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Online Resources for Small Groups

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Friends and Fellow Ministers:

These are fast-moving times for life and ministry during this COVID-19 season. Perhaps, you are wrestling with decisions today about what to do next at your church in our new virtual environments. Solutions seem to be changing by the hour. So, I wanted to make sure you had in hand some go-to sources from LifeWay that offer ongoing help and support for church leaders. These sources are continually being updated to include additional ideas and help, so check back regularly.

Helpful Links and Sources:
lifeway.com/coronavirus – “One-stop” webpage for all things COVID-19, continually being updated
curriculum.lifeway.com  – Free access to the curriculum for all ages (See action steps below.)
lifeway.com/groups – great articles for Bible study group leaders
kenbraddy.com – a daily blog with practical ideas for Bible study leaders
sundayschoolguy.podbean.com – podcasts with Ken Braddy for SS leaders
digitalpass.lifeway.com – Kids at Home resources, now with Preschoolers-At-Home
groupministry.lifeway.com/2020/03/20/free-bible-study-videos-for-quarantined-groups – Free Bible study videos for Socially-Distanced groups
onlinestudy.smallgroup.com – Women’s Online Bible Study Community for free video content

The free curriculum link provides digital resources for all ages (Preschool, Children, Students and Adults) for all three lines of LifeWay Curriculum: Explore the Bible, Bible Studies for Life, and The Gospel Project.

Here are the steps to access the curriculum:

  1. Go to curriculum.lifeway.com
  2. You will be at the log-in/registration page. This is not a church account, but rather the Log-in ID you use with Digital Pass, Ministry Grid, SmallGroup.com, or Wordsearch Bible. If you don’t have an ID, then just register. It’s free!
  3. Once you log-in, if you have never used Ministry Grid before, you will need to “Add a Church.” Check with your team to make sure that no one else has already done this so that you only have one church.
  4. After Adding your Church, you will have some new options at the top navigation bar. Click on “Search Curriculum” at the top of the home page.
  5. Click on the Curriculum line and age group you want.
  6. Click on “Preview Session” for the session you want.
  7. You can then share that page with your leaders by “easy link” or by email.
  8. And within each session, you can download the files you need to use, or you can share them with your church’s Bible Study leaders through several different methods.

Here is a link for an article from Baptist Press that speaks to some of the same ideas and helps from LifeWay: www.bpnews.net/54507/lifeway-offers-churches-free-digital-giving-plan-curriculum-lowcost-books-discussion-guides

I am praying for great wisdom and strength for you during these challenging days. May God grant you favor in grasping many ministry opportunities in and through your church.

Please let me know if you have any questions about any of this information or if you need further help. I’ll be glad to assist you in any way I can.

Thank you for your partnership in ministry!

This article was written by Michael Gentry of Lifeway Christian Resources.

COVID-19 & Teaching Remotely if your Church Isn’t Meeting

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The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected all of us, and there is more to come. I went to the grocery store to shop for a friend and found that shelves were bare. I have friends who cannot find canned meat, beans, rice, milk, bread, and other basics. Churches have canceled weekend services, and now the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has recommended that groups larger than 50 not meet for the next 8 weeks. On my Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas to Nashville on Saturday night, there were 100 open seats (only 80 of us were on the flight…and yes, we spread out…way out).

If your church isn’t meeting, and if you want to stay connected to your Bible study group, you have some simple options that will be quite effective. In no particular order, here are some ways for group leaders to teach remotely while their church isn’t meeting.

  • FaceBook Live – my church used FaceBook Live this past Sunday to broadcast the worship service. The only people in attendance at the church were the pastor and small worship team. I sat at home and participated via my iPhone. If you have FaceBook on your laptop or phone, you’ll see an option to go “Live.” My church did this using an iPad, and it worked like a charm. There is no reason that a group leader could not teach his or her class live via a computer, phone, or iPad device. It can be broadcast to their FaceBook feed, or to a FaceBook group they create (all the people in their group could sign up). There are plenty of handy “how-to” videos on YouTube that can get you up and running quickly if you aren’t familiar with Facebook Live. Click here for a list of tips for using Facebook Live.
  • Zoom – Zoom is a popular video conferencing platform used by many businesses today, including my own (LifeWay). A free version is available (click here to go get it) and it allows up to 100 people to be in a video conference. If you want, there are versions that cost, and you get additional features and more seats. People can interact, speak, type questions in the chat feature, and the session can even be recorded by the host.
  • E-Mail – Don’t laugh. This is a super-easy way for group leaders to engage their group members. Maybe the easiest. How would this work? Glad you asked.
    • A group leader would send his or her group an e-mail at the beginning of the week. The teacher would remind the group to read and study their Personal Study Guide lesson (oh, I’m assuming that your church provides Bible study materials such as Explore the Bible, Gospel Project, Bible Studies for Life), or some inferior version from another Christian publisher besides LifeWay.  🙂
    • During the week, a group leader would send several e-mails to the group members. A question or two would direct them to a particular quote or question in the curriculum. The teacher would encourage the group members to “reply all” and carry on conversations throughout the week until the lesson had been covered.
  • In-home groups – Just because your group can’t get together on a Sunday doesn’t mean that you cannot break your group into smaller sub-groups! If your class averages 20 people, for instance, divide couples or individuals into groups of six or eight, just the right size to meet in someone’s living room. In this scenario, you’d need about 3 sub-groups of 8. Everyone would bring their Personal Study Guide and discuss what they learned throughout the week as they kept up with the study plan.

