What are you doing to continue the learning experience beyond Sunday morning? How are you extending the opportunity for class members to interact with God and His Word beyond after your gathering time?
If you want retention of what was learned to improve, then it is valuable to continue learning beyond class time. If you want the possibility of application and obedience to increase, then it is also important to continue learning. But how?
What can we do to continue the lesson, the encounter with God in His Word, and the application and obedience? Consider some of these ideas:
- Plan for it. Lessons will end with prayer and dismissal if you don’t plan for them to continue.
- Give homework. Ask them to practice and report. Send them out to obey and return next week to share what happened. Ask them to read and answer one or more questions. Ask them to pray related to what was learned.
- Make assignments. Ask some individuals to do some research to follow up on the lesson. Ask some class members to help you prepare for the next lesson by taking parts of the preparation and teaching.
- Make a call. Start the class phone chain. Ask them to remind each other to do their homework, to practice the truth, or reread the passage and answer a question.
- Send a text or email. Copy and paste the message. Keep it short. Personalize a little. Remind. Assign. Reinforce. Apply.
- Post to social media. See previous. Start a class account. Make it easy for members to receive/find your follow up posts.
- Send mail. While more costly, mail can be an effective means of reinforcement. Keep it short enough to fit on a postcard even if sending a letter. If your class is small enough, consider personalizing and handwriting. Divide up the assignment among attenders to include absentees.
- Review the lesson. At lesson’s end, spend 60 seconds asking questions about the lesson. Ask what God wants them to do as a result. Ask them to self-address and write a note about the lesson. Collect the cards/letters. Mail them to those who were present.
- Assign accountability partners. Pair off. Ask partners to share lesson application and pray together. Then ask them to set a time for a 5 minute call during the week to check on how they are doing at applying the lesson truth and pray together.
- Ask how they did. At the end of class, tell them next Sunday you will ask how they did at continuing the learning and obeying the truth during the week. Then do it.
What would you add to these ideas? What have you done to reinforce the learning experience, to continue the encounter with God in His Word, and to help attenders apply and live out the truth? Share your experiences and ideas by pressing Comments. Make disciples. Be revolutionary!
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