presentation:

1. Maturity best takes place in small communities. Yeah, we know this, but our church growth models apparently do not. Most of our churches are still designed around "come and watch" rather than "participate and grow" models.
2. Sunday School is in numeric decline and small groups have not filled the void. Ed went on to say several things on this point. a) SS has moved from being the churches front door to the side door; b) the small group movement has yet to really become a movement; c) research indicates that 25% of Americans are involved in some type of small group; d) Churches with SS have more people in small community, churches with small groups have better relational connectedness.
3. There needs to be a shift in what Sunday School looks like. Classes with 30, 40, 50 or more people present are not small communities. "Mini-worship is not small group".
4. Every expression of the church should own the mission of the church. The day before, our group had a discussion about the purpose of Sunday School. Back in the day, Sunday School was described this way, "Sunday School exists to do the work of the church". Nowadays, I just say that "whatever the mission of the church is, that is the mission of the Sunday School". One thing that is sorely lacking among most of our SS classes is a sense of purpose, a calling to being the church in the community.

Two great quotes from Ed: "The greatest sin of the church is that we have hundreds of people in sitting pews and doing nothing, and we call them Christians." "Sunday School is a goal for most churches, rather than a tool we have for transformation."

Following Ed's presentation, our SS affinity group tackled a key question, which you can see in the image to the right. Yep, that's right... it says, "Is it time to bury Arthur Flake?" I know that is like anathema to any Baptist who has grown up in Sunday School. Let's just say it got mixed reviews! I'll have a post on the blog next week under this title and share some of our discussion and also my opinion about Flake's resting place.

For the rest of the day, we had Brett Robbe, who I think has the toughest job at LifeWay - adult publishing. This guy manages our curriculum and wow, you talk about a thankless job. However, I like LIfeWay's emphasis in adult curriculum, going with the "Connect-Grow-Serve-Go" direction they have instilled into Bible study curriculum. We also had Sergio Arce share with us about Hispanic Sunday School. Our convention is making great strides in reaching ethnics and especially Hispanics. LifeWay is developing more resources for these churches.

My input on this year's Summit: excellent theme and I appreciate how the Summit Steering team kept us focused on the theme of transformation. In a joint session between the discipleship and Sunday School affinity groups, I was really encouraged with the heart and attitude of the participants. One comment really stood out for me in this joint session, "We must move from producing results (numbers) to changing culture". I sensed a yearning for more depth in our purpose than program or resources.

As state convention leaders and a key SBC agency, it is essential for us to tackle our issues openly and transparently. That was one of the reasons I decided to blog the Summit. I think that it is vital for Southern Baptists to know what their leaders are discussing and also get a feel for the heart of the discussion. Our Sunday School affinity group created a Twitter hashtag for our meeting, and you can see some of the tweets there (#ssag).

Any questions or comments? Feel free to leave a comment below and I'll do my best to respond.

State Conventions Summit-Day 2

Just got back from a great time with some of my friends and Sunday School peers at the State Conventions Summit in Nashville. Yeah, after a hard day of deliberations, it's good to get away to Ted's for some food and some great fellowship with these folks.

Here are the highlights of the day from my perspective:

Ed Stetzer: When it comes to mobilizing the church, his research shows that about 40% of church members are serving somewhere in the church (greeter, teacher, usher, etc.). About 20% are involved in serving the community. Ed's comment was about the church being "indispensable", and he used Council Road Baptist Church of Bethany, Oklahoma as his example of a church that is trying to leave such a mark on its community that the community would feel the impact if the church ceased to exist. Ed has some wide-sweeping research of 7,000 churches, both Southern Baptist and other brands that will be released next year in a book he is co-authoring with Thom Rainer.

We had four presenters today in the Sunday School affinity group, which IMHO is the best affinity group in the State Convention network! Bruce Raley led us in a further discussion about Transformational Churches. Bruce drew a spectrum on the whiteboard that showed the tension involving "community" and "content".

    ___________________________________________________________content
   community

Small groups or Sunday School classes typically align on one side of the spectrum or the other. We had some excellent dialogue with Bruce about this issue.