Now for some good news from your friends at LifeWay. We are working quickly to respond and help churches as we all deal with the effects of COVID-19. Here are some things we’re doing to help:

  1. My team is going to provide free studies from Explore the Bible, Gospel Project, and Bible studies for Life. These will be digital and available to anyone who needs studies while they are sequestered. Later this week the materials will be live and online, along with many other resources for free. When that happens, I’ll send you another post with the link.
  2. My team is going to provide social media/email messages for group leaders to send to their classes. If your group uses Bible Studies for Life, Explore the Bible or Gospel Project, we provide weekly email messages and text messages in the Leader Pack. These can be copied and pasted into text messages to the group, or into an encouraging email to the group. Normally these are only found in our leader packs which cost about $28, but we will post these later this week, too, for free. This will help teachers have something to say and send to their groups to encourage them to study and stay up with their weekly studies.
  3. LifeWay is recording training videos early this week that we will post for free – to train you how to use communication tools like Facebook Live, Zoom, and more. You can also find help on YouTube, but we’re shooting our own videos. Again, when these are ready later this week, I’ll send another blog post with the links to these free videos.
  4. LifeWay Kids has created free at-home supplements for families impacted by COVID-19. Click here to jump to the page where you can download these materials for free.
  5. We provide free podcasts each week for Bible Studies for Life, Explore the Bible, and Gospel Project. They relate to the study taking place that week, and the links can be shared with teachers and group members. Click one of the following links depending upon which curriculum line your group uses:  Gospel Project, Bible Studies for Life (scroll to the bottom of the page), Explore the Bible (click on an individual session and scroll down for the podcast).

If you have other solutions for groups to meet and engage remotely, please leave a comment so that we can all learn what each other is doing during these difficult days.

Watch for my post later this week with links to the free helps we’re working on!

Finally, please know that we at LifeWay are praying for your safety and for your churches and your members as we all navigate uncharted waters.

Ken Braddy is the Director of Sunday School for LifeWay Christian Resources.

As VBS approaches, here are some helpful tips

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Vacation Bible School (VBS) remains the No. 1 outreach event for Southern Baptist churches. It has the potential to affect the eternal destiny of children and families in your community. Every child a church reaches from the community is a connection to many other people. One is never just one.

The Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions offers a full slate of resources (https://alsbom.org/vbs/) to help your church be ready each year, as does your local Baptist association staff.

VBS should have your full focus, energy and budget as your main summer activity. Even if you have VBS the same week every summer, don’t assume everyone knows — and work hard to reach the unchurched kids especially. Publicity and outreach efforts are important. Set numerical goals for your VBS and make a plan as to how to reach them. (continued…)

Read the full article from The Alabama Baptist Newspaper – http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/as-vbs-approaches-here-are-some-helpful-tips/

Flashpoint Conference Aims to Get Back to Making Disciples Like Jesus Intended

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He was strung up by his arms in an Asian prison when the man came up to him and asked to know about his Jesus.

“If I tell you, they will beat me even more,” the Christian — who’d been beaten and electrocuted repeatedly — replied.

But the man told him the coast was clear — he’d put something in the drinks of the other guards to knock them out for a little while. He had to know about Jesus, he said — because earlier when the guards had beaten the Christian, his face glowed. (continued…)

Read the full story from The Alabama Baptist newspaper here: http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/flashpoint-conference-aims-to-get-back-to-making-disciples-like-jesus-intended/

Relational Discipleship Resurfaces while Church Programs Lose Fans

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When you ask Daniel Edmonds about where the Church is headed with discipleship these days, he likes to quote Pastor Ken Adams — “Jesus started the Church the way He wanted it, and now He wants the Church the way He started it.”

