People who are unconnected are the target of Jesus’ ministry and of Sunday School’s ministry. Sunday School can love those who are unconnected and along the way love them to Jesus. Any Sunday School wanting to enlarge the reach of their care and ministry will need to take seriously two priorities: (1) befriend and attract guests and (2) care for and keep them connected.
In a recent blog post entitled Is Your Church Sticky and Magnetic? Sam Rainer dealt with these two priorities. In the blog post, Sam talks about some terms used in some U.S. Census findings. Sam then uses those terms to lead the reader to think about related issues in the church:
They define each term: “Magnet” states are those in which a high share of the adults who live there now moved there from some other state. “Sticky” states are those in which a high share of the adults who were born there live there now.
For our conversation, “Magnet” applies to befriending and attracting guests (unconnected people). “Sticky” applies to keeping guests and members connected. How is your Sunday School doing? A few Sunday Schools are magnetic and sticky. Some are magnetic but not sticky. Others are sticky but not magnetic. And unfortunately many are neither magnetic nor sticky.
I want to challenge you to begin a conversation about these issues. Gather your leaders to evaluate your Sunday School ministry. How are you doing at befriending and attracting guests (magnet)? How are you doing at caring for and keeping them connected (sticky)? What can you do to improve both? Where do you need to start? I agree with Sam’s recommendation of a great resource for stickiness: Larry Osborne’s book, Sticky Church.
Are you having success in one or both of these priorities? Share what you are doing by pressing Comments below. Give your best to God. Care about people–unconnected and connected. Take steps to be magnetic AND sticky. Be revolutionary!
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