John Kramp spoke to all of the affinity groups at lunch with an overview of the many updates and also pioneering trek from Dallas to Portland via a stop in Arizona at "The Thing". Kramp's point, it is easy to get lured away and off-track from our original destination. But John also made a point that I think many people have been waiting for LifeWay to reinforce for some time, and I quote: "We believe that Sunday School is the most effective small group strategy."

Gary Hauk had a brief presentation and shared with us some of the new things coming in dated curriculum. Of particular note is LifeWay's efforts at getting more content in digital format and on the web.

Jason Hayes gave us an update on young adult ministry and Threads. I especially appreciated Jason's decision to stay with his "Four Markers of Young Adult Ministry". People who like a lot of change sometimes get impatient if material is not fresh off the printer, but many people need time to reflect and absorb new thoughts and ideas. By the way, the Four Markers of Young Adult Ministry:

• Community - relationships that are beyond the superficial variety that plague the church and the secular world.
• Depth - A lost person is more about content than topics. A key comment Jason made today, "Bible study should be more than a sitcom". We should not introduce biblical truth to people and expect them to process it in 30 minutes and then go to worship.
• Responsibility - Your choices in life make a difference (good or bad). Jason commented that lost people serve in soup kitchens and wonder where the Christians are.
• Connection - Young adults want to connect with older generations. Many young adults were not raised by godly parents, so how are they going to learn how to be godly parents? From older adults in the church!

David Francis was our final guest speaker today and brought a presentation on his new book and Sunday School resource, "Great Expectations". The basic premise of this resource is that churches, leaders, and yes... Sunday School teachers should expect the best from our people. The resource is positive and raises the bar of expectations.

Personally, I find the interaction among the Sunday School affinity group to be very valuable. As you can see from the picture to the right, we like to mix it up and learn. The willingness of this group to share, listen, discuss, and disagree and still recognize that we are on the same team is one of the strengths of this group. As was brought up by a couple of people today, we also appreciate the way LifeWay is presenting what most would consider some discouraging data. Instead of presenting the data like a eulogy, each presenter we have had has presented information from a missional perspective. LifeWay is sharing information in much the same way that a missionary would look at his mission field - what an opportunity to bring the gospel!

By the way, you can catch twitter updates of our Sunday School affinity group discussion by using the hashtag #ssag

How Personal is Your Purpose?

I had one of those moments Sunday. After prowling the different buildings of the church and checking everyone's hall pass and peeking into all of the different LIfeGroup (Sunday School) rooms at our church, I picked up my Bible and decided to sit in on one of our groups. I caught them kind of mid-lesson, but they adjusted well and I even got some muffins out of the deal.

First, let me say I was very impressed with the openness and frankness of the discussion in this group. Yes, discussion! The leader did a great job involving the folks in the study. Then, toward the end of class, he was talking about the importance of the group in his life when he said: "I need a group of people who will be honest with me about myself and about each other, and help me as I struggle with life and follow Christ.”

I've got a seminary education and I think I've read all of Arthur Flake's books. I've even read most of David Francis' books (grin). But here in this small class, I heard one of the best descriptions of the purpose of Sunday School in a very real and personal way.

Could he have said something about the Great Commission, enrolling the lost in Sunday School, and starting new groups? Well yes, but first let me tell you that this is a new class (it started this summer), it is growing, and on this particular Sunday one of their members was in a central European country on a medical mission trip. It is one of the most open and welcoming groups in our church. Within the context of their Bible study, it was an outstanding comment that I think most of us would love for our leaders to have.

What I like about this leader's comment was that it was evident to me that he had personalized the purpose of the group and was leading the group out of purpose. After he shared why the group was important to him, I was excited about the group. Who wouldn't want to be part of a group like that? You name them: saved or lost; sheep or goats; Sooners or Longhorns (I did get that in the right order didn't I?). A leader who can personalize their group's purpose and then share it with the group with passion is powerful. I almost filled out an enrollment card!

