Telling Sunday School Guests to Get Lost

My friend, Steve Rice, is director of the Discipleship & Assimilation department of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and author of the blog 28Nineteen: All about Discipleship. He wrote a two-part series entitled Get Lost, Part 1 and Get Lost, Part 2. The series is based on an article by David Francis who is the director of Sunday School for LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville. David’s humorous and yet serious article is entitled Ways to Make Guests Feel Unwelcome.

Rather than add any more commentary on the ten ways to tell Sunday School guests to get lost, I encourage you to read what Steve Rice and David Francis have written. How are you doing in these ten areas:

• Make first-time guest parking inconvenient.
• Use grouchy greeters.
• Forgo a welcome center.
• Treat guests like a doctor’s office treats new patients.
• Don’t escort guests to their classrooms.
• Put questions in parents minds about the safety and security of their children.
• Make finding a seat really hard.
• Have guests stand up while everyone else sits…or sit while everyone else stands.
• Randomly call of people to read or pray.
• Don’t contact guests after their visit.

Wow, what a list! Let me be as clear as Steve was in Part 1. In fact, let me share what he said, “Of course, we should actually do the opposite of what this article suggests because we want guests to return.” Evaluate your Sunday School. How are you doing in these areas? Which of these is too close to reality in your Sunday School? What can you do to change it before you lose another guest, another potential member, another potential follower of Jesus? Whether it is hard or easy, take steps now. Be revolutionary!