Church Voices

I noticed as I was flipping through channels the other day that there were approximately 40 episodes of Law and Order on at the same time. Oh, there was also CSI, Crossing Jordan, Forensic Files, and Without a Trace. So if you want a crime drama featuring weird angles, beautiful people, dim lighting and blue filters on every camera you’re pretty much set. But if you want much of anything else then you’re pretty much out of luck.

Ever feel that way about Sunday School? You can change classrooms and all you get are different variations on the same theme? Maybe its divided by age, and maybe its a different subject matter, but adult Sunday school classes are all teacher to class communications with (if you’re lucky) a bit of discussion thrown in.

What if we changed up the genre just a bit? What if instead of the Nth different crime drama we threw in a documentary, a comedy, some sports, or maybe a game show (preferably Jeopardy)? But how do we do that? How do we change the channel on our Sunday School classes? Here’s a starting point.

1. Avoid creating just another variation of what we already have. This means a new curriculum, or isn’t the answer.

2. This isn’t about style. DVDs, and changes of format aren’t what we’re looking for here. This is supposed to be a change of genre, not a newer, slicker version of what we had before.

3. Much of what your church already does might work. Simply slot it into the Sunday School hour, with some changes for new people to catch up to what you do, and to accommodate the time limit.

Here’s some suggestions:

The Service Channel
This channel consists of planning and doing service projects. This channel will likely require at least some participation at other times but smaller projects can be handled during that hour, such as shoveling walks of nearby houses or other types of simple upkeep.

The Innovation Channel
Have the church leadership outline and describe problems in the community. Use various brainstorming techniques to develop solutions to these problems. Have them juggle several issues at once so they can step away and come back to them. Also make sure to have them level criticisms at their own solutions. When they’ve refined their solutions have them bump the proposal up to the leadership. If a church is large enough for two such groups you can have each group give possible roadblocks to each of the proposals of the other group.

Its important to emphasize to this group that they are creating ideas, that the leadership has the ultimate decision on what to do, and many of their ideas may not be implemented or may be altered, or delayed. Of course this group could also work on problems within the church, but that brings a lot of risks with it for internal conflict.

The Prayer Channel
One of the weaknesses of many churches is reducing prayer to a list of health needs. Its hard to do that when you pray for an hour. A variety of different types of prayer are found in scripture, this channel would imitate them, and would include a variety of individual and group prayer, perhaps an outline of what is being prayed for.

The Creation Channel
Whether its the production of video clips for websites/advertising, or devotions written for the congregation, or artwork and/or decorations for a sermon series. This could include specific projects, or perhaps general set creation/decorations for at theme.

These channels are just a few of what could be offered. It all depends on the needs of a church/community, and the particular gifts of a congregation.