When it comes to the heart of the matter, I think I would rather have a Sunday School teacher who knows what he is aiming for with his class and has made that purpose a personal expression than someone who may have attended all the conferences we have and can quote Harry Pylant, but has missed the heart of Sunday School. Conviction and commitment should be at the top of our qualification list for Bible study leaders.

When we are so committed to our purpose that we can personalize it, we have moved into the realm of passion. Passion is what you do when the pain is greater than the gain - and you do it anyway!

Sunday School Week at Glorieta

I'm leading a conference at Glorieta this week for Ministers of Education with my friend Rob Patterson from Bowling Green, Kentucky. I always thought Bowling Green was a cool name for a city!

Tuesday, I am leading a seminar about teaching theology in Sunday School. It went very well and I was pleased with the dialogue it created. One discussion in particular had to do with getting people to apply the truths they learn on Sunday to their personal lives during the week. My comment was that although there are many reasons to encourage our groups to do this, for me the over riding reason is that when a believer follows through by applying biblical principles in their life each week, we are teaching them to truly come under the authority of Scripture.

Let's face it... when we learn a biblical truth on Sunday morning but refuse to apply that truth in our life during the week, we are refusing to come under God's authority. This is not just a 21st century problem, it has been humankind's problem since Adam and Eve. The first couple had the perfect life... and they were living under God's authority. The day they chose to eat the fruit, they left God's authority. The same can be said of Saul in 1 Samuel 15. Saul had been given instruction from God through the prophet Samuel to destroy the Amalekites. Instead, Saul decided to keep the best of the sheep, goats, etc. and did not destroy the Amalekites. As a result, God took the kingdom from Saul and gave it to David. Saul knew better, but refused to live under God's authority because it seemed more reasonable that killing such fine livestock was a waste.

Teaching theology (biblical truth) in Sunday School is a matter of leading the people in our groups to realize that when they apply God's truth to their every day lives, they will always be living under God's authority. The real purpose of application from a Bible study is more than doing right and wrong, application puts us under God's authority.. and in His blessing!

Other concepts I taught today (Tuesday) included the Learning Loop, and Modern/Postmodern learning styles. You can download my powerpoint presentation at www.bgco.org/missionalresources. Scroll to the bottom of the page and all of my presentations this week are there.

How Worldly is Your Small Group?

I have been in Ridgecrest the past few days leading Sunday School conferences for Ministers of Education. Next week I travel to Glorieta to repeat these conferences with another group of "ME's". While I was in Ridgecrest,

Take a look around your small group or Sunday School class. What do you think... is the world shaping your group or is your group shaping the world. As Christ-followers, we live in a delicate tension. We are not to be "of this world", but we are to be in the world. We often misunderstand what we are called to be as Christians.

One temptation that Christians (and our groups) face is to withdraw from the world. The world is wicked and unholy, and we are called to be good and holy. The reasoning is that if we get any of the world's dirt on us, then we lose our holiness. As a result, we often see our classes withdrawing from the world. I mean let's face it, people out there have tattoos and body piercings! Some even use obscenities as a means of self-expression! So we cuddle up with our Christian friends, listen to Christian elevator music... I mean contemporary Christian music, read Christian novels, etc.

On the other hand, we need to be careful about being so worldly that the world does not recognize Christ in us. When we adopt the world's culture, we lose the salt and light of the gospel. We lose our testimony. We unintentionally send a message to the world that choosing to be a Christian is not much different than being a Democrat or a Republican.

John 17:15 - "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world."

Your small community, whether it is a home group or a Sunday School class has a higher calling. Jesus does not want you to withdraw from the world. Neither does He want you to become like the world. Instead, Jesus wants to transform the world through you, through the truth of the gospel.

Let me encourage you to try an experiment with your group. Find some way that, as a group, you can do something together in your immediate community that allows you to be a transforming influence in your neighborhood. Maybe it is serving at a rescue shelter, or providing some help at a Hope Pregnancy Center (hint hint). I have found that many groups need to do more than just talk about being "in the world but not of it" during the group Bible study. Many times, we need some hands on experience with being salt and light in our communities.

