How to deal with poor attendance?

I remember when a friend of mine asked me to assist with “kid’s bible class/Sunday school” in the congregation he and his wife were working with; I was delighted and jumped at the opportunity. I remember one of the leaders there asking how many children I would be bringing into the congregation. How big was I going to make their Sunday school? “What did I put myself in?” I thought.

Numerous times, we think ministry is a numbers game; we think the number of people or children sitting in the pews or Sunday school class is reflective of how good or great God is to us. We are the true Church; we are doing a great job as a Church, and we are actually growing if the pews or Sunday school classes are full.

Ministry is spiritual work or service in the kingdom of God to glorify God and edify those in the flock; I believe those are purposes of ministry. We are tending to our spirits or souls for a spiritual and eternal kingdom; we are servants serving our heavenly master, being God, and our benchmark is Christ; lastly, we are to edify, strengthen, and encourage one another. Read Ephesians 2:19-21, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, & Ephesians 5:19-21.

I believe when we do what we are supposed to be doing as a church, as servants of God, only then do other things follow: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all things shall be added.” Matthew 6:33.

Dealing with poor attendance:

• Be an exceptional Sunday school teacher: BE ON TIME! Always be PREPARED for the day, class, and lesson; reflect Christ’s/God’s love to your kids; yes, they are yours; be like them...have wonder and imagination.

• Get to know them: I don’t mean just knowing how many boys and girls there are and their names; yes, that’s good too, but... I mean, if you can meet their parents, get involved, and get to know them, what are their favourite colours? What sport do they play at school? What are their favourite subjects? Who is their favourite teacher at school? How many friends do they have? Yes, get to know them; it will mean the world to them. Write them little lovely letters, hand them to them after Sunday school; this makes them feel loved, noticed, and cared for.

• Birthday specials: If you can, I think you can. Celebrate each child’s birthday. Again, this makes them realise how much you care. You don’t have to have a huge chocolate cake. You can have balloons, write the card, sing for them, and say a prayer specifically for them. Believe me, they'll be pleased. If you’ve got a large number of kids, you can celebrate birthdays twice a year, one party for all the kids who’ve got birthdays from Jan to June and the same for those in July to December.

• Make every Sunday special: Change it up, switch it up. I’ve said this in many of my blogs. Make learning the word of God FUN! Make Sunday school an experience for them. Have role plays, play games, and teach every lesson like it were your last.

• Give them a take-home: Kids love taking things they did in class to show Mom and Dad, or their guardians, what they did in Sunday school. Find cool crafts for them to do and worksheets for them to colour in; the older groups like word puzzles and things like that.

• Remember me: When one or a couple of my kids were absent, I went to their homes on Sunday afternoon, gave them worksheets and crafts we worked on in class, and just let them know I missed them. If that isn’t a possibility, you can give their friends the worksheets and crafts to give to them.

• Attendance sheets: Ooh, how they love their attendance sheets. These are cute little sheets that have a cute picture on them. They colour these in at the beginning of the year, and I write their names all fancy on each of their sheets. Every time they attend, they get to put a sticker on their sheet.

• Year-end function: Normally what I did in the previous congregation I worked with was have Sunday school graduations. Ooh, how they would look forward to that. We would have a full program; they would sing, read poems, and enact a story from the Bible for their parents. The teachers and I would hand out appreciation awards to those who had more than 30 stickers on their attendance sheets and give special badges to those who had outstanding attendance, and then we would give those graduating to the youth special certificates.

What had confused me by the elder’s question of “How would I grow the Sunday school?” in the congregation was baffling because they had 50 kids when I started working there. My aim was never to bring more kids but ensuring they knew why they were attending church, they understood God, and were spiritually edified.

After a few months of working with that congregation, we had 80 kids in total. The congregation I worked with East of Johannesburg before that one had 3 kids, and before I left, I think I had 18 if I am not mistaken. I then worked with a congregation in Johannesburg; they had 12 kids, and at some point, we had 50 kids, and finally, the congregation I had been recently working with had 8 kids, and eventually, we had upwards of 40 kids.

If ministry was a numbers game, I would be crushing it and probably making my way to heaven, the kingdom where service is not of this world. It is how we serve that matters; it is the role we play and how we play our roles, how we use our talents for the edification of others’, and the glory of God that matters. “Praising God and having favour with all the people. And the LORD added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:47 It is the Lord who adds; we ought to play our part as servants in the kingdom, and God plays his part as the great mathematician, and that is exactly what the church in Antioch did; likewise, we too.