EVANGELISM + SUNDAY SCHOOL = 3D FAITH STRATEGY

by Mark Baldwin                                                                                                                       Vol. XI, No. 4, April 1998

     SBCV Church Growth Consultant

We are experiencing a time in our churches today, where Sunday School/Bible Study is reclaiming its birthright. Somewhere along the line, evangelism training and outreach were separated from Sunday School. We could try to figure out why this happened, but regardless of reasons, the fact is that in many churches it did occur. Very simply, the churches which continued to work evangelism through the Sunday School have been highly effective. Such is what happened at First Baptist Church of Daytona, where Bobby Welch is pastor.

FAITH, a Sunday School Evangelism Strategy, has been developed over the past 15 years. FBC, Daytona has baptized 200 people per year, trained over 1,100 persons in sharing their faith and increased Sunday School enrollment from 2,555 to over 4,000. There are other churches who have experienced the same type results when working evangelism through the Sunday School, churches such FBC, Jacksonville and some in our own state. This is not to say other forms of evangelism, such as Evangelism Explosion and CWT, don't work, for they do. However, evangelism becomes highly effective when organized through the working arm of the church, Sunday School.

The plan was to wait for release of this program, until it was fully developed, but response has been so tremendous, the Sunday School Board is releasing it a year earlier than intended. The materials will be available this August. However, a church can only participate under certain conditions:

1. The pastor must be the leader. This is absolutely essential, because if a church is going to be evangelistic it will only do so effectively when it follows it's leader.

2. The pastor and key leaders must attend a training clinic. The materials being developed are the highest quality but are only effective if used correctly. The clinic is a time of intense training and field experience. Those who attend will be able to immediately implement the training in their own churches.

3. A strong Sunday School is needed for a solid evangelistic initiative. The Sunday School structure must be solid and able to handle this exciting ministry of FAITH.

Training Clinics have been planned for the fall. If you are interested in implementing FAITH in your church do not wait to sign-up. Registrations are expected to fill up quickly, especially for the first three clinics occurring in August. These clinics will allow a church to implement FAITH beginning in September. There are other clinics and I have listed them below with their dates, if you need a registration form or further information, please call Mark Baldwin at the SBCV office at 804-270-1848.

        August 10-14 Beaumont, TX Calvary Baptist Church

        August 17-21 Houston, TX Metropolitan Baptist Church

        August 24-28 Hixson, TN Central Baptist Church

        September 7-10 Mechanicsburg, PA Country and Town Baptist Church

        September 14-18 Franklin, TN Clearview Baptist Church

        September 21-25 Knoxville, TN Wallace Memorial Baptist Church

        October 26-30** Charlotte, NC Hickory Grove Baptist Church

                **(Note: this clinic is during the SBCV Pastor's Conference and Convention)

I.J. Van Ness said, "Sunday School is Bible study housed in an organization that is designed to win people to Christ." Yet, during the past ten years SBC baptisms have ranged between 338,495 and a high of 396,668, with 25% of SBC churches reporting no baptisms and over half reporting 5 or less. Dr. Draper has set a goal to baptize 1,000,000 in a single year within the next five years. One of the ways of reaching the goal is through FAITH in the Sunday School.

I urge you not to wait. This is one of the most exciting ministries I have ever seen Southern Baptists promote. Many are already calling the Sunday School Board to register. Dr. Draper and other leaders have made this a priority by including themselves to be trained. Your SBCV staff is going to be trained, and many of our SBCV churches have already committed themselves to FAITH. It is exciting to see God's hand at work in our convention and in our churches.