It’s to that end, Edmonds said, that churches today are circling back around to the relational type of disciple-making Jesus Himself did — the all-day-every-day, personal-influence kind.

“For a lot of people, it’s scary because they’ve never done it that way before,” said Edmonds, director of the office of Sunday School and discipleship for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. “But we’re getting back to the way Jesus intended for it to be done.” (continued…)

Read the full article from the Alabama Baptist newspaper at http://www.thealabamabaptist.net/relational-discipleship-resurfaces-while-church-programs-lose-fans/

Pastor’s Alpha meeting encourages pastors to make bold discipleship moves

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Jesus’ ministry was full of bold moves and pastors can make bold moves too by discipling people as Jesus did, said Craig Etheredge, pastor of First Baptist Church, Colleyville, Texas.

Etheredge spoke to about 50 pastors in the Pastor’s Alpha meeting at Liberty Park Baptist Church, Birmingham, on May 3. Pastor Scott Guffin served as host. Robert Mullins, pastor of Mount Hebron Baptist Church, Elmore, and Daniel Edmonds, director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions’ (SBOM) office of Sunday School and discipleship, served as conveners.

Edmonds explained that the Pastor’s Alpha (soon to be called Disciple-Making Ministries) meeting was created in partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources to encourage pastors in disciple making in their churches and now has expanded to include other staffers and key lay leaders. (continued…)

Read the full article from The Alabama Baptist Newspaper – http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=35710

How to Have A Great Vacation Bible School

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Prayer:

  • Emphasize that Vacation Bible School is a Spiritual Event and encourage prayer.
  • Observe National Day of Prayer for VBS on May 15, 2016 and pray that people are saved.

Plan Thoroughly:

  • Start early by setting the date for VBS involving the pastor and staff.
  • Publicize the date and time and purchases curriculum and supplies.
  • Be intentionally evangelistic in planning for a good ending; plan to see people saved.

Budget According to the Importance of the Event:

  • If Vacation Bible School is the largest evangelistic event planned by a church, funds should be provided.
  • Involve leadership in establishing how budget is used.

Enlist Properly and Provide Training for Leaders:

  • Every church member should have an opportunity to be involved.
  • Enlist leaders face to face with expectancy. VBS is the best week of the year.
  • The pastor should have opportunity to encourage VBS leaders and challenge them.
  • Plan for follow-up of un-churched children as you enlist leaders.

Promote the event Early and Often:

  • Use every media outlet possible, many offer free advertising.
  • Involve the children of the church in the spring before school is out. Allow them to help plan decorations so they may tell their friends about plans for VBS.

Follow-up with contact to un-churched and celebrate the result of VBS:

  • Ask leaders to be diligent in taking information: name, address, phone, etc.
  • Contact families during the week of VBS, teacher visits are great first steps.
  • Be sure that FAITH, NET, EE teams visit prospects immediately after VBS.
  • Celebrate the results of VBS in the Worship Service after VBS concludes.
  • Recognize those who taught, prayed, or contributed to VBS.

Why They Stay

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Why They Stay
Dr. Steve R. Parr and Dr. Tom Crites

Why They Stay has a strong message for church strengthening and revitalization: invest in the future of the church through parents, teens and children. Deuteronomy 6 places a strong emphasis on a parent’s responsibility in disciple-making. The church should partner with parents in responding to this admonition. Parr and Crites, through their research, reveal the practices of parents and churches that result in the next generation staying connected to the community of faith.

Fifteen critical issues are revealed that have direct impact on an individual staying connected to the church. The majority of those factors relate to parenting and the child’s experience of discipleship during the formative years. Parr and Crites’ take-away for a church: “Attention should be given to improving marriages and parenting, to providing a healthy church environment, to providing a more effective discipleship experience for children, teens, and younger adults, and to maintaining a connection that helps older teens navigate their post high school years” (156).

The reader will discover wisdom and counsel that will help in the forming of strategic steps that will create lifelong followers. The statistical discoveries will be of great value in leading the church to assess or reassess its role in making disciples that will disciple their families for the generations ahead. In the brief time that this book has been available, church leaders have already been using this great resource in their revitalization efforts.

State Missionary Daniel Edmonds may be contacted at 1-800-264-1225, ext. 285, or (334) 613-2285, dedmonds@alsbom.org.

Christian education, discipleship ministers invited to ABREA gathering

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For those in ministry there are often innumerable needs pressing in on this side and pushing there on that side. Sometimes a minister just needs a community that understands his or her stresses and struggles in ministry.

