In 1862, the Union army needed a victory and at Fort Donelson , General Grant delivered. On the banks of the Cumberland River near Dover, Tennessee, soldiers bled and died almost 150 years ago. They died for a cause that they believed in.
Today, there is a battle raging in many of our Sunday Schools. Some want to relegate Sunday School to the Discipleship Arm of the church. Many believe that it has lost its effectiveness as the outreach, evangelistic arm of the church. My hope is that you will join me in a cause worth dying for. The cause to build a Sunday School that sees men, women, boys, and girls come to know Jesus and become fully devoted, multiplying disciples of Christ.
In Romans 6:16, Paul says that lost persons are slaves to sin, headed toward death. Lost people who are on the road to hell, need a Sunday School that is focused on evangelism not just discipleship.
If Jesus was the Sunday School director for your church, what would His number one priority be? Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.” Luke 14:23 says, “Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in.” John 12:47 says, “I came not to judge the world but to save the world.” John 10:10 says, “I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Based on his own words, if Jesus was your Sunday School Director, your Sunday School would be involved in winning the lost. If Jesus was your Sunday School teacher, your class would be involved in evangelism.
Bill Taylor in Ten Best Practices of Sunday School wrote, “Every class or group needs to be engaged in evangelistic actions that result in winning the lost to Christ and reclaiming the spiritually indifferent.” This is a cause worth fighting for. The Sunday School is better equipped to win people than any other organization in the church. It is the largest ministry in the church and should be involved in every portion of the Great Commission not just teaching.
One of Tennessee’s pastor preached, “A church that will not win souls is not worth the property it sets on. A Sunday School class that is not interested in winning people to faith in Christ is not worth the heat, light, and power that it takes to operate that classroom.” Rather you agree with his statement or not, your Sunday School should have some form of organized outreach. Lead your class to be evangelistic. Put an empty chair in your room and start praying that God will put someone in that chair. The put feet to your prayer and lead your class to knock on some doors and to conduct an evangelistic mission project in your community. In other words, begin to focus outwardly not just inwardly.
The Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few….Let’s engage the largest ministry in our church in a cause worth dying for. Let’s move as
many as possible off the road to hell and on the road to heaven. May God bless our efforts to win the lost.
Mark Miller: Brentwood Baptist Church
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