Foundational Pillars of a Sunday School that Grows, Part 13

In Part 13, I will take a look at the third of four growth projection goals, offerings. Over the last several blog posts, I have expanded on a post I wrote four years ago entitled Sunday School Growth Spiral. There I shared growth goals from Andy Anderson’s book, The Growth Spiral. In his book, Andy referred to Sunday School attendance, worship attendance, offerings, and baptisms as projection goals.

In general, projection goals happen naturally as a result of pursuit of quantity goals (enrollment, prospects); quality goals (teaching units, workers, workers meeting attendance, training); and outreach/ministry goals (space, contacts, and outreachers). For instance, when we pursue all these other goals, Sunday School attendance will increase (along with worship attendance and offerings as well).

Let me explain. Divide your weekly offerings by your Sunday School attendance. Let me give an example. If your weekly offerings are $2,000 and your average attendance is 100, then divide 2000 by 100. The result is an average of $20 per attender per week. (Don’t get hung up on the fact that some of these are children and not everyone gives. Just stick with me for a few minutes.)

So if you average $20 per attender per week, then by increasing your attendance by 20 over the next year (5 per quarter), then your attendance likely will increase by $400 per week (or about the same $20 per attender per week). Now why does this normally work? It works because you usually reach people who are similar to those who are already attending. That means the new people will tend to give like those who are already attending.

But all of this happens because you really worked all the previous goals. You invited and enrolled new people. You developed a list of prospects and prayed for and invited them. You prepared new space, enlisted new teachers/workers, and started new classes. You meet regularly to plan and to train your workers. You make weekly contacts and visits. As a result, your Sunday School attendance, worship attendance, and offerings increase.

While The Growth Spiral, is out of print, you can still find used copies for sale online. The book is worth adding to your Sunday School library for all the practical ideas that run throughout the book! Pray. Set goals. Invite. Enroll. Watch as Sunday School attendance, worship attendance, and offerings grow. Be revolutionary!