Is There Such a Thing as Missional Sunday School, Pt. 2

Yesterday I gave some descriptors of what a MSC (Missional Small Community) is not. For instance, it is not centered on a room or a time-slot on Sunday mornings. A MSC does not have "welcoming guests" as its primary form of outreach. We also discussed that the word "missional" is not the same thing as "missions". If outsourcing, or paying other people is your primary way to accomplish evangelism, then you are probably not a missional small community (unless you are homebound, which a few people are).

So what are some descriptors or some keys for you to look for in your small group or Sunday School community that indicates that your group is missional?

Start with prayer. This is one of the key indicators. Does your class pray "around the world" prayers, the kind of prayer where we ask God to save everyone everywhere, bless the little children, etc. Of course, you are undoubtedly familiar with organ recitals, where we pray for the healing of Larry's liver, Bill's bunion, and Harry's heart. A gathering of missional people will pray for their lost friends and neighbors by name. They will pray for opportunities to make relationships and share the gospel.

Shared experiences of God's presence. When a missional small community does gather, people share about God's activity in their lives the past few days. It may be something they learned about God in a morning meditation, an answered prayer that only God could have done, a redeemed relationship with a family member or friend, or the recognition that someone they know is moving closer to a relationship with Christ. Someone in the group may share how they applied the previous week's Bible study and what the results were.

Sense of identity. This is more than just identifying with a group, but it is more of a sense of movement. A MSC is working together as part of the greatest rescue mission on the planet - the rescue mission of Jesus Christ to bring every person into a knowing relationship with Him (Colossians 1:13). Their identity is not in themselves, but beyond themselves. A missional small community has its identity in Jesus Christ, not as Young Adult 2 or the Smith & Jones Home Group. In reality, when a group has its identity in Christ, suddenly things like starting new groups to reach and disciple more people makes sense. A group whose identity is in Christ loses selfishness and turns from being a group that collects people into a group that is sending people. A group whose identity is in itself well automatically become self-centered and will work to protect its identity - and therefore not start new groups or send its group members to mission fields that are either down the hallway, down the street, or across the world. MSC's know that the word mission means "send".

Community impact. Ultimately, a missional small community will begin to have an impact on its community. Friends and neighbors who have been cared for, prayed for, and involved in the group will move into a relationship with Jesus Christ. If a MSC is part of God's rescue effort, then that effort should ultimately begin to see results. This kind of community impact can only happen when the group lives out its faith individually in such a way that their friends and neighbors recognize there is something different about them. MSCs impact their community by understanding who their neighbors are, their backgrounds, and their lifestyles; and then share the gospel in such a way that it can best be received by their friends.

I'm sure that there are other key ingredients of a missional small community, but perhaps this will serve as a good starting point for more discussion so that we are focusing on have small groups that honor Christ, make disciples, and have impact in their communities.

Is There Such a Thing as a Missional Sunday School? Pt. 1

I recently had an email exchange with Alan Hirsch, who is one of the titans of the missional movement. I emailed Alan because I had heard he did not like the term "missional Sunday School" and, since I use that term a lot, I wanted to know what his opposition to it was. I have never met the guy and I know he is famous, so I had rather reserved hopes of an answer. Well, he responded back in just a couple of hours and I've got to say, the speed of his response and the great attitude I read into his email won me over.

It ends up that Alan does not have a problem with missional Sunday School. In fact he thinks that missional Sunday Schools or small groups are great. His concern was that the term "missional" is being thrown in front of everything and he is afraid the poor usage is watering down its meaning. I remember a few years back as I was poring over submissions for our annual church budget planning. Every request had the word "evangelism" in front of it. I guess everyone thought that if they used the word "evangelism", they were more likely to get funded. So I get Alan's point, and it prompted me to think through what I mean when I use the term "missional Sunday School".

But first, let's define a term. For the rest of this post, I am going to use the term "small communities" as an umbrella for both the Sunday School and small group movements. I know these movements are cousins, and I do not really want to get into polarizing either group. So bear with me.

