Sunday School Administrator Support

1. Create a Mission Statement

Bring teachers together and envision a future for your Sunday School. Establish clear goals and promote unity of purpose. Here are a few springboard ideas for crafting your own Sunday School mission statement:

• Help children see the application of the Word in their own lives.
• Build the habit of reading the Word and worshipping.
• Showing how the Word connects people with the Lord, heaven and other people.

Take advantage of our Mission Statement Worksheet to craft your own mission statement. Share your mission statement during meetings, use it as an email tag and display in classrooms.

2. Focus What You Teach

Get the most out of each year by planning for the life-long learning picture. Structure a curriculum using existing Sunday School lessons, the pastor’s weekly message, important themes, Jacob’s Ladder, or multi-level lessons for family groupings from the Vineyard Educator's Collection CD.

3. Create an Inviting Space

Whether you teach in a room that is permanently set up or create your own space each week, look for simple ways to appeal to children. Collect colorful rocks, shells, stones or wood and create a natural altar for children to decorate or rearrange. Paint walls or furniture with your theme for the year. Create displays that teach such as a time line of the Word featuring pictures of key people, stories, the life of Jesus or books of the Word. Share the children’s artwork and projects.

4. Welcome and Mentor New Teachers

Increase your pool of teachers. Provide stepping stones to increase teacher confidence and creativity. Show support by making weekly classroom visits. Celebrate success and support teachers after challenging lessons.

5. Communicate!

Share your enthusiasm by staying in touch. Communicate teaching dates for the entire year, send lesson materials in time for teachers to prepare a great lesson, distribute a list of anticipated students and other helpful information, e.g. food allergy alerts. Email or text teaching reminders. Meet face-to-face at least once a year—if not in person, using Skype or Google+.

Volunteers form the heart of Sunday School. Stay heart-healthy by expressing gratitude and providing regular periods of rest!

Choose one or two ideas to start with and build a little each year.

• Spread enthusiasm!
• Provide classroom-ready lessons and projects
• Say or text a “thank you” to teachers each week
• Share the Sunday School Newsletter and invite teachers to subscribe
• Share New Church Sunday Schools Facebook page. “Like” this page to connect with a world-wide community!
• Take photos of projects and activities and share them on your church’s website or Facebook page.
• Celebrate success by posting thank yous on your online media
• Arrange “thank you” notes from the children once a year or more (scroll down to view)
• Provide supplies for easy and fun lessons
• Host a congregational work day to organize supplies, decorate, etc.
• Routinely provide “spiritual food” if church services are missed
• Enlist a non-teacher volunteer to email or text teaching reminders and “thank-yous”
• Listen and respond to concerns
• Reach out with emails or phone calls—form an online group to make it easy!
• Go out for tea or coffee
• Recognize birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.
• “Say it with flowers”—plant bulbs for Christmas, give garden flowers in the summer
• Provide childcare if needed
• Schedule a webinar or workshop for your group

Thanks for all you are doing to make Sunday School a place where volunteers bloom!

Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow…. Exodus 23:10-11

Summer can be a good time to take a rest from intensive Sunday School routines. Through rest the Lord can renew and refocus our energy.

Re-group students

Adjust Sunday School age groupings. Children of all ages can complete activities together. Teens can enjoy leadership opportunities and younger children can have fun in a relaxed atmosphere.

Offer new leadership opportunities

Summer program leadership may appeal to adults who would like a short defined period of responsibility or are unable to contribute at other times. Encourage adults to sign up for duties in late spring or early summer so that good planning results in shared responsibility and a lighter burden.

Show  movies
Look for Bible movies, movies with moral dilemmas or movies that demonstrate virtues. Preview to make sure contents are appropriate for all viewers. Movies using Biblical texts as scripts provide the most accurate depictions of Bible stories.

Play Bible games
A wide variety of Bible games are available. Look for games that:

• Suit the ages of your children. Some games have versions for older and younger children. Use simultaneously for a wide age range.

• Work for a group your size. In larger groups waiting quickly leads to boredom and negativity. Look for games that keep everyone involved and having fun.

• Have cooperative goals and are not designed for one child's success.

Play games ahead of time to be sure the level of knowledge and experience required are a good fit for your group

Play group games

Adapt well-known children’s games to review stories children have learned in Sunday School.

• Charades Use stories, places or people from the Bible for children to guess.