That’s exactly why Alabama Baptist Religious Education Association (ABREA) was created — for those who serve in the area of adult Christian education and/or discipleship.

Networking opportunities

Started more than 40 years ago, ABREA “exists to provide fellowship, continuing education and networking opportunities for staff members of Southern Baptist churches,” according to its website. (continued…)

– Read the full story from The Alabama Baptist newspaper at: http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=35057#sthash.6pae8WGs.dpuf

Getting Started

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Today’s post by Tim Smith is the eighth installment in our Coach’s Guide to Sunday School resource provided by the office of Sunday School and Discipleship. To see the full guide, visit ALSBOM.org/coachsguidetosundayschool.

Don’t let anyone fool you! Being a Sunday School director is a lot of work. Just like any coach, there many expectations with tons of pressure. As you look at your situation, you might be asking yourself, “Where do I start?” Every church is different. There is no massproduced program that will work in all of today’s churches, but remember the key to developing a winning Sunday School is to improve day by day. By taking small steps every day, you will see progress.

Consider this quote:

“It’s all about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” —Steve Young, former NFL quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer

Steve Young didn’t become a great quarterback overnight. It took time. Slow, but steady improvement. He became a world champion and a hall of famer by just trying to become better than he was yesterday. As you work to complete your game, here are some other aspects of the game you need to consider: 

COACHING ASSIGNMENTS

Spend Time with God Every Day

  • Read the Bible!
  • Pray for
    • Your teachers and workers
    • God’s guidance, wisdom and vision
    • New workers
  • Listen to and obey what God says and shows you!

Invest Time with Your Pastor and/or Minister of Education

  • Pray for him every day.
  • Meet with him every week.
  • Get to know his vision for the church.
  • Share your vision with him.
  • Seek and share ideas.
  • Become good friends!

Give Time with the Sunday School Planning Team

  • Meet with them monthly.
  • Have an agenda.
  • Coordinate the efforts of all age groups.
  • Conduct annual goal setting retreat.
    • Enrollment, attendance, classes, space, leaders, training, contacts, prospects, outreach and baptisms

Make Time for the Sunday School Leadership Team (All Teachers/Leaders)

  • Walk through all hallways on Sundays.
  • Keep classes accountable to begin and end on time.
  • Meet with them at least quarterly.
  • Appreciate them both publicly and privately.
  • Pray for them by name at least monthly.
  • Encourage all to enlist an apprentice.

COACHING ON SUNDAY

  • Arrive 30 minutes early.
  • Greet everyone as they arrive to Sunday School.
  • Make sure classes are staffed.
  • Periodically observe teachers/classes.
  • Elevate Sunday School during the worship service.
  • Communicate necessary information.
  • Keep everyone focused on being teams of people on mission with God.
  • Make sure all are doing their jobs and are in position.

COACHING DURING THE WEEK

  • Know and communicate the mission of Sunday School.
  • Focus on spiritual and numerical growth.
  • Implement training of self and others.
  • Discover, enlist and train new leaders.
  • Start new classes.
  • Understand the needs of all age groups (preschool, children, youth, singles, young adults, median adults and senior adults)

SUGGESTED YEARLY GAME STRATEGY
August

  • Make sure all Sunday School directors, teachers and leaders have been properly enlisted.
  • Plan or attend a training event for your Sunday School directors, teachers and leaders.
  • Plan to start one or more new classes.
  • Plan for the new year by having a planning session with your Sunday School Planning Team.

September

  • Conduct a kick-off event for the new Sunday School year.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team meeting.
  • Start new classes.

October

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team meeting.
  • Plan an outreach activity or promotion.
  • Consider a high attendance day.
  • Order literature for the Winter quarter.

November

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Encourage classes to conduct a holiday outreach ministry project.

December

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
  • Plan to start a new class after the holidays.

January

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
  • Conduct Sunday School promotion to get your Sunday School back on track after the holidays.
  • Start new classes.
  • Begin preparing for Vacation Bible School.
  • Order literature for the Spring quarter.

February

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School teacher appreciation event.
  • Conduct a “spring training” event.

March

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
  • Begin the process for enlisting new Sunday School Leadership team for the coming new year.
  • Conduct a potential director/teacher/leader search and consider a training event for them.

April

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team meeting.
  • Consider a high attendance day.
  • Order literature for the Summer quarter.

May

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
  • Plan summer attendance campaign to keep a focus on attendance.

June

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Conduct Vacation Bible School.

July

  • Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
  • Order literature for the Fall quarter.

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