First, let's discuss what a missional small community is not. Missional small communities (MSC's) are not centered on a room or house on a Sunday morning or a Tuesday night. We must not make this mistake. Our worship leaders must now deal with the worship service being called "church". In this case, it defines the church as a building and infers that worship only happens in the building at 11:00 on Sundays. I strongly support God's people gathering together for worship, but Sunday mornings in a cathedral with a worship program as a guide and a band or choir is not the only way to worship. And "church" is not a building. We must not let the setting define the purpose! Too often, when a person hears the words "Sunday School", a room with 4 off-white walls in the education wing, a lectern, and a picture of Jesus in browntones hanging by the door is what comes to mind. That is a room, not a Sunday School!

Furthermore, a MSC is not built around welcoming guests who arrive for the group at the prescribed hour. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating shunning guests who want to participate in the group. But when "welcoming" is the group's major avenue into impacting lostness, then it is not a missional group. We call that attractional evangelism, attracting people to come to the church facilities or homes. Hirsch's own research indicates that only about 12 percent of the population responds to this kind of evangelistic strategy. To be honest, "welcoming" is generally not evangelism at all, since we know that most people who "visit" a Sunday School class on Sunday mornings are already Christians and are probably searching for a new church home. The Great Commission says "go and make" and many of our small communities interpret this to mean "come and wait" for a guest to show up!

Finally, the term missional small communities does not mean that the class does missions. Missions and missional are related, but they are not the same thing. In my book Missional Pivot Points, I define missional as, "The mindset and action of living as a missionary in your neighborhood." Many Christians perceive missions to be the work of a professional missionary who lives in a difficult environment that is hostile to Christianity. My friend Ed Stetzer says that many churches "outsource" their missions. That is, they pay a professional to do it. Giving money to Lottie Moon does not necessarily make a class missional. Neither does sending a shoebox to a third world country. Group members living out their faith and sharing Christ with friends and neighbors in a way that respects their culture is missional.

Tomorrow I will post part deux of this post about Missional Sunday School.

The Leadership Ingredient

I occasionally find people who are ready to hand me a shovel to help bury Sunday School. It doesn't work; it's washed up; it's passe. To be quite honest, I have been in a few Sunday School classes that I would have gladly taken that shovel and started digging! But before we put a eulogy in tomorrow's paper, let me share some good news with you... Sunday School (or whatever name you call it) is alive and well. Let me give you a few thoughts that might make you think twice before calling that guy with bagpipes over to play "Amazing Grace".

At a meeting of State Sunday School Directors recently (those are guys who lead the small group/Sunday School ministries at Baptist state conventions), our keynote speaker, Daryl Eldridge, made the following comment. "Whatever you lead and put effort into will grow. Whatever you ignore will die." As I've considered this statement, I think he's right. As a general rule, we all know that when a leader gives something his time and attention, that area of ministry thrives. Ignoring an area of ministry however, is almost certainly the kiss of death. (interpretation: get the shovels ready)

This is not just an issue for pastors, Sunday School directors, and ministers of education. This issue is also important for a class teacher or a small group leader. As a teacher, when an area of your class is not receiving attention, that area will ultimately get sick and the disease will spread to other areas of the class. For example, suppose a teacher has not led their class to be evangelistic and invite friends and neighbors to the group. The attitude of the class will ultimately turn inward. Once a class turns this direction, it has the smell of death to those who visit the group. Without new people in the group, no class can survive for too long.

But when a pastor, or a teacher, is giving Sunday School their attention and leadership; things begin to change. Let's face it folks - leadership brings change! As much as many of us hate change, it brings a freshness and vitality with it that is invigorating. Jesus was a leader. When Jesus appears on the scene, just about any scene, things start to change. A meal of fish and chips feeds 5,000. Jesus takes a hike.. on water! Lame men walk. Lepers lose their spots. Lazarus comes back from the dead. And... a small group of disciples change the world!

I want to encourage you. Your class is probably not ready for burial. Pastor or Sunday School director - some attention and leadership to your Sunday School will, through God's power, change it into something better, much better! If you want your Sunday School or small groups to thrive, then give them your leadership.