Where They Want To Be
It is remarkable what people will put themselves through to be where they want to be.
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It’s 4 a.m. The sun will not be seen for a couple of hours, but Dan’s already going strong. Shotgun in hand, he stands in ankle-deep water with hat pulled down tight to shield him from the icy winds. Dan’s been waiting for this moment all week. Life never felt so good.
For Thomas and April, the workday starts early. Still, they find themselves laughing and telling favorite stories with their friends ’til well past midnight. Getting up will be a challenge, but there is no place they would rather be than nestled on this sofa amidst the laughter of their friends.
It is remarkable what people will put themselves through to be where they want to be. These real people, and others just like them, make sacrifices of comfort, time, and money so they can enjoy the elements of life they treasure. Most football fans will endure the bitter cold for a chance to be at the big game. Most people will gladly wear themselves out in exchange for a weekend of fun with friends.
So, why do some of these same people fail to give comparable energy to the discipleship opportunities provided by their church? Why is it that the insight and eternal benefit available in the Sunday school class fail to generate the same degree of self-sacrifice? Every pastor knows the litany of benefits each person can obtain in small-group settings. Why don’t the beneficiaries want to benefit?
What People Want
While an intensive review of the effectiveness of your Sunday school might reveal valuable information, deeper issues are likely at work. The teacher may lack certain qualities, or the material may have failed to grasp attention, but fixing such things tends to yield only marginal results. Real answers can be found in discerning the difference between your discipleship efforts and the activities to which your people are vitally committed.
The key difference is often found in whose list of wants and needs is being met. Your discipleship efforts may be offering what you want people to receive, but they have proven faithful to those things they want. In short, your Sunday school may be offering what everyone with a degree in theology knows we all need, but it may not be scratching the real itch of people’s hearts.
People want friends. They want answers to real-life issues. They want to live better than they are living. They want truth. They want to have fun. They want to be understood, and they are looking for a sense of purpose. And a few of them already understand that they need God. While they may see some benefit in greater knowledge of historical data or a deeper grasp of doctrinal concepts, they are looking for ways to add value to or even change their lives now.
Meeting People’s Needs
Remarkably, ministries like Sunday school possess the potential to give people what they want. Those friends to get close to may be just a donut-reach away. The fun they are seeking may be as close as the next group event. Real-life answers are available if a teacher will mine them from God’s Word. And truth?—the Word of God is overflowing with it.
Meeting the felt needs of students becomes the glue needed to hold them in the discipleship process. People who want friends will make great effort to be where their friends are. People looking for answers will prioritize the place where answers are offered. And if that place is inside your church, you’ll be amazed at how faithful they will suddenly become.
Unfortunately, many discipleship efforts fail to focus attention on these key areas. Believing that providing content is the only step in the preparation process, many pastors and teachers prepare a fabulous buffet of delectable insights, for only a handful of overfed diners. The real people we need to reach are absent again.
Strategies For Change
Why not look around your Sunday school for signs of real needs being met. Are your teachers giving time and opportunity to develop friendships? Are times of discussion and study bringing application, or just knowledge? Are students finding answers to their questions, or just answers to questions they really aren’t asking? Are they being challenged to commit themselves to meaningful investments of their time and energy? Can they expect meaningful and effective direction for the many responsibilities of their lives, or do they walk away uncertain of the value of what they have learned? Answers to questions like these may well confront the struggling pastor or teacher with the true barrier that stands in the way of success.
Students can’t make friends in a class that is dominated by a lecturer. They won’t find real answers if teaching methods don’t allow for questions. They will never commit to better life choices today if they are only confronted with the nature of life in the first century. And they won’t meet God if we never give time for responding to the truths we have discovered.
Growing Sunday schools are meeting the felt needs of their students. National surveys have revealed those needs as friendship, purpose, fun, understanding, answers, better living, truth, and a relationship with God. Take an honest inventory of your own efforts to see if you are hitting the right targets. You may find that while the potential has always been there, the focus has not. Once you have discovered what needs are waiting to be met, help teachers find ways to meet these needs. Add more time for fellowship, or interaction, or plan a group getaway. Expect more relevance from your study, or give additional time to respond to what is already emerging.
In short, give them what they want. Your Sunday school or other small-group discipleship effort will enjoy committed participation when we provide the things people really want. Amazingly, the very nature of our efforts already possesses what people are looking for. But we must help them find it. And when we do, they will be there. They may not stand shivering in ankle-deep water, or be glad to sit and talk for hours, but they will gladly endure a temperamental air conditioner or a few carpet stains if it means they can find what they are looking for.
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