• Guess Who? (Come si Come) The leader (teacher or student) says “Come si Come,” signaling that they have thought of a person, preferably a character from the Word. The class says, “Who do you come by?” The class then guesses who the leader has in mind. The leader says only yes or no so questions need to be phrased for this to work, i.e. “Is this person a woman?” rather than “Is this a man or a woman?”

• Use names of people in the Word to play hangman. The leader writes dashes on the board or piece of paper—each dash representing the letter of a name. When a letter is correctly guessed, the letter is written on the dash where it belongs. When an incorrect guess is made, a piece of a hangman’s noose and person is drawn instead.

• Pictionary or Play It with Clay Use the game boards in your closet and make up your own clues to review people or events from the Bible. A student in the group who knows the character or story draws or models it from clay. Others to who or what it is within a limited time frame.

• Many websites offer great interactive games.

Summer-long projects

Plan a project large enough to be worked on over the summer. Once the project is planned it can continue weekly with little preparation.

• Service Projects Rehab nursery space or toys, maintain gardens, spruce up playground space. Go further afield and contribute to the broader community.

• Make movies! Older children and teens may enjoy acting and film Bible stories or skits illustrating virtues, etc. Post to an online video sharing network and share on your website.

• Create a power point presentation Choose online pictures to illustrate a Bible story or a spiritual or moral message. Add text. Compile each child’s slide into a presentation. Choose music to play as the entire presentation is shown.

• Decorate Sunday School space Involve teens and older children in creating a fresh look for the coming year. Use themes from the Word, e.g. prophets, disciples, tribes, Noah’s ark, and paint or decorate chairs, tables and walls.

• Banners Choose a theme e.g. parables, miracles (prophets or Jesus), disciples, 12 tribes of Israel, patriarchs, days of creation, Daniel, Moses, etc. Decide whether the banner will be for temporary or permanent display and choose materials accordingly. Suggested materials: 1) cardboard, paper, markers, pencils and paints. 2) colored felt scraps, other fabrics, yarns, buttons. 3) a combination of felt, paper and markers. 4) corduroy, velvet, wool, gold lame and other special materials.

• Mosaics require lots of project time. Create one large mosaic, e.g. the woman clothed with the sun, or a series of smaller ones, e.g. each of the 10 Commandments or each phrase of the Lord’s prayer. Possible materials include 1) a generous supply of old magazines with pictures to cut up (a paper cutter will speed this up) 2) colored paper (construction paper fades quickly) 3) occasional pieces of shiny paper for special effects (e.g. moon or sun) 4) commercial mosaic making products.

• Decorate an altar cloth Purchase a commercial tablecloth. Choose a simple border design, e.g. a grapevine, and turn the tablecloth into an altar cover for a children’s altar. Artistically challenged? Look for a pictures to use as design guides. Young children’s coloring books have simple designs.

Gear up for faith, fellowship and fun! Nourish soul mind and body and plan a day, weekend or family camp. Here are a few planning ideas.

• Share leadership and planning responsibilities.

• Choose a camp theme from the Word. Incorporate the theme into activities as whenever possible—hiking, swimming, music, reading, food, learning.

• Plan games that promote mixing and fun.

• Capitalize on your setting Lake or pool? Learn how to use fishing nets, “find” the pearl of great price, a fish with a coin in its mouth, sail the “Sea of Galilee”, etc.

• Think big Use the outdoors. Wander in the wilderness, set up the tabernacle, stage a battle. Set up teaching stations along your route.

• Traditions Camp names, welcome and farewell activities, songs, games and other traditions build camp memories and a sense of continuity.

• Keep camp spirit alive with T-shirts (decorate yourself or purchase), wristbands, etc. Share photos online.

Contact us for information on ready-to-use children’s programs that are suitable for camps.

Sunday School webinars provide online training for leaders and teachers. Volunteers can attend a webinar at home or gather in a central location for fellowship and group discussion. Available worldwide. Topics include

• Ideas for creating exciting lessons

• Creating a Sunday School structure that is low maintenance

• Which lessons are best for our congregation? An overview of New Church Sunday School lessons

Each webinar is 90 minutes and includes time for questions and answers. Topics can be tailored to meet your Sunday School’s needs. Contact us for more information or to schedule a webinar. Webinars require a computer with a sound card and reliable internet access.